Affiliate Marketing Platform Refersion Faces Allegations of Breach of Privacy by Sharing Sensitive User Data with Third Parties
Refersion, a platform established in 2015 for managing and optimising affiliate networks, has expanded its capabilities to cater to the evolving digital marketing landscape. The company has integrated with influencer marketing tools like Upfluence, #paid, and Cohley, making it a comprehensive solution for eCommerce brands.
The integration allows brands to access and load influencers directly from these platforms, streamlining influencer recruitment and campaign management. It also enables the use of Refersion’s system to issue trackable links and coupon codes for influencer campaigns, facilitating performance tracking and attribution.
Refersion's core strength lies in its affiliate and influencer marketing combined platform. It offers easy onboarding and management of unlimited affiliates and influencers, detailed campaign performance insights, automated, on-time payments with built-in tax management, and reliable first-party cookie tracking for accurate sales attribution. The platform is integrated with popular eCommerce platforms like Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento, Stripe, and more.
Refersion's service appeals to affiliates who are individuals with high-traffic websites or significant social media followings, preferring commissions over upfront payments. The platform also provides a sophisticated alternative to cumbersome spreadsheets for tracking transactions, handling payouts, and generating reports in affiliate marketing.
The Scale plan includes all Growth features plus tiered commission structures, multi-store tracking, white labeling, vanity URLs, full access to developer APIs and webhooks, and guided onboarding. The Growth plan adds deeper tracking capabilities, customizable registration pages, transactional emails, more commission structure flexibility, and expanded integration options. The Launch plan includes core features but lacks advanced options like product-level commissions, cookie customization, and advanced tracking by email or SKU.
However, it's important to note that manual reconciliation of payments is required on the Refersion platform, and there is no on-platform mechanism for payment. The most convenient way to make payments in Referson is via PayPal, or by integrating with Payment Rails for ACH payments.
As digital marketing continues to evolve, the distinction between affiliate marketers and influencers has started to blur, with both roles converging towards driving sales and creating content. With the recent blocking of 3rd party cookies in Apple's apps and the upcoming block by Google in 2024, Refersion's 1st party tracking system gets around this problem, ensuring accurate sales attribution.
Refersion's content library feature allows brands to manage and update visual assets used by influencers for affiliate marketing. Digital gift cards can also be issued from the Refersion platform. The platform's service is compliant with privacy laws like GDPR and CCPA.
In conclusion, Refersion acts as a central hub that allows eCommerce businesses to manage influencer and affiliate campaigns, track performance, and automate payouts efficiently. The strategic integration with influencer marketing platforms like Upfluence, #paid, and Cohley enhances its capabilities, providing brands with a more comprehensive influencer marketing solution.
Technology integration with influencer marketing platforms like Upfluence, #paid, and Cohley has expanded Refersion's capabilities, catering to the evolving digital marketing landscape. By facilitating performance tracking and attribution through trackable links and coupon codes, Refersion's system has set a strong foundation in the finance sector for eCommerce brands.
