Choosing a Program Group Structure

A program group structure decides which program inside a program group actually runs when a customer converts. Only one program per group can fire per conversion, and this setting tells Siren how to pick the winner when more than one could apply. You’ll face this choice when you’re configuring a program group and Siren asks how it should resolve ties.

For most affiliate setups, Newest Engagement Wins is the right answer and the one you’ll see in almost every recipe. Oldest Engagement Wins is the exception, reserved for programs where early lead generation is what you actually want to reward.

Quick comparison

Structure	What it does	Best for
Newest Engagement Wins	Picks the program tied to the most recent engagement	Standard affiliate attribution
Oldest Engagement Wins	Picks the program tied to the earliest engagement	Lead-generation programs

How to choose

Use Newest Engagement Wins if…

You’re running a standard affiliate program and you want the collaborator who most recently influenced the customer to get paid. This is the default for a reason. When a customer clicks an affiliate link and buys shortly after, the most recent engagement is almost always the one that drove the sale. If you’re unsure which structure to pick, this is it.

Use Oldest Engagement Wins if…

You want to reward the collaborator who brought the customer in originally, not the one who closed the sale. This fits programs where lead generation is the valuable work, like high-ticket B2B sales, agency services, or courses with long consideration cycles. It also works well when you pair a lead-generation program with a separate closing program in the same group, because each program can credit a different collaborator for their part in the journey.

See the full details

• Newest Engagement Wins for last-touch attribution.
• Oldest Engagement Wins for first-touch attribution.