First-Touch Referral Program

What This Recipe Does

This recipe creates an affiliate program that uses first-touch attribution. When multiple affiliates refer the same customer over time, the affiliate who sent the customer to your store first earns the commission. Later referrals from other affiliates do not override the original.

Most affiliate programs default to last-touch attribution, where the most recent referral wins. This recipe takes the opposite approach. It rewards the affiliate who originally introduced the customer to your store, even if the customer later encounters other affiliate links before purchasing.

Who It’s For

• Businesses with longer sales cycles where customers visit multiple times over days or weeks before buying
• Store owners who value lead generation and want affiliates focused on bringing in new potential customers rather than re-engaging existing ones
• High-ticket or considered-purchase sellers (courses, memberships, premium products) where the initial introduction matters more than the final click

How It Works

When you apply this recipe, Siren creates a program that tracks referred site visits and uses the “oldest binding wins” resolver to determine attribution. Here is what that means in practice.

When a visitor first arrives at your store through an affiliate’s link, Siren records that referral and binds the visitor to that affiliate. If the same visitor later clicks a different affiliate’s link, Siren still keeps the original binding. The first affiliate retains credit.

When the visitor eventually makes a purchase, the commission goes to the affiliate who made the original referral. The affiliate earns 20% of the order’s line item total.

This model works well for products with longer consideration periods. If you sell online courses, annual memberships, or premium goods, your customers likely visit several times before committing. First-touch attribution ensures that the affiliate who introduced the customer gets rewarded, even if weeks pass between the initial referral and the purchase.

Shipping, taxes, and fees are excluded from the commission calculation. Only line item totals are used.

{
  "version": 1,
  "name": "First-Touch Referral Program",
  "description": "An affiliate program using first-touch attribution. The affiliate who originally referred the customer earns a 20% commission, even if later referrals occur.",
  "programs": {
    "affiliate": {
      "name": "Affiliate Program",
      "description": "Earn a 20% commission on every sale from customers you originally referred to the store.",
      "incentiveType": "saleTransactionPercentage",
      "incentiveResolverType": "oldestBindingWins",
      "units": "USD",
      "status": "active",
      "incentiveAmount": 20,
      "engagementTypes": [
        { "type": "referredSiteVisit", "value": 100.0 }
      ],
      "transactionCompilers": ["includeLineItems"]
    }
  }
}