Presence Over Pixels: Reward the human who actually did the work

When Links Lie: The Cost of Last-Click Hijacks

With a market value of $16 billion dollars, affiliate marketing is booming; however, it’s bleeding value to fraud. 17% of affiliate traffic in 2022 was fraudulent, causing an estimated loss of $3.4 billion dollars.  Whenever link-based codes rules are easy to hijack, the losses will continue to grow as the channel grows. Affiliate programs often award commission to a code embedded in a URL or to a cookie dropped by that link; and this process makes attribution vulnerable to:

• Cookie stuffing - cookies planted without a real referral
• Click injection - a “last click” fired just before checkout
• Browser-extension hijacking - overwriting a creator’s code at the paywall
• Bot traffic - simulated clicks and sessions that don’t reflect economic activity

Because the result is systematic overpayment and fraud, the person who actually engaged the buyer is not compensated for their work.

How TapIn replaces affiliate codes with verified in-real-life (IRL) attribution

1) IRL tap = proof of engagement

When an ambassador meets a customer, the customer taps the ambassador’s TapIn card with their NFC-powered cellphone. TapIn records a signed, tamper-resistant presence event with timestamp, location, ambassador ID, and the customer’s email address. The system issues a single-use engagement token tied to that interaction.

2) Link the verified engagement to the order without a last-click risk

When the shopper checks out online, your system can use the customer’s provided email address to associate the order with a verified, in-person interaction. Because attribution resolves server-side, last-second link swaps or extension overrides won’t provide credit.

3) Integrate payments

TapIn provides verified engagement data for affiliate platform payment systems. The affiliate marketing company calculates and issues affiliate commissions and other settlements under its existing rules and policies.

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How TapIn Eliminates Affiliate Marketing Fraud

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Operational Playbook

The affiliate marketers’ TapIn card also supports multi-objective incentives so that their  behavior aligns with your goals. TapIn cards are carried in the palm of the hand and they go wherever the ambassador goes, including any place without venue power or Wi-Fi. The brand receives engagement-to-conversion ladders by location, hour, and ambassador, along with clear views of checkout leakage. In addition, top-performer can generate heatmaps to optimize staffing and budgets. Because TapIn moves affiliate attribution out of the browser and into verified, human contact, brands reward the people doing the work.

Case study: Woove—3D-printed footwear, powered by ambassadors

Woove sells 3D-printed shoes and relies on ambassadors to spark discovery through real, tangible product moments. Fashion wins when people see the product on a person.

• Each ambassador carries a TapIn card.
• When a potential customer shows interest in the shoes that the Ambassador is wearing, they tap the TapIn card to log a verified engagement. TapIn’s links lets the shopper place a small deposit to pre-order the shoes.
• The TapIn card also provides an option to follow the company on social media so that Woove can reward ambassadors for two outcomes: (1) Instagram follower conversions and (2) sales.
• After a purchase, new customers receive their own TapIn card and become Woove ambassadors. By using TapIn, Woove successfully creates a compounding growth loop.

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