Conclusion Although it does take customers somewhat longer to decide on higher-priced items and larger orders, the vast majority of affiliate-referred purchases happens on the day of the user's click on an affiliate link. Based on the previously quoted statistics, why not offer affiliates 365 days of cookies or even lifetime cookies? I recommend to my clients that they set the default cookie life for their affiliate programs at the 90-day mark and offer affiliates cookie life increases (to 180 and 365/ unlimited days) as a bonus for their activity in your affiliate program. As the previous data has clearly illustrated, there is no reason not to do this. Longer cookie durations certainly have a high perceived value in affiliates' eyes, being of a relatively low "cost" to the merchant. Thursday: Calculate Commission Budgeting in Incentives When deciding the level at which to set the default commission rate, you want to cal- culate what you can afford to pay but also remember to leave room for network fees, commission increase offers, promos, and private offers. Also, it is good to factor in tiered commission increases that would be tied to the affiliate's performance with your program. Figure 6.10 shows how a merchant's performance incentives look on the affiliate end at Commission Junction. 99 T H U R S DAY: C A L C U L AT E C O M M I S S I O N B U D G E T I N G I N I N C E N T I V E S Figure 6.10 ShindigZ's tiered commission increase structure