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End Dark Social: A Playbook for Flawless Influencer Attribution

You've invested heavily in your influencer marketing program, but your data is a mess. Influencers shorten, miscopy, or forget to use your affiliate links, sending valuable traffic and sales into the 'dark social' void. This makes it impossible to accurately attribute revenue, measure ROI, and reward your top-performing partners, undermining your entire strategy.

This playbook details a powerful, integrated stack that eliminates link-based tracking errors. By embedding unique Refersion affiliate links directly into scannable Shopcodes QR codes, you bypass the risk of human error. Influencers can easily share these QR codes in their stories, posts, or even at live events. When a customer scans the code, they are seamlessly directed through the affiliate link to your Shopify store, guaranteeing every sale is correctly attributed to the right influencer. It's a foolproof system for tracking offline-to-online conversions and influencer performance.

Expected Outcomes

  • Eliminate 'dark social' traffic from your influencer campaigns by ensuring every referral is tracked.
  • Achieve near-perfect sales attribution for every influencer, enabling accurate ROI calculation.
  • Simplify the sharing process for influencers, increasing their compliance and effectiveness.
  • Gain reliable data to identify and reward your top-performing affiliates and optimize your marketing spend.

Core Tools in This Stack

Shopify

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Shopify is an all-in-one commerce platform that allows businesses to create an online store, manage products, process payments, and sell across multiple channels, from websites to social media and physical locations.

Key Features
  • Customizable Online Storefront
  • Integrated Payment Processing (Shopify Payments)
  • Point of Sale (POS) System
  • Multi-channel Selling (Social Media, Marketplaces)
  • Inventory Management
  • Marketing and SEO Tools
  • Extensive App Store for added functionality
  • Analytics and Reporting Dashboard
Ideal For

Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Health & Wellness

Pricing

Model: Subscription-based

Tier: Mid-tier

Ease of Use

Easy

Refersion

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An affiliate and influencer marketing platform designed for e-commerce brands to recruit, track, and pay their partners, automating commissions and providing detailed analytics.

Key Features
  • Automated Commission Tracking
  • Customizable Affiliate Registration Pages
  • Robust Reporting & Analytics
  • Direct Integrations with E-commerce Platforms (Shopify, BigCommerce, WooCommerce, Magento)
  • Coupon Code Tracking
  • Direct Affiliate Communication Tools
  • Integrated Payment and Tax Management (Refersion Pay)
  • Affiliate & Influencer Discovery Marketplace
Ideal For

Company Size: Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Retail & E-commerce, Health & Wellness, Creative & Media, Technology & Software

Pricing

Model: Subscription, Quote-based

Tier: Medium

Ease of Use

Easy

Shopcodes

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A free, Shopify-native app for creating trackable QR codes that link customers from physical locations directly to products or a pre-filled cart, helping to bridge the gap between offline and online sales.

Key Features
  • Generate QR codes for specific products
  • Link directly to a product page or a cart with the item pre-loaded
  • Create and apply discounts automatically when a Shopcode is scanned
  • Track scan analytics and performance within the Shopify dashboard
  • Customize codes with a brand logo and colors
  • Download codes in high resolution for print and digital marketing
Ideal For

Company Size: Micro, Small, Medium, Large

Industries: Retail & E-commerce, Creative & Media, Health & Wellness, Business & Professional Services

Pricing

Model: Free

Tier: Free

Ease of Use

Easy

The Workflow

graph TD subgraph "The Integrated E-commerce Sales Stack" direction LR N0["Shopify"] N1["Refersion"] N2["Shopcodes"] N1 -- "Provides Affiliate Tracking Link" --> N2 N2 -- "QR Code redirects customer to tracking link" --> N1 N1 -- "Redirects customer to store and attributes sale" --> N0 end classDef blue fill:#3498db,stroke:#2980b9,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; classDef green fill:#2ecc71,stroke:#27ae60,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; classDef orange fill:#f39c12,stroke:#d35400,stroke-width:2px,color:#fff; class N0 blue; class N1 blue; class N2 blue;

Integration Logic

  • Refersion Affiliate Link Importer for Shopcodes

    This manual integration connects Refersion and Shopcodes to create trackable QR codes for affiliates. The process starts by generating or retrieving a unique affiliate tracking link from Refersion. This link is then used as the destination URL when creating a new QR code within the Shopcodes app in Shopify. The resulting Shopcode, when scanned by a customer, directs them through the Refersion tracking link before landing them on the Shopify store. This action places a tracking cookie in the customer's browser, allowing Refersion to correctly attribute any subsequent purchase to the affiliate, even though the customer journey started offline.

Unlock Flawless Influencer Attribution

Stop losing revenue to link errors and finally prove the true ROI of your influencer program.