# Credit Groups Explained
Credit groups allow you to prioritize or de-prioritize the attribution of certain partners. You can set partners as *Preferred*, *Standard*, or *Non-Preferred*. This feature requires informed and delicate use, as you can quickly make major changes to how your program attributes partners (e.g., turning a cashback partner into a non-preferred one will majorly decrease their commissions and result in cashback users being confused about why they are not receiving their cashback).
Setting the credit group for a partner is ultimately your decision, but there are recommendations for how to best use it. Refer to the table below for a description of each credit group and impact.com's recommendation on how to use it.
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**Important**: Credit groups take precedence over [Promo Code Tracking](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/promo-codes/promo-codes-overview) attribution. For example, a *Standard* partner with a promo code set to `Always Credit` will lose attribution over a *Preferred* partner using last-click attribution. However, if both partner contracts are set to *Preferred*, then Promo Code Tracking attribution wins.
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#### Credit group options
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**Note**: All partners who have not been allocated a credit group are set to *Preferred* by default.
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The following credit group descriptions apply if your program is configured to leverage [last-click crediting](https://help.impact.com/brand/what-would-you-like-to-learn-about/platform-features/tracking/credit-policies/last-click-credit-policy-explained) for all conversion events. If you are using any form of advanced crediting logic or are unsure, please [reach out to support](https://app.impact.com/support/portal.ihtml) for assistance.
| Credit group | Description | impact.com's Recommendation |
| ------------- | -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Preferred | *Preferred* partners will be credited for driving an action when that partner is the last click of all preferred partners participating in the customer journey. | Select this option if you want **this partner to be credited with driving an action over another partner** lower in your hierarchy, if they were involved in driving an action. |
| Standard | *Standard* partners will be credited for driving an action when that partner is the last click of all *standard* partners participating in the customer journey, provided no *preferred* partners participated in the same customer journey. | Select this option if you want **this partner to be credited with driving an action if no Preferred partners were involved** in driving an action. |
| Non-Preferred | *Non-preferred* partners will be credited for driving an action when that partner is the last click of all *non-preferred* partners participating in the customer journey, provided no *preferred* or *standard* partners participated in the same customer journey. | Select this option if you want **this partner to be last in line for being credited for driving an action**. If any *Preferred* or *Standard* partners were involved in driving the action, they will be credited over partners with this credit group. |
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**Tip**: If you begin changing credit groups for contracts, it's strongly encouraged that you start labeling each contract as *Preferred*, *Standard*, & *Non-Preferred* so that you can easily filter your Template Terms by label moving forward.
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Example scenarios
Let's say you're managing a digital marketing program using impact.com, and you have 3 channels that drive customer conversions:
* Email Marketing (*Preferred*)
* Affiliate Marketing (*Standard*)
* Display Ads (*Non-Preferred*)
Now, you want to set up credit groups for these channels to determine how conversions will be credited and how your partners will be paid.
#### Scenario 1
**Last-click conversion for all channels**:
A customer clicks through the following journey before completing a purchase:
1. The customer clicks on a Display Ad (*Non-Preferred*).
2. The customer clicks on an Email Marketing campaign (*Preferred*).
3. The customer clicks on an Affiliate Marketing link (*Standard*).
4. The customer makes a purchase (Final action).
In this scenario, **Email Marketing**, being in the *Preferred* credit group, would receive the credit for the conversion. This is because the *Preferred* credit group takes priority if it's the last click of all participating credit groups.
#### Scenario 2
**When no preferred channel is involved**:
Now, let's imagine a different customer journey where the Email Marketing channel is not involved:
1. The customer clicks on a Display Ad (*Non-Preferred*).
2. The customer clicks on an Affiliate Marketing link (*Standard*).
3. The customer makes a purchase (Final action).
Since no *Preferred* credit groups were involved in this conversion, the **Affiliate Marketing** channel (*Standard*) would be credited for driving the action, as it's the last-click channel in the *Standard* credit group.
| Preferred | Always takes priority for credit if it's the last click from any *Preferred* channels. |
| ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
| Standard | Gets credit for the conversion only if no *Preferred* credit groups were involved. |
| Non-Preferred | Gets credit only if no *Preferred* or *Standard* credit groups were involved, and it is the last click among all *Non-Preferred* credit groups. |
**Optimize setup**:
In the case where you have a *preferred* channel configured via Optimize and you also have partners set as *standard* in your Insertion Orders, the *preferred* channel will be credited rather than the *standard* partner.
**Promo code setup**:
Credit groups take precedence over promo code tracking attribution. In other words, a *standard* partner with a promo code set to `Always Credit` will lose attribution over a *preferred* partner using last-click attribution. However, if both partner contracts are set to *preferred*, then promo code tracking attribution wins.
#### Review your active credit groups
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{% tab title="For channel credit groups" %}
1. From the left navigation menu, select  **\[Optimize] → Settings**.
2. Select **Channels**.
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{% tab title="For partner credit groups" %}
1. From the left navigation menu, select  **\[Engage]** → **Reports** → **More Reports**.
2. In the search bar, input [Contract History](https://app.impact.com/secure/mediapartner/report/viewReport.report?handle=mp_io_history) and select the relevant report from the search results. Alternatively, scroll down the list to find the relevant report and select it.
{% endtab %}
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