Card-Linked Offers (CLO) allow consumers to earn rewards like cashback or discounts by linking their credit or debit cards to a loyalty or rewards program. This FAQ answers common questions about CLO processes, data availability and how to manage CLO activity within your impact.com account.
Card-Linked Offers (CLO) do not use affiliate tracking links so there isn't an Order ID (OID) that would allow transactions to be de-duplicated by impact.com. However, you can manually review the transaction data uploaded by your CLO partner and match it against your internal transaction records before approving any actions.
Some CLO platforms offer their own de-duplication capabilities. Because they have visibility into a user’s purchase history and the partners linked to that user’s card, they may be able to prevent duplicate crediting across publishers on their end.
De-duplication is generally only a concern for online sales. In-store purchases are typically not affected.
CLO partners don't receive item-level data or OID from banks, therefore it isn't possible to directly associate returns with specific transactions. This limitation means that returns are processed differently than in traditional affiliate tracking.
Return handling methods vary by partner. Common approaches include:
Adjusting reward structures: Some partners may adjust the CPA or apply a reward cap to account for expected return rates based on earlier campaign data.
Pre-filtering return transactions: Some partners are able to identify and remove return transactions before uploading data.
Lump-sum reimbursements: In some cases, partners may issue a bulk refund to cover the value of returned purchases.
In addition, larger CLO partners actively monitor their networks for suspicious activity. Users found violating platform policies may be removed from the network.
We recommend contacting your CLO partner directly to learn more about how they handle returns for your program.
When a CLO partner uploads transaction data to your account, certain fields are required. These include:
CampaignId: Identifies the CLO campaign.EventTypeId: Your CLO Event Type ID.Amount: The transaction amount.EventDate: The date the transaction occurred.CurrencyCode: The currency of the transaction.
CLO partners can also populate standard impact.com fields such as SubId, SharedId, and LocationId.
In addition, partners may include CLO-specific data fields when available, such as:
CardLastFour: The last four digits of the user's card.CustomerPostCode: The customer's postal code.CardBin: Bank Identification Number.
For a full list of supported fields, refer to the CLO Partner Integration guide.
To access transaction-level data, use the Advanced Action Listing report. This report provides a line-by-line breakdown of all transactions.
To get a high-level view of your CLO event performance, use Performance by Event Type report or the Event Type Dashboard. This report shows you specific data about the events you track, including CLO. You can view the report data either as a trend graph or a table and compare key performance metrics, such as performance by partner, by month or by day.
With Card-Linked Offers (CLO), new and existing customer targeting is based on the cardholder’s purchase history with the specific banks promoting the offer. Consumer behavior research shows that cardholders often use specific cards for distinct types of purchases. This means a customer may be identified as new even if they’ve previously shopped with your brand using a different card or bank.