One Affiliate, Multiple Revenue Streams
When a single affiliate refers a user who generates revenue through subscriptions, in-app purchases, and web transactions, you need unified tracking to understand the full value of that referral. Fragmented tracking means you undervalue affiliates and make poor commission decisions.
The Challenge of Multi-Revenue Attribution
Consider an affiliate who refers a user to a fitness app. That user:
- Subscribes to the premium plan ($9.99/month via App Store)
- Buys a meal plan add-on ($4.99 one-time via in-app purchase)
- Purchases branded merchandise ($29.99 via your Stripe-powered web store)
The total revenue from this referral is $44.97 in the first month — but the data comes from three different sources. Without unified tracking, you might only commission on the subscription, undervaluing the affiliate's contribution by over 75%.
Building the Unified Pipeline
Step 1: Establish User Identity
The foundation of unified tracking is a consistent user identifier across all revenue sources. When a user creates an account in your app, that account ID must be:
- Linked to the affiliate attribution (stored by Insert Affiliate)
- Used in your subscription management system (RevenueCat, Adapty)
- Used in your web payment system (Stripe customer ID)
- Consistent across iOS and Android if the user has both
Step 2: Connect Revenue Sources
Configure each revenue source to report events to Insert Affiliate:
Subscriptions via RevenueCat/Adapty: Webhook events for purchases, renewals, cancellations. These are the most straightforward — configure once and they run automatically.
In-app purchases (consumable): Your app reports each purchase event to Insert Affiliate through the SDK or server API. Include the user identifier and transaction amount.
Web payments via Stripe: Stripe webhook events for successful charges, forwarded to Insert Affiliate. Map the Stripe customer ID to your app's user identifier.
Direct App Store/Google Play: Server notifications from Apple and Google, configured to Insert Affiliate's endpoints.
Step 3: Configure Commission Rules
Set commission rules for each revenue type:
- Subscriptions: 20% recurring
- Consumable IAPs: 15% per purchase
- Web transactions: 20% per transaction
- One-time unlocks: 20% of purchase price
Different rates reflect different margins and predictability per revenue stream.
Step 4: Unified Reporting
Insert Affiliate aggregates all revenue events per affiliate, giving you:
- Total revenue generated per affiliate (across all sources)
- Revenue breakdown by source type
- Commission totals per affiliate
- LTV per referred user including all revenue streams
This unified view reveals which affiliates drive the highest total value — not just the most installs or subscriptions.
Avoiding Double-Counting
With multiple revenue pipelines, ensure each transaction is reported exactly once:
- Use transaction IDs to deduplicate events
- Designate a single source of truth for each revenue type
- If RevenueCat handles subscriptions, do not also configure direct App Store webhooks for subscriptions
The Full Value Picture
Unified tracking often reveals that affiliate-referred users are more valuable than single-source tracking suggests. A user attributed to an affiliate who subscribes AND makes additional purchases has a higher total LTV than the subscription alone indicates.
This data justifies higher commission rates, which attracts better affiliates, which drives more high-value users — a positive flywheel.
Start Where You Are
If implementing unified tracking across all revenue sources feels overwhelming, start with your primary revenue source (usually subscriptions). Add additional sources one at a time as your tracking infrastructure matures.
Each source you add gives you a more accurate picture of affiliate value and enables better commission decisions.