Thread: Referrer info from Shop.com

We are not able to see referrer information for orders that (we believe) come in form shop.com.... referrer is blank.
When googlebase redirects we capture that information with the order.
Do we need to configure anything specific for shop.com?
When we added some javascript code to the template.ascx to display the referrer it shows as shop.com... we placed a test order but referrer field was again blank.

I am losing referrer as well I just click on Item from next tag and place a test order and Referrer was blank.

I'm losing aspdotnetstorefront referrer field data too, 80% of orders have this field empty.

Why?

First a caveat: I don't know the referrer code logic well, so I could be wrong and am happy to be corrected!

My understanding is that referrer is set only on the first visit to the site by a Customer. It is stored as a cookie which has a 12 month lifespan.

If the customer comes to the site a second time from a different referring source, I *think* the referrer is still set as the original source from their first visit (or nothing if they came to the site direct?).

You can test this by going to your site and viewing the cookies for the page you are on. There should be one called 'Referrer'. This is the value I think gets used when the Customer record is created.

Now, go to a search engine and search for your site, click on the link, then view the Referrer cookie value again - it will probably be the same as before?

Are you looking for the referrer, or the affiliate ID? They're 2 separate things that are often confused but work differently.

I'm definitely looking for the referrer rather tahn the Affilaite ID. Webopius, (Hello Adam! Our Adam, does a great toy for Gateway error reporting, recommended, get one!) has it nailed the way I understand it. Thus if a visitor returns to a site, after a first visit, not making a purchase, the cookie is nonetheless stored so that on return the referer is inserted in the feild with the second visit and first purchase?

Only when it is a direct visit do we see an empty referrer field? Have I and Webopius got it right?

But I'm seeing way, way more empty referer fileds than i can credit with direct sales. So wot gives?

I wept when i read this:



http://www.webmasterworld.com/forum39/2558.htm

it would appear I'm chasing the impossible.

You can expect 50% Empty referrer. Doh! Ah, I am but a fool??!

So this means that ROI tracking is very limited in the absence of a tracking url e.g.?referrer=soandso.

i quote:

Referrers are blocked in Internet Explorer more than any other browser - your own logs should prove that. As I mentioned before, programs like Norton Internet Security, some versions of McAfee, and lots of privacy/anti-spyware/adware software does this automatically. Often times this software comes pre-installed on new systems and the user doesn't even know they have it or what it does. Expect to see the number of valid referrers captured continue to drop as privacy concerns continue to grow among the typical home user.