We’ve been busy. Over the past year, the AvantLink team has been modernizing the platform, and reporting has been one of the biggest areas of focus. We’re actively migrating reports from the classic system into a new data warehouse, and we’re at a point where we want to properly walk you through what’s available, what’s coming, and how to get the most out of it.
Classic Reports isn’t going anywhere. But Performance Reports is the next generation, and there’s a lot to explore. (Performance Reports vs Classic Reports)
A Broader, More Flexible Reporting Experience:
Performance Reports is now home to twelve report types covering the data points that matter most to running and growing your program:
- Performance by Merchant
- Performance by Affiliate
- Performance by Affiliate Website
- Performance by Day, Month, Quarter, and Year
- Performance by Ad Campaign and Ad Tool
- Performance by Custom Tracking Code
- Transaction Detail Report
- Coupon Code Summary
These reports are built on a new data warehouse, which means faster load times and a framework designed to keep getting better as we continue the rollout. Current day data refreshes with up to a one-hour delay, with real-time updates on the roadmap.
Features That Change How You Work With Data:
Comparison tools built into the date picker:
Previously, comparing two time periods meant running separate reports and reconciling the data yourself. That’s no longer the case. Comparison tools are now built directly into the date picker across most reports. Run a previous period comparison, a year-over-year view, or a custom date range comparison all in one place. Performance by Day, for example, lets you pull this month against last month with a couple of clicks. You can also see rate of change across periods, so trends that used to take extra digging to surface are now front and center.
Gross sales visibility:
Classic Reports reported on net sales with reversals baked in, which made it harder to spot trends or understand the full picture of your program’s performance. Performance Reports changes that by giving you clearer visibility into gross sales, reversed sales, and net sales as distinct data points, including on the commissions side.
Customized display settings:
When you’re running a date comparison, the extra columns can add visual noise fast. Customized display settings let you quickly hide columns you don’t need so you can focus on what matters. It’s a small thing that makes a real difference when you’re working with dense data.
Tag group filtering for merchants:
Merchants can now filter reports by tag groups, which makes it easy to segment performance by affiliate type. Want to see how your YouTube partners are performing versus your Instagram creators? Tag group filtering is how you get there. You can also set different commission rates for different tag groups directly within the platform.
Beta custom reports:
This one is worth paying attention to. Custom reporting lets you combine the dimensions and metrics you care about into a single, tailored report rather than pulling data from multiple places. One of the most useful applications: adding gross sales, gross commissions, reversed sales, and net sales into a standard report so you can see the full picture in one view, something that wasn’t possible before. Or tracking ROAS by day if that’s how you think about performance. The flexibility is the point.
Custom reports are in beta right now. If you run into anything unexpected or have feedback, we want to hear it.
Standard reporting tools:
Filtering, sorting, downloads, and shareable report links are all available across standard reports. If a colleague needs to see a specific view of your data, you can send them directly to it.
All Reports Page:
The All Reports page is your central hub for everything reporting-related. It brings together your standard AvantLink reports and any custom reports you’ve built, lets you manage saved reports in one place, and gives you control over which reports appear on your Performance Reports page. We’ll also be sharing pro tips and seasonal callouts here throughout the year as we continue building out the experience.
We’re Still Adding More:
Performance Reports is an active work in progress. Not every Classic report has made the transition yet, and product reports are a notable gap we’re working to close later this year. We’re also actively building out the Affiliate Management page, with more details coming soon.
The goal is to give you a reporting experience that’s faster, more flexible, and built for how programs actually run today. Check it out, poke around, and let us know what you think. Your feedback genuinely shapes what we build next.
For Merchants – A Closer Look At Insights:
Every merchant has access to the standard Performance Reports experience described above. But if you want to go deeper, Insights is worth knowing about.
Insights is an add-on service that gives merchants visibility into every single click on their website throughout the referral window, not just the last touch. It includes referral group reporting that categorizes affiliate activity into three stages of the customer journey: Introducer, Influencer, and Checkout Influencer. That means you can see not just who closed the sale, but who brought the customer in and who influenced them along the way.
Beyond reporting, Insights also supports clickstream-based commission solutions including shared and modified attribution, network deduplication, and marketing channel deduplication. It can also function as a tag management tool, allowing AvantLink to deploy affiliate tracking scripts on your behalf to simplify implementation. Insights is available at an additional service fee. For full details on features and pricing, visit the Insights support article or reach out to insights@avantlink.com
