How to delete AffiliateWP’s cookies from your browser

AffiliateWP stores three main browser cookies in order to track affiliates. Their names are:

• affwp_ref – this cookie stores the affiliate ID
• affwp_ref_visit_id – this cookie stores the visit ID (the visit ID increments by 1, each time any referral link is used until the cookie expires or is deleted)
• affwp_campaign – this cookie stores the tracked campaign (if detected)

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Alongside each cookie name is a “value”. For the  affwp_ref cookie this is the affiliate’s unique ID (i.e. 123), and for the  affwp_ref_visit_id cookie this is the visit ID. These values can help you identify which affiliate is being tracked, and show you how many visits  have been made to your website through affiliate referral links  in total (all affiliate referral link visits are counted as one total).

When testing, you should clear the cookies AffiliateWP stores to simulate a new customer visiting your website for the first time via an  affiliate referral link (i.e. http://yoursite.com/?ref=123). The cookies need to be cleared in order to store new information in the browser; such as a different affiliate’s ID, or to create a brand new visit to test the process from start to finish.

Below we walk you through you how to delete AffiliateWP’s cookies in three popular browsers so you can test AffiliateWP is working correctly.

Campaign tracking cookie

The affwp_campaign cookie is used for campaign tracking. If you wish to change the campaign name when you are testing, this campaign cookie will need to be deleted as well. Follow the exact same steps as above depending on the browser you are using.

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Testing AffiliateWP cookies in the browser

Firefox

Follow these steps to delete the AffiliateWP cookies from Firefox:

1. Visit your product page or website via the affiliate referral link
2. Go to the Tools menu in the top menu bar, scroll down to Browser Tools and select Web Developer Tools. This will display a section at the bottom of your browser window
3. Click on the Storage tab across the top, click on Cookies in the left navigation menu – and click on the name of your website – the two cookies should be visible in the right-hand window
4. Look for the affiliate ID cookie (i.e. affwp_ref=123) and right + click, then select one of the Delete options to remove the cookie completely. Repeat the same process for the visit ID cookie (i.e. affwp_ref_visit_id=1)
5. You can also delete all cookies if that is easier

Chrome

Follow these steps to delete the AffiliateWP cookies from Chrome:

1. Visit the product page or website page via the affiliate referral link
2. Go to the View menu in the top menu bar and scroll down to the Developer option
3. Click on Developer Tools
4. Click on the Application tab across the horizontal menu at the top of this section, open the Cookies drop-down menu in the left navigation menu, and click on the name of your website – the two cookies should be visible in the right-hand window
5. Click on the affwp_ref cookie to select it, and then right + click, choose Delete
6. Click on the affwp_ref_visit_id to select it, and then right + click, choose Delete

Safari

Follow these steps to delete the AffiliateWP cookies from Safari:

1. Visit the product page or website page via the affiliate referral link
2. Go to the Develop option in the top menu bar, and click on Show Web Inspector
3. Click on the Storage tab across the horizontal menu at the top of this section, click on Cookies in the left navigation menu – and click on the name of your website – the two cookies should be visible in the right-hand window
4. Click on the affwp_ref cookie to select it, and then right + click, choose Delete
5. Click on the affwp_ref_visit_id to select it, and then right + click, choose Delete