tracking
Sub-ID
A tag on your affiliate link that identifies which content drove each commission in the dashboard.
What is Sub-ID?
A Sub-ID is an optional tracking parameter appended to your affiliate link that is passed through the conversion and recorded in your network dashboard — allowing you to identify which specific article, email, or campaign generated each commission, not just which program.
Sub-ID In Practice
Without Sub-IDs, your affiliate dashboard shows program-level totals: you earned $340 from Moosend this month. With Sub-IDs, it shows content-level detail: $210 from your 'Moosend vs Mailchimp' comparison, $98 from your standalone review, $32 from your email promotion. That content-level breakdown is where every optimization decision lives. Sub-IDs are implemented by appending a parameter to your affiliate link — the format varies by network: Impact uses a clickId field, PartnerStack appends ?fpr=your-subid, ShareASale uses a custom SID field. Use the article URL slug as the Sub-ID value so the dashboard data is immediately readable without a lookup key. Sub-IDs track conversions within the affiliate network; UTM parameters track traffic within Google Analytics. Implement both in parallel for complete attribution.
Example of Sub-ID
An affiliate adds Sub-IDs to all Envato Elements links across five articles. After 60 days, their Impact dashboard shows: 'elements-creative-tools-review' produced 14 conversions; 'elements-vs-freepik' produced 9; 'best-design-resources' produced 2. The comparison article generates 7x more conversions per click than the roundup. Without Sub-IDs, all 25 conversions appear as a single Envato total — with no basis for deciding which articles to expand.
Related Terms
Related Tools & Services
- Envato Elements Affiliate Program — Example program used to illustrate Sub-ID tracking across multiple review articles