Sub-IDs (s1 to s5): segment, block, and re-price affiliate traffic
How sub-IDs let you see which source inside an affiliate is really performing — the s1 traffic-source convention, sub-ID reporting, blocking a junk source, and paying a good source differently.
An affiliate is rarely a single stream of traffic. Behind one partner there might be a newsletter, three ad networks, and a dozen placements, all converting at very different rates. Sub-IDs are how you see through the affiliate to the source underneath, and then act on what you find. Used well, they turn "this affiliate is fine" into "this affiliate is great except for one bad source."
What a sub-ID is
Sub-IDs are five optional labels, s1 through s5, that an affiliate (or you) can append to a tracking link to segment traffic. They ride along on every click and are copied onto the conversions that click produces, so you can measure which source within an affiliate is actually performing.
The s1 convention: traffic source
By convention, s1 is the traffic-source dimension. It is the value sub-ID reporting groups by, and the value you can block or re-price. Use stable, reusable labels: s1=newsletter, s1=facebook, s1=push_network_7. Avoid putting a unique value on every click (a timestamp or a click ID), because that makes sub-ID reporting meaningless, filling it with thousands of one-click rows. The remaining slots, s2 through s5, are free-form passthrough values for anything finer-grained, like a placement, an ad set, or a keyword.
Seeing sub-ID performance
Sub-ID performance is your primary lens on traffic quality. For any affiliate, you can break traffic down by source for a date range and see clicks, conversions, and money per source. The patterns to watch for jump out quickly: a source with lots of clicks and near-zero conversions, or a sudden click spike with flat conversions, is a red flag worth acting on. Sub-ID values also appear as columns on your click and conversion reports.
Blocking a source without pausing the affiliate
When one source is junk, you do not have to pause the whole affiliate. You can block just that source on the campaign. Clicks arriving with a blocked source are not recorded; the visitor is redirected to the campaign's fallback URL instead, and everything else keeps flowing. You can remove the block at any time.
Paying a good source differently
Sometimes the answer is not to block a source but to re-price it, especially when one source converts far above or below the affiliate's average. Instead of renegotiating the whole campaign, you can set a per-source payout override for that one value.
Overrides follow a clear precedence: a per-source override beats a campaign payout override, which beats the contract's terms. The most specific value wins. Like all economics in the platform, the override is frozen onto the click at click time, so changing it later only affects future traffic.
When to use which
- Just watching? Use sub-ID reporting. No setup is needed beyond your affiliates labeling
s1consistently. - One bad source, good affiliate? Block the sub-ID on the campaign and keep the rest flowing.
- One source worth more or less? Set a per-source payout override instead of a full renegotiation.
- A volume problem rather than a quality problem? Reach for caps instead.
Sub-IDs are where good program managers earn their keep: the same affiliate, read one layer deeper. Want to see your own traffic broken down this way? Book a demo and we will pull it apart with you.