Location: WordPress Admin → Coupon Affiliates → Settings → Privacy & Cookies

This tab controls how the plugin tracks visitors who click your affiliates’ referral links – specifically how it stores cookies, uses WooCommerce sessions, and logs referral link clicks.

How Referral Tracking Works

When a visitor clicks a referral link (e.g. yoursite.com/?coupon=AFFILIATE123), the plugin stores a small cookies in their browser. This cookie remembers which affiliate referred them so that the correct coupon is automatically applied when they add products to their cart – even if they browse multiple pages or come back a day or two later.

Without cookies, the plugin can only attempt to apply the coupon on the very first page the visitor lands on, and some tracking features stop working entirely. It will also stop URL-only tracking from working (if they do not apply the coupon).

Cookie Settings

These three toggles control which types of cookies the plugin is allowed to store. Disabling them makes referral tracking less reliable – only turn them off if your affiliates track referrals entirely through customers manually entering coupon codes at checkout.

Store cookies for referral links (Default: On — Recommended)

The main referral cookies. Stores the affiliate’s coupon code in the visitor’s browser when they click a referral link. This is what allows the coupon to be auto-applied at checkout and enables accurate click and conversion tracking.

If turned off: coupons can only be auto-applied on the very first page visited via the referral link. URL-only order tracking (tracking sales without a coupon code being applied) will also stop working.

Store cookies for MLA referral links (Default: On — Recommended)

The same as above but specifically for Multi-Level Affiliate referral links. Keeps the referral tracked even if the new customer doesn’t register immediately on their first visit.

If turned off: the MLA referral is only tracked if the visitor registers during the exact same page session they first clicked the link.

Store cookies for domain link tracking and blacklists (Default: On)

Required for the domain-based link tracking and domain blacklist features. Safe to leave on even if you’re not actively using those features. Only disable it if you specifically want to turn those features off.

Session Settings

WooCommerce sessions are a backup method for auto-applying referral coupons when the plugin’s own cookies are unavailable – for example, if a visitor’s browser blocked or cleared cookies, or a caching layer prevented the cookie from being stored.

When a visitor arrives via a referral link, the plugin stores the coupon code in their WooCommerce session alongside the cookie. If the cookie isn’t found when they go to checkout, the session value is used as a fallback.

Das ist wichtig: Sessions only last for the visitor’s current browsing session – they don’t persist long-term like a cookie. They are also only used for coupon auto-apply at checkout, not for URL-only order tracking or click conversion tracking.

Use WooCommerce sessions as a backup for referral coupon auto-apply (Default: On – Recommended)

Leave this on. It provides a safety net in situations where cookies are unavailable and costs nothing in performance. It’s particularly useful if you are on a LiteSpeed host, using Cloudflare APO, or if visitors on your site need to accept a cookie consent banner before cookies can be stored.

Clicks Log Privacy

Controls how individual visitors are identified when a referral link click is recorded, to prevent the same visitor being counted as multiple clicks.

Visitor Identification Method for Click Tracking (Default: IP Address)

For most sites, IP Address is fine. If you are concerned about GDPR compliance or want to minimise cookies, switch to Random ID (Session).

How This Works With Common Setups

Standard WordPress hosting
No special configuration needed. Most caching plugins automatically skip caching pages with URL parameters like ?coupon=, so the referral cookie is set correctly on the visitor’s first page load.

Cloudflare (standard proxy)
Works normally. Cloudflare’s standard proxy mode passes requests through to your server so PHP and cookie-setting run as expected.

Cloudflare Automatic Platform Optimization (APO)
APO serves pages from Cloudflare’s edge network, which can bypass your server’s PHP entirely – including the code that sets referral cookies. If a visitor lands on a cached page, the cookie may never be stored.

The plugin will show a warning in the settings if it detects APO is active. To fix this, either disable APO or configure it to bypass caching for URLs containing your referral parameter (e.g. ?coupon=). Keeping WooCommerce Sessions enabled helps recover referrals that would otherwise be lost.

LiteSpeed servers (Rocket.net, Hostinger, Namecheap, and similar)
Some LiteSpeed-based hosts use a feature called cookie stripping, which can remove cookies from server responses before they reach the visitor’s browser. The plugin will show a warning in the settings if it detects LiteSpeed. Contact your host and ask them to whitelist the plugin’s cookies (wcusage_referral, wcusage_referral_code, wcusage_referral_click, wcusage_referral_id). Enabling WooCommerce Sessions is also strongly recommended as a fallback.

Cookie consent / GDPR plugins (CookieYes, Cookiebot, Complianz, etc.)
If visitors block or delay cookie acceptance, referral cookies cannot be stored until they consent. Because the referral URL parameter is only present on the first page they visit, any visitor who navigates away before accepting cookies may not be tracked.

Die WooCommerce Sessions backup helps here, since it relies on the WooCommerce session cookie (which is typically classed as strictly necessary and not blocked by consent tools). For the most privacy-friendly configuration, switch the Visitor Identification Method zu Random ID (Session) so no extra cookies are needed for click tracking at all.

Safari and Firefox with enhanced privacy settings
Not an issue. Safari’s ITP and Firefox’s ETP restrict third-party cookies (cookies set by external domains). The plugin only sets first-party cookies on your own domain, which are usually unaffected.