Comparison · Mantle affiliates

A narrower affiliate replacement with a direct first-party handoff.

Marlo covers referral links, merchant lifecycle, a commission ledger and exports. It does not claim to reproduce every Mantle workflow or send payouts.

What current Mantle documentation describes

Mantle's public documentation describes programme creation, affiliate and referral management, 30-day link attribution and commission workflows. Its affiliate FAQ says automatic tracking relies on Google Analytics data exported through BigQuery. Review the programme guide, management guide and affiliate FAQ against your own use before migration.

What Marlo covers

  1. 01Programmes associated with one tracked Shopify app
  2. 02Approved-destination referral links
  3. 03Configurable 1–365 day first-touch attribution window
  4. 04Browser signup context plus server-confirmed install, trial, payment, cancellation and refund lifecycle
  5. 05Pending and approved commission ledger
  6. 06Signed refund reversals and manual audited adjustments
  7. 07Programme, affiliate and link disable controls with preserved history
  8. 08CSV commission export

What Marlo deliberately does not cover

  1. 01Automated commission payouts
  2. 02Affiliate-facing login portal
  3. 03Creative-asset libraries or partner groups
  4. 04Cross-domain attribution without an app-owned acquisition handoff
  5. 05Payment proof inferred from a browser event
  6. 06Historical attribution imported automatically from Mantle

Architecture difference

Marlo uses the hosted browser script to capture marlo_ref and an opaque acquisition ID. The Shopify app retains that ID in its own signed first-party session through installation, then sends authoritative lifecycle and payment events directly from its server. This avoids making BigQuery a requirement for the initial affiliate path.

The acquisition ID must remain separate from Shopify OAuth state and HMAC validation.

Parallel-run checklist

  1. 01Export the existing Mantle affiliate and commission records you need to retain
  2. 02Create one Marlo programme with the same documented window and rate
  3. 03Create a test affiliate and link
  4. 04Instrument an app-owned destination and signed install handoff
  5. 05Send test install, trial and paid events with a non-production merchant
  6. 06Compare attribution and commission results
  7. 07Document the cutover date and treatment of in-flight referrals
  8. 08Disable old links only after every approved destination has changed

Use the method on your own data

Marlo keeps definitions beside the relevant report and detail views.

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