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What's the best way to...

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:54 pm
by will83
Hi there,

I have the lovely job of redisigning my company's website. One of the new functions will be to keep a record of a visitor's referring url along with any purchase they make.

At the moment I plan to grab the referring url and store it in the browsers session id and once they have made a purchase I can recall it and enter it in with the database along with their order.

Is the best way to do this??

Should I be using cookies instead (its an insurance website so it's not like I will need a shopping basket)

Any help will be appreciated,

Thanks

Will

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 3:56 pm
by RobertGonzalez
Referring page information is not always reliable. Just be aware.

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:06 pm
by will83
I have heard it before. Can you suggest a more robust method?

thanks

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:08 pm
by Luke
well if it's just for statistical use... who cares as long is it's usually reliable.

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:13 pm
by will83
It's for making sure agents get their commission if a client has come from a link on their site and makes a purchase.

When is using that methid not reliable? Does it depend on browers?

Posted: Thu Jul 20, 2006 4:14 pm
by RobertGonzalez
I agree. I wouldn't rely on it for really important stuff though.