attribu.tech

Email-based attribution

Track payments using customer email when you can't pass cookies.

Back to revenue attribution

How it works

The primary attribution method is passing the attribu_visitor_id cookie through Stripe metadata. But sometimes cookies aren't available - the payment happens on a third-party processor, in a mobile app, or through a custom checkout that doesn't share your domain's cookies.

In these cases, you can use the customer's email address to link the payment back to a visitor. When attribu.tech receives a payment event with an email, it looks for a visitor who was previously identified with that same email and attributes the revenue to their traffic source.

Send a payment event

On your success page or post-purchase confirmation, call window.attribu() with the payment event type and the customer's email:

window.attribu("payment", {
  email: "customer@example.com",
});

React / Next.js example

If you have the customer's email available (from auth, a prop, or a query param), fire the payment event in a useEffect:

// app/success/page.tsx
"use client";

import { useEffect } from "react";

export default function SuccessPage({ user }: { user: { email: string } }) {
  useEffect(() => {
    window.attribu("payment", {
      email: user.email,
    });
  }, [user.email]);

  return <h1>Thanks for your purchase!</h1>;
}

Queue script for reliable tracking

If the payment event fires before the attribu.tech script has loaded, it will be lost. Add the queue snippet to your <head> so events are buffered until the script is ready:

<script>
  window.attribu = window.attribu || function() {
    (window.attribu.q = window.attribu.q || []).push(arguments);
  };
</script>

With the queue in place, you can call window.attribu() anywhere on the page, even before the tracking script loads. Queued events are replayed automatically.

When to use email attribution

  • Third-party payment processors - Gumroad, Paddle, FastSpring, or any processor where you can't pass cookie metadata.
  • Mobile app payments - In-app purchases where browser cookies aren't accessible.
  • Custom checkout flows - Checkout pages on a different domain where the attribu_visitor_id cookie isn't available.
  • Offline or manual payments - Invoices, bank transfers, or other payment methods outside your web checkout.
For email attribution to work, the visitor must have been previously identified with the same email address. Use window.attribu("identify", { email: "..." }) when the user signs in or fills out a form.

Duplicate handling

attribu.tech automatically ignores duplicate payment events. If the same email triggers multiple payment events in a short window, only the first one is recorded. This means you don't need to worry about retries, page refreshes, or the event firing more than once.

What's next

PreviousStripe SubscriptionsNextPayment API
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