Getting Started with Postbacks
Did you know there's a very useful and often under-looked tool available for affiliates?
It's called Global Postbacks.
To better understand how they can work in your favor, let us first define what a postback URL is – also called server-to-server tracking (S2S) or cookie-less tracking.
Please note that our advice below will require affiliates to use a tracking platform. Here are some suggestions from the team: Voluum, Thrive, AdsBridge or FunnelFlux.
So, what is a Postback?
To put it into simple words, postbacks transmit information about clicks and completed conversions. At CrakRevenue, we record all the information from a user click, including: affiliates' subids, payout amount for a specific offer, geo, device, banner clicked, and more. After a conversion, it's possible to add any or all of this information to the affiliate's platform with a postback.
To achieve so, the software appends different values to the tracking URL that are returned in the postback URL. For instance, if you wish to track your traffic’s device of choice, it could look something like this:
www.yourdomainname.com/track?d
Postbacks are the most accurate and advanced tracking method for affiliate sales. By extension, they allow you to have a better grasp of the conversion flow. From the initial click by the user all the way to the conversion/sale/lead, the insight is invaluable.
At CrakRevenue, we offer a wide variety of variables for your postbacks. Keep in mind, you can add any number of variables to your URL. Here's a sample size of what we have in store:
Postback URLs are the new hotness. An older tracking technique with "pixels" still works, but is way less reliable. They might not register conversion data when the page loads and add unnecessary weight on the advertiser’s page. On the other hand, postbacks have been known to be almost foolproof. They're called by the server only for events related to you. This means less burden on the advertiser's end.
Now that we have our (simplified) definition of what postbacks are, let's dig a little bit deeper with our next subject.
Using Global Postbacks
Affiliates on CrakRevenue can set up tracking for individual offers and/or goals. But it's not without a few headaches. In this case, setting up each offer with customized tracking can become a huge time sink.
Say hello to Global Postbacks, which will notify you of conversions across ALL offers.
As you can imagine, setting them up will save you a lot of trouble and valuable time. As a result, you will be more efficient.
Get your Global Postbacks now!
Setting up your Global Postbacks at CrakRevenue is easy.
Since they are not available by default, you will need to ask your Affiliate Manager or our great Support Team about them.
On the whole, you will be thankful to automate your tracking.
Don't miss out on our step-by-step tutorial on how to use basic postbacks in this post:
How to setup your own Postback