Trackers: The Silent Heroes of Every Campaign

Trackers:  The Silent Heroes of Every Campaign
Blog-crakrevenue-Affiliate-Tracking-Tracking-URL

Webmaster

Written by

Papa Whale

PUBLISHED ON

July 27, 2016

Category

Webmaster

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Having a good overview of your sales is one thing, but optimizing your traffic to its fullest potential using trackers is a whole different story.

Most CPA networks are already breaking down your general stats according to GEO, Program, Tour, and so forth… So, what’s the point in adding more data to an already-filled stats table that already struggles to fill every pixel of your monitor?

Well, only a premium affiliate who truly understands the role a tracker can play, is one who will succeed in profit increase, where all others have failed.

However, for efficiency’s sake, your trackers must be relevant AND organized. Here’s why you should begin using your own trackers instead of relying on the bare minimum “general stats” available in a network’s database…

Learn the Value of a Tracker

General stats tracking consists of tracking your sales by Date, Program, GEO, Tour, Category, and so on – that much is obvious.

But, having a bird’s eye view of your traffic that converts, and how it converts? That much is up to you.

Without the use of trackers, you’d have nothing short of a hazy view of things in terms of what converts, what doesn’t, and what can be improved.

They say the devil is in the detail… and you know what?  So is the money.

Discovering the top converting offer that converts, and where it converted, is like a path to treasure map when you use trackers. To optimize your sales to the max (and to do it over and over again), you need guidance.

You’ll find it ever so useful using trackers to compare and contrast current, past, and future sales. Not only that, but it’s a handy method of keeping track of rebills (track in time and space…).

Differentiate Your Traffic Sources

To find that treasure, you need to use trackers to differentiate your traffic sources.

Just answer this one simple question:  Where is your top converting traffic coming from?

Do you know?

Because without trackers, you are like a naive, innocent child who believes that babies are coming from White Storks flapping their wings majestically throughout the skies, on their way to a baby delivery.  While this kind of innocence is adorable, we know that you are interested in the real dealㅡ the real “baby making” process, per se… And the same scheme applies to your traffic.

How can you know which Ad network has the best price-quality ratio if you don’t differentiate them?

In the same order of idea, if you are promoting the same products on different websites, how can you tell which of them attracts top converting traffic?

Without trackers, you would NOT know whether your settings were sufficient or not, for example, if you had bought desktop traffic and all your visitors were on mobile devices.

Differentiating your traffic sources is paramount.  Using Google Analytics is a good start for stat breakdowns… but it’s not as useful without trackers.

A/B Testing is the best friend of Monetization

You have an awesome eye-catching ad, but is it converting? Does the same banner perform better in a different spot, or in a different size?

AB testing is key to traffic monetization – and guess what? You can’t A/B test without trackers.

Example: You can’t fully optimize your traffic until you know which one of your creatives delivers the best results per specific traffic source ㅡwhere your visitors are coming from and from which spot?

With tracking and AB testing, pattern recognition is made possible – and a good pattern is something that can be reproduced… so that you can make even MORE money…

Create Your Own Stats

It all comes down to this one simple idea: trackers are tools designed to generate relevant stats specific to YOUR traffic and YOUR promotion methods. Recognize that no two situations are the same – EVER!

Find out information that was tailor-made for you and your stats, information about your traffic that cannot be found in the “general stats” area by default.

This all depends on whether you’re willing to go the extra mile or not…

For instance, when you compare the conversion-potential of your sources, spots, and/or creatives, this allows you to assign each of these elements a value. You can then employ a strategy or concentrate your efforts in order to increase this value.

Be Consistent

For your stats to be relevant and accurate, aim for consistency. Be consistent with your labels.

The smallest inconsistency can have profound effects on the usefulness of your tracker and may minimize its benefits.

Example:  using lowercase letters when you should be using capital letters.

(e.g., there’s a difference between “US” and “us” –  Which one do you mean?  This can create confusion depending on the system you’re using to analyze them.)

Stick with a tracker “formula,” per se.

Approach all your labels in a systematic way that will become the norm.

Mixing it up and using different variations without consistency will lead to certain madness when it comes time to deciphering and analyzing your stats

For example, here’s a fairly standard (and convenient, in our eyes) tracker formula you could use:

Geo_CampaignID_Source_Spot_BannerID_Product

The tracker begins by including basic campaign info and gets more detailed with each additional underscore.

Essential campaign info in a nutshell

The success of your online sales hinges on you being in the “know” and having the ability to conceptualize the inner-happenings of your campaigns.

Remember, trackers are a prerequisite to campaign success.

There’s no such thing as too much information when it comes time to analyzing data to ensure we’re making the most money possible with our trackers and labels.

Trackers are our friends and they're designed to make our lives a whole lot easier if you just allow them to!

Let’s USE ‘EM!

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