Weaving a Tangled Web
By Greg Stoltz
Direct Response Technologies, Inc.
Multiple tracking pixels can
easily lead to serious migraines.
Within
the affiliate marketing realm, tracking in real-time by
using invisible 1x1 pixels is quite common place. These
pixels provide an easy and quite accurate method of
recording actions that result from an affiliate link.
However, if you are an advertiser running your offers in
multiple affiliate networks and you place multiple tracking
pixels within the very same thank you page you already know
the troubles this can cause – different sources claiming
they were responsible for the very same sales!
This is
a huge head ache that can result in over payment to partners
and frustration for everyone involved. This happens because
one tracking system can not know what another system is
tracking. Cookies set on behalf of one system/web site can
not be read by another system. This is an inherent security
feature present in all web browsers. So what can be done?
In
supporting our large and growing number of clients, Direct
Response Technologies, has encountered this situation a
number of times. Many of our clients make use of other
large affiliate networks to drive traffic. As the volume of
traffic sources increases, the likelihood that a consumer
will be exposed to the same campaign from multiple sources
increases. Here is an example to illustrate the issue:
·
Partner
A is a single affiliate with a very large mailing list.
·
Partner
B is an affiliate network with thousands of affiliated
publishers.
·
Partner
B sets a 30 day cookie – they will track any sales generated
within 30 days of the initial click.
·
The
advertiser places both their internal tracking pixel on
their thank you page and also the tracking pixel provided
by Partner B.
·
The
advertiser’s tracking system is configured to credit any
sales to the last affiliate to generate a click – the one
closest in time to the actual conversion.
·
Partner
A mails the campaign out to their list of millions of
subscribers.
·
Partner
B has a number of affiliated publishers mail to their lists
and promote it on their web sites.
·
Consumer
X receives an email containing the campaign sent by one of
Partner B’s affiliates and clicks but does not purchase.
·
A week
later Consumer X receives an email containing the same
campaign but sent by Partner A. This time the consumer
clicks and purchases.
Who
should receive credit for the sale? Partner B’s system is
going to record the sale because of the 30 day cookie that
was set when the consumer clicked on their ad, however, the
advertiser’s system is going to credit the sale to Partner
A, because that partner drove the click closest to the
conversion.
Now the
advertiser is in a tough position – either paying two
different partners for the same sale or making Partner B
unhappy by not paying them for the sale that was recorded in
Partner B’s system but not within the advertiser’s.
To avoid
this unfortunate situation, advertisers have a few options,
including:
-
Dynamically creating the thank you page to only display the
third-party pixel for the partner that will be credited with
the sale.
-
Refusing
to place third-party and forcing partners to work off of the
advertiser’s numbers – in a lot of cases this is simply not
a viable option.
-
Building
intelligence into the pixel display process or making use of
a tracking system that has this ability built in to it.
Dynamically creating your thank you page
One
common approach savvy marketers use to avoid the headaches
associated with multiple pixels, is to dynamically generate
the thank you page. In this scenario, the source of the
traffic is typically identified by using a query string
parameter, for example the link
http://advertisers-site.com/?source=network1, would
identify the source of the traffic as coming from network1.
The advertiser’s system then stores this information and
displays the tracking code for network1 on the thank you
page and only the tracking code for network1. This assumes
of course that the advertiser has the technical expertise to
capture the query string parameter and to dynamically
generate the thank you page.
One of
the draw backs of this approach is that affiliates are only
given credit for the sales/leads that are converted during
that specific visit. Sales derived from a subsequent visit
are not able to be assigned. This drives down the
conversion rates for the partners and therefore reduces
their satisfaction with the campaign. However, the
advertiser can be sure that the third-party system is not
going to record sales that will be assigned to a different
partner.
Displaying pixels with
intelligence
Client’s
of DirectTrack™ now have an option that is just as easy to
implement as the simple placing of a pixel, except that it
adds a bit of intelligence to the process such that only
those third parties that will be credited with the action
have their pixels displayed.
Within
DirectTrack™, third party pixels are configured within the
campaign, associating an HTML string with a particular
partner account. Then on the thank you page, a small piece
of JavaScript is embedded. This JavaScript determines which
partner is going to be credited with the sale and then
queries the database to obtain the proper code to display.
This method ensures that the sales recorded within
DirectTrack match the sales that are recorded within the
third party system – everybody gets what they need –
accurate real time conversion information.
In the
example above, Partner A would receive credit for the sale
and Partner B’s would not be shown. If the time of the
clicks is reversed (with Partner B generating the click
closest to the conversion), then Partner B would be credited
with the sale and their tracking code displayed thus
recording the sale in both the advertiser’s and Partner B’s
system.
Aspirin for those tracking
headaches
DirectTrack’s method of supporting third-party tracking is
welcome aspirin to ease tracking headaches. Real-time
conversion information is important and many affiliate
networks will refuse to work with advertiser’s that are
unwilling to place their tracking code. The only viable
options are to dynamically generate the thank you page to
include the proper pixels or making use of a system like
DirectTrack™ which provides a method to intelligently
display the tracking codes.
Direct Response
Technologies, Inc.
Greg Stoltz, CTO
Direct Response Technologies, Inc.
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