Those new to the internet and internet
advertising often find the pixel to be among the more
abstract, difficult and/or frightening concepts. When you
think of the word pixel, you might think of the components
of a screen. Those familiar with web graphics are familiar
with the pixel as a unit of measurement for web design. A
standard web page is often 800 pixels wide by 600 pixels
high. Those who have some familiarity with internet
advertising, speak in term of pixels anytime they talk about
pop-unders, emails, and banners, among other things. A
banner, for example, is most often 468 pixels wide by 60
pixels high. It just so happens that when we speak of the
smallest possible unit, we’re talking about our pixel – a
1x1 image or piece of html.
The CPA tracking pixel, this image, does one
thing, it acts as a beacon. This image, our pixel, gets
displayed on the web page just like any other image, except
that being one unit by one unit and containing no graphical
elements, it is clear, invisible if you will. A pixel by
itself doesn’t do anything; the pixel needs an accomplice to
succeed in its role as a beacon, the cookie.
For any that have struggled
with the cookie and pixel concept, I conceptualize it like
this. Cookies sit on computers and are part of the web
browser; they can collect anonymous information on where
that user goes; they are the internet stenographer. Pixels
sit on web sites and provide a means for information
contained in the cookie to be shared with home base. Cookies
are often used to help remember users’ preferences for a
page. Web browsers request elements of the page from a web
server. With images, the web browser requests that the web
browser display an image. When a web browser requests
information from a web server, that web server can read what
to display based off information contained within the
cookie. In the case of internet advertising companies, the
cookie and corresponding pixel exist not to make a web page
look right but to make sure the advertiser and/or ad network
receives the necessary information to know which partner to
credit. They are the publishers’ best friends.
In their ubiquity and necessity, the placement
of pixels raises many questions, namely, what should count
as an action? Ever read “no scrub” along with an ad? That
implies that the advertiser will show the pixel every time
the action occurs. As the pixel is an image, web sites can
easily choose to show or not show the pixel on a page based
on certain criteria. Take an email address only offer. For
an advertiser, they certainly care whether an email is a
valid address or whether the user already exists in their
database. In these cases, what is the right thing to do?
Should the advertiser show the pixel - which has no
intelligence and will announce anything, anytime - when the
email is not valid and/or the user already exists? I really
don’t think there is a correct answer.
To argue whether a pixel
should be shown or not misses the point of CPA advertising.
CPA advertising is all about advertisers and publishers
operating on the level most connected with the advertisers’
needs. Thus the rules behind the pixel come down to
semantics. The best answer in my opinion is transparency.
Advertisers should share information about what action
specifically benefits them and pay accordingly. I do not
dislike the notion of “no scrub,” which in the case of the
email address only offer implies that both duplicate email
addresses and invalid email addresses would get counted as
payable actions.
In reality no scrub acts as a
marketing tool. It exists to lure publishers to run the ad
and in some ways to legitimize cost per action by
highlighting the fairness and ease of a particular action.
One downside though, “no scrub” adds inefficiencies into the
system as it no longer has publishers and advertisers
focused on the valued action. In fairness to the no scrub
,though, it normalizes the payout, giving a point of reference
for publishers to compare easily otherwise equivalent
offers. Continue using it for that purpose, but I would
still push for payouts to be based on the valued action. Is
a US, unique user what you want? Then pay for it. Is a sale
what you desire but duplicate sales only mean refunds? Then,
pay for that initial sale. Are you a retail store where
multiple purchases count as multiple actions? Then, pay for
all.
Pixels and cookies are nothing
new. Like the CPA they’ve seen their ups and downs,
primarily at the hands of the end-users who make incorrect
assumptions about what they do. Using and displaying
tracking pixels certainly doesn’t count as a trend, but the
ever increasing role they play and reliance we have on them
in internet advertising made it the right time to highlight
this VIP. The pixel should be the “P” in CPA. Hard to
believe something so small could be so powerful. One little
square and when it gets shown literally determines the
success of an entire advertising format.
Jay Weintraub
