Campaign Settings
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      Campaign Settings

      The Campaign Settings page identifies campaign information for both CPC and CPA/CPL campaigns.

       


      Basic Information

      The Basic Information section contains the following general information specific to the campaign:

      Name: The campaign name is the name of the campaign in the Partner Center.

      Category: A category is a specifically defined division in a system of classification. You can assign your campaign to a category to improve your searching and reporting in the Partner Center and Affiliate Center.

      Group: The group is the name of the campaign group that the campaign belongs to in the Partner Center.

      Type: The campaign type identifies the type of advertising campaign being deployed. A campaign type can be any of the following:

      • CPC - Cost per click
      • CPA/CPL - Cost per acquisition or sale/Cost per lead completed
      • Lead Gen - Cost per CoRegistration or Lead captured

      *Note: Once a campaign has been created, its campaign type can't be changed.

      Status: Campaign status shows the current state of a campaign. You can control the current state of a campaign in the Partner Center and Affiliate Center. The status effects the redirection of traffic.  The five campaign states an their features are describes below.

      Advertiser: An advertiser is the primary supplier of an offer or campaign. They provide the products and services to be sold.

      Revenue: The revenue is the amount of money earned from an advertiser for each transaction.

      Advertised Payout: The advertised payout is the default amount paid to affiliates. This usually is the lowest payout possible, because individual affiliate payouts can be configured to override this amount.
      *Note: Changes made to affiliate payouts take effect the beginning of the next business day. Changes applied to today adjust all the payouts for the current day.

      Manager: A campaign manager is the individual who oversees the implementation and management of an advertising campaign. Only an administrator can assign an existing campaign to a campaign manager.

      Status Options:

      1 - Testing

      • Traffic is redirected to the advertiser.
      • The campaign IS NOT displayed in the Affiliate Center.
      • The campaign CANNOT be requested by affiliates.

      2 - Public Live

      • Traffic is redirected to the advertiser.
      • The campaign displays in the Affiliate Center.
      • Creatives and links are available to affiliates.
      • The campaign can be requested by affiliates.
      • Affiliate managers can assign the campaign to affiliates.
      • Affiliates can see statistics.
      • Partners can see statistics.

      3 - Private Live

      • Traffic is redirected to the advertiser.
      • The campaign is ONLY displayed in the Affiliate Center for assigned affiliates.
      • Creatives and links are available to assigned affiliates only.
      • The campaign CANNOT be requested by affiliates.
      • Affiliate managers can assign the campaign to affiliates.
      • Assigned affiliates can see statistics.
      • Partners can see statistics.

      4 - Paused

      • Traffic is redirected to the advertiser.
      • The campaign IS NOT displayed in the Affiliate Center.
      • Creatives and links ARE NOT available in the Affiliate Center.
      • The campaign CANNOT be requested by affiliates.
      • Affiliate managers CANNOT assign the campaign to affiliates.
      • Assigned affiliates can see statistics.
      • Partners can see statistics.

      5 - Dead/Expired

      • Traffic DOES NOT redirect to the advertiser.
      • Traffic is redirected to an expired location.
      • The campaign IS NOT displayed in the Affiliate Center.
      • Creatives and links ARE NOT available in the Affiliate Center.
      • The campaign CANNOT be requested by affiliates.
      • Affiliate managers CANNOT assign the campaign to affiliates.
      • Assigned affiliates can see historical statistics.
      • Partners can see statistics.

      Expiration

      In the Expiration Information section, you can enter a campaign start date, campaign end date, and redirection to another campaign or URL if this campaign has expired.

      Start Date: In the Start Date field, enter the start date of the campaign using the Calendar.

      End Date: In the End Date field, enter the end date of the campaign using the Calendar.

      When an offer is about to expire, it is important to place an expiration date in the campaign settings. After a date has been selected, the campaign expires at midnight of the day you selected.

      For example, if you want your offer to expire on August 19, 2012, you must set the expiration date to Aug 18, 2012, so that the affiliate's tracking links stop working at 12:00 AM on Aug 19, 2012. If you set the expiration date to Aug 19, 2012, the offer will expire on Aug 20, 2012 at 12:00 AM.

      After the campaign expires, you can redirect all traffic by utilizing the Expired Redirect drop-down menu.

      Expired Redirect

      After a campaign expires, you can select one of the following options to handle expired redirect traffic that may still be coming through:

      403 Forbidden Page: Causes all residual redirects to a HTTP 403 Error.

      Campaign: Allows you to redirect the expired traffic to another campaign within your account.
      *Note: If this expired traffic converts in the new campaign, LinkTrust will not credit the affiliate with the conversion. The affiliate will not see the conversion. If you wish to give credit for the conversion on this expired traffic, you must approve the affiliate for the converting campaign.

      URL: Selecting URL gives you the option to redirect the consumer to another web page through a URL.

      Redirect.com: This option allows you to redirect your expired clicks that you are not able to monetize from your own efforts.  LinkTrust has partnered with Redirect.com and traffic will be redirected to offers at Redirect.com. You may receive a credit towards your account fees for your traffic based upon sales results from your clicks to Redirect.com.

      Landing Page

      The landing page URL is the URL of the website provided by a advertiser for the purpose of generating conversions. It is the website that the consumer goes to.

      Tokens:

      Landing page tokens can be added to the landing page URL to allow you to pass data to the advertiser's landing page. The landing page is the advertiser's website for consumers. It is the first page a customer sees in the process of making a sale. The landing page URL is the URL of the website provided by a advertiser for the purpose of generating conversions.

      The following tokens can be added to the landing page URL:

      • Campaign ID: [=CID=]
      • Affiliate ID: [=AFID=]
      • Creative ID: [=ADID=]
      • Sub ID: [=SID=]
      • Click ID: [=ClickID=]
      • Affiliate Reference ID: [=AffiliateReferenceID=]
      • Alternate ID: [=AltID=]
      • Non-Encoded URL for dynamic landing pages: [=NonEncodedURL=]
      • Additional Data: [=Field Name=]
      • Merchant Reference ID(s)*: [=MerchantReferenceIDs=]

      *Merchant Reference ID(s): Each channel has the ability to capture a Merchant Reference ID.  You can combine all these Merchant References IDs and pass them to the Success page by placing the Merchant ReferenceID(s) token on the success URL.  If you have more than one Merchant Reference ID being passed to the success page, the values will be passed in a comma seperated format.  i.e. parameter=merchantreferenceid1,merchantreferenceid2,etc...

      Allow Unassigned Affiliate Traffic

      Unassigned affiliate traffic is any affiliate who does not have a campaign assigned to their account. An unassigned affiliate is not authorized to run traffic to a campaign.

      Propagate Additional Data

      The propagate additional data option allows LinkTrust to gather the additional data that was added to the tracking link and add it to the redirected campaign or URL.  For more information see Propagate Additional Data.

      Hide Referrers

      This eliminates the page referrers prior to sending the traffic to the advertiser.  If LinkTrust is unable to remove the page referrer, the consumer is redirected to a page that has a link that says "Click to Continue".  This will allow the page referrer to finally get removed.  Note: Less than 0.5% will make it to this step in the process of removing the page referrer.

      The Hide Referrer feature relies on removing something from the consumer’s browser.  To do this, the browser info must be purged, but this is different depending on the type of browser they have and their browser configuration.  Therefore, we attempt to purge the referrer in 4 steps.  After each step, we check to see if it purged.  If it did, we send the consumer on their way to your landing page.  If they get through the first three steps and we cannot purge the referrer, the system is set to send the consumer to a page which causes them to click a link.  The physical act of clicking this link should cause the referrer to finally be purged.  However, this does stop the redirect until the consumer clicks the link.  They may decide to abandon the offer instead of click the link.

      Additional Landing Pages

      Adding additional landing pages to a campaign accommodates the need to facilitate the ability to redirect consumers to specific landing pages based on an:

      1. Individual Affiliate
      2. Affiliate Group
      3. Any series of sub ID’s
      4. Any series of creatives
      5. Any series of consumer’s user agent

      Because this feature can be configured in such detail, it’s possible for traffic to be diverged and optimized for specific mobile devices, browsers, and other consumer attributes along with affiliate attributes.

      The priority order in which landing pages are selected can also be set.  If all additional landing pages are not able to redirect the traffic based on their rules, the traffic is then send to the default landing page URL.

      Steps to adding an Additional Landing Page:

      1. Enter Name

      2. Enter URL

      3. Propagate Additional Data

      4. Rules (All rules must be true to redirect to landing page.)

      • Select Affiliate Group or Add AFID(s)
      • Add SID (Sub ID)
      • Add ADID (Creative ID)
      • Select User Agent
        • Equals/Does Not Equal
        • Add User Agent information

      5. Select Add to save settings. 

      Tracking Options

      The Tracking Options section allows you to add tracking options to your campaign in a CPA/CPL campaign only. There are two types of tracking options.

      • Standard Tracking
      • Mobile App Install

      Standard Tracking

      Standard tracking consists of the following tracking options:

      Approve transactions X% of the time: To Auto-Approve transactions for all affiliates, mark Approve transactions X% of the time. By default 100% of the transaction will be approved for affiliate commissions. If you have an agreed scrub in place, you can apply this scrub by reducing the approved percentage. This percent is applied to all transactions for a give 24 hour period.

       

      Set Revenue to $0.00 for unapproved conversions: This feature allows you to set the revenue for a transaction that is qualified but not approved. This will help make your accounting more accurate for transactions that you are not paid for if they are not approved.

       

      Allow Server-Side Postbacks via ClickID: ClickID Pixel Post is created by adding the click ID to the tracking URL. This method is considered very secure, because a transaction can be generated on by using a click ID. A click ID can only be used once and within the time frame of the configured cookie life. This helps prevent fraud. The following is an example of a pixel URL with the added click ID:

      http://your_tracking_domain/pixel.track?CID=100000&ClickID=04_835477_fb93f424-788d-4c48-bfb1-98516f855839

       

      Allow Server-Side Postbacks via AFID: An affiliate ID pixel post is created be adding the affiliate ID (AFID) to the tracking URL. This method is not considered secure, because a transaction can be generated simply by knowing the campaign and affiliate ID leaving the affiliate ID pixel post method open to fraud. The following is an example of a pixel URL with the added affiliate ID:

      http://your_tracking_domain/pixel.track?CID=100000&AFID=1234

       

      Enable Pay-Per-Call Integration: The LinkTrust pay-per-call service allows you to create, track, and manage call-based campaigns. For more information, see 3rd Party Integrators.

       

      Allow Cookie Tracking for X Days: A cookie is a simple piece of data that is unable to perform any operation by themselves. Cookies allow users to be tracked when they visit various sites.

      The cookie life is the length of time before a cookie expires on a computer, rendering it invalid. For popular high traffic offers shared by other networks, a shorter cookie life span is suggested to help prevent false positive conversions from tracking because other networks have sent a consumer to the advertiser's site during the time that your campaign's cookie was still valid. If tracking by click ID, the cookie life span dictates the length of time that the click ID is valid. Cookie life is part of a CPA/CPL campaign only.

       

      Allows Cookieless Tracking: Cookieless tracking is a feature that can increase your tracking accuracy by approximately 5-10%. By default, this feature is enabled.  If this feature is disabled, a Advertiser may report higher sales conversions then appear in LinkTrust and consecuently to an Affiliate.

       

      Restrict Postbacks to White Listed IPs: Restrict Postbacks to White Listed IPs is a security feature that locks down the ability to post transactions into your account unless they originate from the IP addresses you listed in the IP White List. In order for this feature to use the white list functionality, you must add the known IP addresses, posting in the transaction, to the While List field on the Domains page. This feature works for all ServerSide Postbacks (ClickID and AFID) and Mobile Tracking. .

      To restrict postbacks to white list IP addresses, do the following:

      1. From the Campaign Settings page, under Conversion Tracking Options, select Restrict Postbacks to White Listed IPs.
      2. Select Update.

      To create a white list of IP addresses, do the following:

      1. Hover over your Name in the top-right.
      2. From the menu, select Domains.
      3. Scroll down to the bottom of the page and expand the IP Address Filters section.
      4. In the IP Address White List field, enter the IP addresses you wish to allow.
      5. Note: Enter each IP address on a separate line.
      6. Select Update.


      Allow Custom Conversion Parameters: Custom conversion parameters are parameters that allow the advertiser to dynamically send the affiliate payout, advertiser payout, and transaction approval information to LinkTrust on the confirmation pixel.

      These parameters allow you to add specific values to a confirmation pixel that modify the transaction and allow for customized conversions. Below are the parameters and values that can be added to the confirmation pixel of a flat rate (non-percent) based campaign.

      Affiliate payout

      You can set the affiliate payout by putting &AP=0.00 on the query string in a confirmation pixel. The affiliate payment parameter is not case sensitive and should not contain a dollar sign ($); for example, &AP=4.99. You must use a decimal for cents; for example, &AP=4.25 would be interpreted as $4.25 while &AP=425 would be $425.00.

      Advertiser payout

      You can set the advertiser revenue by putting &mp=0.00 on the query string in a confirmation pixel. The advertiser payment parameter is not case sensitive and should not contain a dollar sign ($); for example, &MP=4.99. You must use a decimal for cents; for example, &MP=4.25 would be interpreted as $4.25 while &MP=425 would be $425.00.

      Transaction approval

      You can set whether or not the transaction is approved by putting &A=Y or &A=N on the query string in a confirmation pixel. Since LinkTrust only looks at the first letter of this parameter, you can cloak the value in the confirmation pixel by adding additional letters, as shown below.

      To approve a transaction, all of the following can be used:

      • The first letter is Y or y (e.g., &a=y, &A=Y, &A=Yes, &a=yahoo)
      • The first letter is T or t (e.g., &a=t, &A=T, &a=true, &A=Telephone)
      • The first value is 1 (e.g., &a=1, &A=1, &a=1234, &A=1abc)

      To unapprove a transaction, all of the following can be used:

      • The first letter is N or n (e.g., &a=n, &A=N, &a=night)
      • The first letter is F or f (e.g., &a=f, &A=F, a=false, A=False, A=Feather)
      • The first value is 0 (e.g., &a=0, &A=0, a=0123, A=0abc)

      If Allow Custom Conversions Parameters is not marked, LinkTrust does not recognize any of the parameters on the confirmation pixel.

       

      Allow External Transaction Modifications: This feature makes it possible to remotely edit the affiliate's payout, merchant's revenue, and/or the transaction approval status.  To learn how to do this, see the Transaction Modification API page.

      Mobile App Install

      Mobile tracking allows a client to track the installs of a mobile application by passing the device ID and the device IP address to LinkTrust.

      What is a Device ID?

      A device ID can be the following:

      • IMEI numbers that come in a 17-digit or 15-digit sequences. The current IMEI format used is AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D.
      • An MEID is 56 bits long (14 hex digits). It consists of the following three fields: an 8-bit regional code (RR), a 24-bit manufacturer code, and a 24-bit manufacturer-assigned serial number.
      • ESNs are often represented as 11-digit decimal numbers or 8-digit hexadecimal numbers.
      • CDMA-based standards do not include any removable card, and the service is bound to a unique identifier contained in the handset itself. 

      If a campaign is set to mobile app install tracking, then conversions are tracked in one of the following ways:

      • If a DeviceID parameter is passed to the conversion pixel, it is looked up to determine the corresponding click.  The campaign ID must also be passed to the conversion pixel because the device ID is tracked on a per campaign basis. 
      • If no click with a matching device ID is found for the campaign or one is not passed to the conversion pixel, the IP address is looked up.  If no click can be found for the IP address, then no conversion is tracked.  It is possible when doing mobile app install tracking to pass an IP address into the system using the DeviceIP parameter.  If it contains a valid IP address, that IP address is used to find a click rather than the IP address that is actually connecting to LinkTrust.

      Tracking Overview

      In the Tracking Overview section, you see a visual representation of either the standard tracking or the mobile tracking processes.

      Standard Tracking Process

      The standard tracking process, the tracking URL sends the customer to the landing page URL. From the landing page, the customer goes to the confirmation page where either a client-side pixel is fired or a server-side pixel post is executed or called.

      The CPC tracking process follows a different model. Cost per click (CPC) or Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used on search engines, advertising networks, and content websites, such as blogs, where advertisers only pay when a user actually clicks on an advertisement to visit the advertiser website. Content websites commonly charge a fixed price for a click rather than use a bidding mechanism.

      Mobile Tracking Process

      When Mobile Tracking is enabled for a campaign, then one of the following occurs on the conversion:

      BEST METHOD: Device ID and IP

      Using the device ID and IP address is the most accurate way to track mobile application installs as long as the device ID is also appended to the click URL. Mobile application servers append the device ID and IP address to the conversion URL to track and record conversions. Both parameters appear in the Conversion Additional Data column of the Transaction Details page.

      If a device ID and device IP address are both appended to the conversion URL, lookup the click ID by matching the device ID in the Device ID/IP table.  If it is not found, perform a search using the device IP.  If neither can be found, use standard cookie/IP backup tracking.

      *Note: All other URL conversion parameters function normally. For example: If cookie=x appears on the URL, do not expire the click ID.

      The following is an example of the conversion URL with Device ID & Device IP:

      http://...pixel.track?CID=1234&DeviceID=AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D&DeviceIP=123.123.123.101

       

      GOOD METHOD: Device ID Only

      Many times, a device ID cannot be appended to a tracking link by affiliates. But if the device ID is known on the conversion, the conversion URL should contain it.

      If only a Device ID is appended to the conversion URL, search for the click ID by matching the device ID in the Device ID/IP table. If it is not found, perform a search using the conversion IP address matched to the device IP address.  If it is still not found, use standard cookie/IP backup tracking.

      *Note: All other URL conversion parameters function normally. For example: If cookie=x appears on the URL, do not expire the click ID.

      The following is an example of the conversion URL with device ID:

      http://...pixel.track?CID=1234&DeviceID=AA-BBBBBB-CCCCCC-D

       

      OK METHOD: Device IP Only

      Sometimes the conversion URL is not loaded from the mobile application on the user's mobile device, but must be passed from another location like the developer’s server.  In this case, the IP address of the user's mobile device will be appended to the conversion URL.  Conversions will be recorded by associating the corresponding IP address. If the IP address from the session (created on click) doesn't match the IP address on conversion, then the conversion will not be recorded. To solve this problem, you can include the user's mobile IP address on the conversion URL, so that the IP addresses match and a conversion can be recorded. 

      *Note: A device IP appended to the conversion URL always supersedes the IP address from the request.

      If only a device IP is appended to the conversion URL, lookup the click ID by matching the device IP in the Device ID/IP table. If no match is found, use the device IP found in the table or use standard cookie/IP backup tracking. 

      *Note: All other URL conversion parameters function normally.  For example: If cookie=x appears on the URL, do not expire the click ID.

      The following is an example of the conversion URL with device IP:

      http://...pixel.track?CID=1234&DeviceIP=123.123.123.101

       

      LEAST DESIREABLE METHOD: No Device IP or ID

      The system currently works in this way for mobile app download tracking.  This is a last resort in case when no other method of tracking is used.

      If the device IP address and the device ID are not present on the conversion URL, use standard cookie/IP backup tracking. The following is an example of the standard conversion URL:
      http://...pixel.track?CID=1234

       

      You can request a demo to see LinkTrust up close and experience how it can help you, or start your free 14-day trial now.

       

      Need help with this feature or have questions? You can contact our support team at support@linktrust.com