Customizing a Conversion URL

TUNE generates conversion links so advertisers can use them to track successful conversions. In the TUNE UI, they are called Postback URLs or Pixel Code, depending on the protocol (attribution method).  You can tailor them to your needs by adding parameters.

We introduced parameters, values, macros, and how they fit into your workflow in our article on Parameters & Macros in TUNE.  Let’s see what specific parameters you can use to customize a conversion link.

This article is part of our Platform Basics series.

Conversion Link Parameters

TUNE has the information needed to track your conversions, from the parameters generated by default. Depending on which tracking protocol your offer uses, its conversion link may also include the transaction ID or offer ID parameter to attribute conversions.

This said, there are instances where you may want to keep track of additional information. In those cases, you can add the following parameters to your conversion link for your advertiser to provide more data:

Advertiser Sub IDs and Unique IDs

Advertisers can use Advertiser parameters (Advertiser Sub IDs and Uniques) to pass and store values from their tracking system on conversion. TUNE offers you five parameters of each type for values that are meaningful to you yet they are not standard, named, TUNE parameters.  They are typically used to help you and the advertiser quickly cross-reference conversion data to tailor a campaign. They may include data specific to your industry vertical or specific to your business.

These parameters are stored by TUNE and can be viewed in reports. They can also be returned in partner conversion URLs via TUNE macros. See this article for more information and for the key distinctions between the two types (Sub IDs and Uniques). Some salient points:

• Do not use uniques (adv_unique1 through 5) to store values that are uncommon or unique for your data set (also known as high-cardinality).
• You can group by adv_sub parameters in the stats reports, under the assumption that the number of groups (distinct values) is reasonably small. By contrast, adv_unique values only appear in raw event reports such as Conversion and Event Tracer. Showing adv_uniques in aggregate reports and allowing users to group by would lead to very slow reporting with meaningless grouping.

By default, advertiser sub ID and unique values are invisible in the Publisher Interface (PI).  This is to protect advertisers who may want to share sensitive information with networks but not publishers. You can change this setting on the advertiser’s page.

Sale Amount

Many e-commerce and similar advertisers establish offers based on a percentage of sales. For TUNE to determine the correct rate for offers using cost-per-sale and revenue-per-sale options, that advertiser must pass the sale amount in the conversion pixel code or postback URL.

If you want this information, append the following parameter to your conversion link:

• amount

Your advertiser can then provide the desired information as a value in that parameter. For details on implementing this feature and viewing sale amounts in reports, see our article about Recording Sale Amounts on Conversion.

Customer List Values

When using our customer lists feature, parameters are automatically added to your conversion link. Your advertiser can use provide values like customer information, name, email address, and postal code in those parameters.

Note: Each data point in your customer list is passed as a separate custom parameter.

Unique Conversion ID

In some cases, you may need to reject conversions based on a value that isn’t the transaction ID.
For example, you can prevent a user from converting on an offer by rejecting the conversion based on IP address, mobile device ID, or e-commerce order number. To do so, use the following parameter:

• conversion_unique_id

Important: When enabled, this feature becomes the sole method of conversion de-duplication. Conversions with different unique IDs and the same transaction ID are not rejected as duplicates.

For details on enabling and implementing this feature, see our Limit Conversions by Unique ID article.

Payout & Revenue on Conversion

In some cases, you may want to dynamically communicate the payout that the publisher receives or the revenue that the advertiser provides. To enable this feature, go to Company > Customize Application > Settings > Tracking. On that page, set Specify amounts on conversion to “Enabled” and click Save once you’re finished.

Then you’ll be able to use the following parameters:

• payout
• revenue

Specified amounts override all other payout and revenue settings. This includes the default offer payout, default offer revenue, tiered payout, tiered revenue, specific partner payout for the offer, and specific revenue for the offer.

Warning: This setting can be prone to abuse and should only be used for internal campaigns. There is no way to stop advertisers from adding values for your revenue or payout on conversion using these parameters.

Advertiser Security Token

The advertiser security token is a feature that authenticates each conversion with a token string unique to an offer’s advertiser. To use this feature, append the following parameter to your conversion link:

• security_token

Have your advertiser pass their security token in the above parameter. Using this feature, you can expect to have another level of security from any potential fraud by publishers attempting to force-fire postback URLs. This feature is available only to enterprise accounts.

Status on Conversion

When this feature is enabled in the network tracking settings, conversion notifications can set the status of conversions using the following parameter:

• status

A conversion status specified using this parameter overrides statuses determined through other conversion settings like fraud detection. Valid values for this parameter are: “approved”, “pending”, and “rejected”.

This feature is best used when the advertiser has their own fraud prevention system and wants to report fraudulent conversions as rejected. Additionally, this feature can be used to override a default “pending” conversion status for offers with the Conversion Approval tracking setting enabled.

Goal Reference ID

If you’re integrating TUNE with another measurement system, you may need to uniquely identify certain offer goals across systems. To do so, first identify them in TUNE using the goals’ reference ID field.

Then to measure conversions for a goal identified by a goal reference ID, replace the goal_id parameter of a conversion link with goal_ref.

Important: Goal reference IDs must be unique in your network to correctly attribute clicks and conversions. Using the same goal reference ID on multiple offers can lead to unexpected results in attribution.

Datetime

Append the datetime parameter to the postback URL:

http://demo.go2cloud.org/aff_lsr?transaction_id={transaction_id}&datetime=DATETIME

Use the following format for the DATETIME value: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS

Adding in the date and time of conversion overrides the actual time the conversion came in. Once changed, the conversion details show no record of the actual time of conversion. If you use a date or time in the future, the conversion won’t appear until then. When using hours, minutes, and seconds, the URL must be encoded (YYYY-MM-DD%20HH%3AMM%3ASS).

Table of Parameters

The following TUNE parameters can be used in your conversion links:

Mobile Tracking Parameters

When you want to support mobile device attribution, you can use our mobile tracking parameters in your conversion links: