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xWhat is the external reference mapping for?
The external reference mapping feature allows you to relate the platform to another system, such as a CRM tool. What you create an external reference, you define that whenever an ad impression or clicked is tracked for an advertiser, partner, ad space or ad media, the platform transmits a value from another system via an additional parameter in the target URL. Because this value is transmitted, it can trigger events in the other system. In most cases, this will simply imply feeding statistics, but it is possible to do much more.
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Click on ‘advertiser’ in the main menu and proceed to click on ‘manage advertisers’ in the subnavigation menu. Find the advertiser for which you want to apply the external reference mapping and click on the icon to go to the tracking settings. Scroll down the page until you see the section ‘additional parameters’.
Click on ‘add parameter’ in the right top corner of the panel. On the page you see now, go through the following steps:
Give your parameter a name. This is the actual name as it will be used in the target URL. Please note that the external system to which you want to connect the platform might have specific requirements to the parameter name.
Under ‘value type’, select ‘external reference mapping’.
Under ‘value’, select the name of the external reference mapping you have created.
Under ‘position’, select ‘automatically’, unless you are using an external parameter and additional value in your target URL that needs to have a specific position. For more information, please read this paragraph in the article on additional parameters.
Under ‘replace if exist’, select ‘on’. This will prevent that a hardcoded value in a target URL of an ad media item will be used.
Click on ‘preview’ in the right lower corner to review the new tracking URL.
When you are happy with the preview, click on ‘add parameter’ in the low right corner of the page.
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Go to ‘partner’ in the main navigation and click on ‘manage partners’. Proceed to select a partner for which the rules you created apply and login as this partner by using the icon. For more information, please read this article.
In the partner account, go to the ad media section and select an advertiser and an ad space for which the rules you created apply. Click on ‘search’ in the right lower corner of the filter panel. As soon as the ad media of the relevant advertiser is displayed, select one ad media item and copy the click URL. If your external reference mapping is related to ad impressions as well, make sure you go to the ‘URL options’ and copy the ad impression URL as well. Please note that it only makes sense to test the ad impression URL of a banner. For more details on ad media in the partner UI, please read this article.
To test your click URL, make sure you activate a feature that records your http-headers and open a browser tab and paste the click URL in the address bar . Say, the name of the parameter related to your external reference mapping is ‘crm’ and the value related to the advertiser, partner, ad space and ad media item is ’17b13′, in case of a successful test you will find a target URL recorded looking more or less like this:
https://www.youradvertiser.com/?trackingchannel=affiliation&my_name123&crm=17b13
To test your ad impression URL, make sure you activate the developer’s console of your browser, open a browser tab and paste the ad impression URL in the address bar. If you do so, the image source URL will be loaded and you will see the image of the banner in your browser. In the console, run a network analysis and see whether you find the parameter and the value that has been related to the advertiser, partner and ad space of the ad media item you used.
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