Before you start
In most cases you will implement tracking codes in the source code or the tag management system used for your advertiser's Traditionally, tracking tag were implemented in the browser’s tag management system (i.e. GTM) used for your website. The conversion code will be tag was integrated on the confirmation page of the conversion target, the on-page code will tag was be implemented on all other pages. There are also cases in which the conversion code will have to be triggered by other systems, as a so called callback URL. This is done via so called server to server tracking.
Due to browser regulation (https://infotrust.com/articles/how-itp-etp-browser-cookie-changes-affect-analytics/), we do not recommend implementing our tracking tag in the browser environment, but as much as possible from a server/backend environment.
In modern tracking solutions, we therefore encourage you to implement On-Page and Conversion tags server-side.
This article explains you how you can configure and implement a conversion code for server to server tracking. Please note that server to server tracking is limited to the image pixel version of the conversion code, because javascript is not suitable for this kind of implementationtag for S2S tracking.
Configuring the
...
tag
Getting started
Make sure you are logged in to your admin UI and click on 'manage advertisers' in the advertiser section of the choose Trail -> Tracking tags main menu. Find the advertiser for which you want to configure and implement the conversion code tag and click on the icon in the technical section. You will be taken to the page on which you can find all the tracking codestags.
Scroll down until you reach the conversion code tag and select 'show image pixel only' in the drop down menu above the codetag. If you do so, a the image pixel will appear below. Make sure you copy it and paste it to an editor.
Preparing the image pixel
Following changes need to be made to the image pixel to prepare it for server to server tracking:
Change the value of the '
type' parameter to 's'.Add a parameter called 'cli' to make sure the ID of the click can be transmitted. You can transmit one or multiple click Ids here. To learn how the system will perform attribution and how you can control attribution with multiple click IDs, please read the article Working with the clickId.
If you do so, you conversion code tag will look more or less like this:
| Code Block |
|---|
https://marketing.net.advertiser.com/ts/i12345678/tsa?typ=s&tst=!!TIME_STAMP!!&trc=default&ctg=Request&sid=&cid=!!convId!!&orv=!!ordValue!!&cli=!!clickID!!&orc=EUR |
If you want, you can add any parameters that can be added to regular conversion codestags. When you are applying server to server tracking, you might find it necessary to overwrite rating values by using the corresponding parameter. If you do so, the conversion code tag will look more or less like this:
| Code Block |
|---|
https://marketing.net.advertiser.com/ts/i12345678/tsa?typ=s&tst=!!TIME_STAMP!!&trc=default&ctg=Request&sid=&cid=!!convId!!&orv=!!ordValue!!&cli=!!clickID!!&orc=EUR&commissionfix=!!commissionAmount!! |
Adjusting the additional parameters to capture the click ID
To fill the 'cli' value of the conversion with the correct click ID, you need to capture and store the click ID before the conversion happens, which is at the moment the user performs the click interaction. The platform can transmit the click ID in the moment of the click to you through a query parameter.
...
where #{ICLID} will obviously be replaced by the click id.
| Info |
|---|
In |
...
usually very rare |
...
cases, where you need to set up the transmission of the click id manually (for example if a certain specific parameter is needed, you may do the set up manually: |
...
Go to
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
|
...
When you are done, scroll down the page and click on the button |
...
|
...
in the right lower corner. |
Device Id on server to server conversions
Server to server conversions themselves do not contain device information so the device id of the most appropriate touchpoint is applied on them to be used in reports.
Optional you can provide the appropriate device id using a parameter called 'device_type' set to one of supported device id values:mobile, tablet, desktop
Implementing the
...
tag
When you have configured the conversion code tag and added all the parameters you need, the code tag is ready for implementation in the external system. How this needs to be done will depend on the demands of the external system you use. Please make sure the code tag is triggered unconditionally.
...