Conversion Tracking Flow for Portals (solution/ concept)

Overview

This document explains the conversion tracking process involving multiple partners, including Google Ads, Portal, and Shop. The conversion path is mapped from the initial click to the final conversion, detailing the data parameters and their transmission between partners.

Participants

Google Ads (Traffic Source)

• Initiates the tracking process by generating a click identified by the GCLID parameter.

• In this case we will use Google Ads as traffic source, but it may be any other advertising network like facebook, bing, Awin etc. Most important is, that they provide a unique identifier (like clickId) for tracking (like gclid, fclid, awc …)

Portal (Intermediary Partner)

• Engages the user on the webpage with the GCLID parameter and may generate an ICLID for internal tracking.

Shop (Final Partner)

• Completes the conversion process and reports back with either ICLID or GCLID.

Parameters

GCLID

• Google Click Identifier, a unique tracking parameter generated by Google Ads for each click.

ICLID

• Internal Click Identifier by Ingenious, a unique tracking parameter generated by the Portal for internal tracking purposes.

SMC Parameters

• Custom parameters used for detailed reporting in the user interface.

  • smc1: For identifying the keyword in Google Ads, the shop in the Portal, or the portal in the Shop's system.

  • smc2-5: Additional custom data for reporting.

adspaceId

• Id of the adspace of a partner in the Ingenious System. For the conversion the adspaceId of the Shop partner is needed.

Tracking Process explained

1. Click from Google Ads:

   • can be a bounceless tracking link with the google ads partner’s amc and the GCLID being the primary identifier.

   • May also occur parallel to the portal tracking, with GCLID being the primary identifier.

2. Portal Engagement:

   • Onpage click registered with GCLID.

     • GCLID is saved by the portal for later

   • Redirecting click to the shop with ICLID, where GCLID is passed along.

3. Shop Conversion Tracking:

   • Final conversion (Sale) tracked with ICLID + adspaceId (shop partner)

Multi-Touch Attribution (MTA)

• Conversions are attributed across all touchpoints, allowing for a shared contribution model.

• Each partner receives credit for their involvement in the conversion process.

• Enables individual partner reporting on the number of clicks and conversions.

Reporting

• Utilizes SMC1 for categorizing and reporting in the user interface.

• Reports are tailored to each partner, ensuring clear visibility of their contribution to the campaign.

Operational Work/Setup of Partners

Participants (Partners)

For each participant in the tracking process, a partner setup is required. This setup involves identifying the traffic sources and shops involved in the campaign.

Examples of Participants

• Traffic Sources: Google Ads

• Shops: Often multiple shops (Portals tend to compare offers and shops)

Setup of a new participant (partner)

• a new partner only needs to be created, if it does not yet exist.

  • Example: The partner “Google Ads” is only needed once and can send traffic to multiple portals.

  • Example2: The shop “FashionShop” is only needed once and can create Sales for multiple portals.

• Create a new partner under partnerships > partner > create new partner

• fill in all required master data, remember to set the right label. Available labels: shop, portal or traffic source

• create the ad space(s)

• remember to create a relationship to the main tracking advertiser

only one advertiser

• only one advertiser is needed for tracking and consolidating the data.

Click Tags

Each participant requires a unique click tag setup that allows for the tracking of user interactions.

Traffic Source / Google Ads

• Creatives need to be created in the Creative Manager under the creative set named "portal".

• Log in as a Traffic partner (Google Ads partner) and fetch the click tag for the portal's creatives.

• Pattern for the bounceless click tag:
  LandingpageURL + searchpaid.demo.123.456.CRTLvb1DBJt + &smc1={keyword} + gclid

  Example: https://www.example-portal.com/?amc=searchpaid.demo.123.456.CRTLvb1DBJt&smc1=testkeyword&gclid=1234567890

Portal to Shop

• Creatives need to be created in the Creative Manager:

  • Go to the creative set named "shop". Double click to open.

  • create a creative type “textlink”.

  • Use the tracking URL provided by the shop as target URL

  • most probably you need to use the placeholder #{ICLID} to transmit the iclid (aka “clickid”, “dynamic variable”)

  • Example: https://affiiliate-system.com?partner=123&af_sub=#{ICLID}

• Log in as Portal partner and fetch the click tag for the shop's creatives under “Creatives”

• Add smc1=shopName and gclid=#{gclid} (where #{gclid} is a placeholder to be replaced by the portal).
  Example: https://demo.ingenious.cloud/ts/123456/tsc?typ=r&amc=searchpaid.demo.123.456.CRTLvb1DBJt&smc1=FashionShop&gclid=#{gclid}

• Now the click tag is ready to be implemented on the portal. Also remember to test it (click on it) to see if it works as expected.

Conversion Tag for Shop

The conversion tag is critical for recording conversions and needs to be implemented on the shop's system.

The conversion tag is a URL that is triggered upon the successful completion of a conversion event, such as a Sale (Sale). It sends conversion details from the shop's system to the tracking platform.

Conversion Tag Structure

The standard conversion tag URL is structured as follows:

Each parameter within the URL has a specific purpose:

• typ: The type of tracking request, set as 's' for server-to-server calls.

• trc: The tracking category, set to 'default' for standard operations.

• ctg: The category of the conversion, defined in the Ingenious UI. Example: ‘sale' for Sale

• cid: The unique identifier for the conversion. Can be LeadId, Deposit-Transaction-Id, etc.

• orv: The amount of the Sale (not applicable for Registrations)

• orc: The currency of the conversion value, set as 'EUR'. The real currency should be transmitted if different from EUR (ISO 4217), Example: USD

• cli: The click identifiers that led to the conversion. Usually this is transmitted with the click to the operator (often as SubId or corresponding parameter). It is worth checking, which parameters are sent to the operator with the click tag.

• adspace: The adSpace Id

• process_amc_mode: The processing mode for AMC parameters, set to '5'.

• uv1: A user-defined variable for the Shop name

• csi: The customerId (optional)

• ver: The version of the tracking system, set as '4.31'.

Implementation Steps

1. Retrieve adspaceId: Obtain the unique adspaceId from the tracking platform, which identifies the advertising space of the shop partner.

2. Customize the Conversion Tag:

   1. copy the tag in the admin UI from Trail > Tracking Tags (server to server variant)

   2. add the following parameters:

      1. adspace=${adspaceId}: The ad space identifier obtained earlier.

      2. process_amc_mode=5

      3. uv1=${Shop_Name}: The name of the shop.

3. Conversion Tag Example: Here is an example of a filled-out conversion tag:

   https://demo.ingenious.cloud/ts/123456/tsa?typ=s&trc=default&ctg=sale&cid=12345&orv=100&orc=EUR&cli=abcd1234&adspace=56789&process_amc_mode=5&uv1=FashionShop&ver=4.31

4. Webhook Setup by shop: Send the customized conversion tag to the shop to be set up as a webhook in their system. The webhook should trigger when a conversion event occurs.

   1. Instructions/ Placeholders that should be replaced and transmitted dynamically by the shop via webhook:

      1. ${CONVERSION_ID}: A unique ID for each conversion.

      2. ${ORDER_VALUE}: The order value of the conversion.

      3. ${CLICK_IDS}: The identifiers of the clicks leading to the conversion. It is transmitted as iclid with every click to the operator. It is worth checking, which parameters are sent to the operator with the click tag.

      4. ${CUSTOMER_ID}: The customerId

5. Testing: After implementation, conduct tests to ensure the conversion tag is firing correctly and that conversion data is being received and attributed accurately.

6. Monitoring and Troubleshooting: Regularly monitor the conversion tracking for any discrepancies and troubleshoot if necessary, following the tracking platform’s guidelines.

Notes

• Ensure all dynamic values are correctly coded to be replaced with actual data during the conversion event.

• The conversion tag must be implemented as a server-to-server call to ensure data accuracy and security.

• Ensure the webhook is set up to trigger upon the completion of a conversion event (Sale completed)