Let’s talk about campaign tracking! Every experienced marketer knows collecting data and using it correctly is the key to a healthy ROI.
As our CBDO Rémi St-Maur likes to say: “Media buying is all about data – without data you’re just another guy with an opinion”.
To help you be more than just “a guy with an opinion”, we’ve enlisted Account Manager Nicole Orlando to explain all about Server To Server tracking, its benefits and how to set it up properly.
What is Server To Server tracking? How does it work?
Nicole: Server To Server tracking – often referred to as “Postback Tracking” or “S2S” is a way to keep track of conversions that relies on the advertiser’s servers. What that means is that the tracking information is collected and stored on a server using an ID associated with it. Every time a user clicks your ad this unique ID is created and passed to you as what is called ‘a parameter’. This parameter (like a tracking link) gets sent back when a conversion happens (postback) and you can connect the conversion with the ad that generated it. Because the tracking is done on the server-side, this is considered the more secure and reliable method to track conversions compared to pixel tracking.What can I do with this data? How will it help me?
Nicole: By setting up S2S tracking for your campaigns at TrafficStars, you will be able to view the results of your campaigns directly in your dashboard. This not only saves you a lot of time, but it also allows your account manager to further support you by suggesting ways to improve your campaigns.For those clients that have implemented S2S and are also passing the payout value per lead, you will be able to see the number of leads generated, the earnings (accumulated amount of payouts per lead submitted) as well as calculating the ROI based on spendings vs. earnings. All of these figures will appear in real-time with a maximum level of accuracy.
In addition to this, postback tracking gives you more options for tracking. Instead of being limited to a page load, the conversion can be sent whenever – when the lead is generated or when the sale happens.
Are there any hints and tips for using S2S tracking? What should I bear in mind?
Nicole: S2S implementation requires communication between the network and the advertiser to make sure that the ID is passed into the correct parameter, and then it requires technical implementation on behalf of the advertiser to store and pass back the unique Click ID. Also, keep in mind that Postback Tracking is the best alternative to track conversions on mobile devices: because mobile devices and smartphones usually have cookies blocked as a default setting, pixel tracking is not a recommended solution.How do you set it up?
Nicole: Basically the advertiser needs pass a unique click_id with a maximum of 40 characters to us. This is done by adding the click_id parameter to the campaign URL, and sending it back to our Postback URL which needs to be set up in the advertiser server.As we are pre integrated with third party tracking softwares such as Voluum and Adsbridge, advertisers can set up S2S in a snap on those platforms.
💡 How to set up tracking conversions?
Who is it for? Is there any type of user that wouldn’t really benefit from using it?
Nicole: It’s a really useful and accurate tool that all advertisers can benefit from. Plus, it’s a necessary addition for you to get our complete support. Without S2S set up, as an account manager, there’s little we can do to help advertisers improve their campaigns. That’s why I always encourage my clients to do it as soon as possible – this way we can provide them insights into traffic sources that perhaps they would have missed otherwise.We also know that some advertisers are worried about how we use this data, so I wanted to make clear that your campaign data is completely safe with us! We don’t disclose any information to third parties – we value your privacy. All your information is protected by our Privacy Policy, that you can check in detail on our website.
So there are only upsides to setting up S2S tracking – it’s the best way to work closely with your account manager and take your media buying to the next level to increase your earnings.
