How to deal with tracking pixels and multiple tracking installs (10)
How to deal with tracking pixels and multiple tracking installs
I just bumped in to this problem while testing a new installation of the STM Mobile tracker.
I've got my regular prosper install on domain1.com and a new STM tracker install on domain2.com. I'm testing the same offer , on two different traffic sources. So I would have to add conversion pixels from domain1.com and domain2.com to the same offer.
I haven't tested this but I'm guessing when there's a conversion it's going to fire both conversion pixels? And if the same subid is present in both installs, it's gonna count two conversions on both domains?
I hope I managed to explain myself 
If you are using postback URLs then yes this would be a problem, i.e. if you had postbacks to 2 different prosper202 installs happening at the same time. Just use the image/javascript pixel instead for the regular prosper install. Uses cookies so no problems there with double fires.
Thanks a lot Zeno!
Hmm wouldn't this still fire twice if I added the image and the postback pixel to the same offer?
Postback is going to fire every time, but if you are using the image pixel for traffic source 1 you don't need to pass the p202 unique subid number from that p202 install, or alternatively you could pass it under a different numbered subid (thus avoiding the dynamic insertion). Or you could ask your AM if they can make you separate private offer links for the different traffic sources. Should be reasonably easy for them to do depending on the platform.
Hmm, gonna look more in to this. The only thing I can come up with off the top of my head right now is having P202 generate random subids , but I don't know if that's optimal. Thanks Zeno!
Hey Rafael, are you using postback URLs for both? If it's an issue of messing up your current setup you could always change the postback URL at your affiliate network to go to an intermediary script which then fires the correct P202 postback URL.
E.g. you pass unique p202 subid under subid4 to your affiliate network. You also pass traffic source as subid5, say "fb" or "pof". Then you change your postback URL at the affiliate network to hxxp://domain.com/tracking.php?source={subid5}&p202sub={subid4}
Does that make sense to you? If you understand what I mean by that I can give you some PHP that will do it, you'll just need to change your pixel/postback with the affiliate network to accommodate. I have used this kind of approach in the past, very useful to know how to do so you can have a well-controlled postback extravaganza going on.
Let's see if I got it:
I want to send traffic to DatingOffer on my affiliate network.
I have tracker1.com sending to DatingOffer.
I have tracker2.com also sending traffic to DatingOffer.
I have 2 postback URLs on DatingOffer. Right now my problem is that the Subids from tracker1.com and tracker2.com will overlap and I will get false positive fires for subids on both trackers.
So, I could make a script that will serve as the postback URL on the affiliate network. The Postback URL could be:
hxxp://domain.com/tracking.php?source={subid5}&p202sub={subid4}
Where {subid5} could be tracker1.com or tracker2.com. The script will then fire the pixel for the appropiate domain.
Sounds like it could work. Definitely useful for multiple tracking installs, the only problem would be having to add another step in the link creation process in prosper (remembering to add the proper c variables to each link)
If you already have some code ready I would appreciate it. If not I could probably code something up tomorrow and post it here for other people with the same problem. I'm not a master coder but I think this is within my knowledge hehe.
Do you think it would be worthwhile to explore the random subid creation? Would you be bothered if your tracking had non-consecutive numbered subids like subid= 38utw32 ?
Hey Rafael,
Close - I was thinking subid5 could be mentioning your traffic source but you could also use the tracking install the clicks came from as well, it would be up to you, semantics and personal preference really.
In your prosper202 campaign setup you could just change the affiliate link to include the prosper202 install name as c4 for instance, no downtime or any real hassles. When doing this you would only need one postback URL with the affiliate network obviously. Also, I'm not sure random subids is going to work well, I doubt p202 would easily work with that. It could cause mayhem with the database and sorting of data, since the subids increase in value with every click thus make sorting chronologically easy. So if p202 uses them for sorting...
Anyway, you could use something like below assuming the following postback URL format:
hxxp://domain.com/tracking.php?trackserver=domain1&subid=1234
[PHP]
<?php
$trackserver = $_GET['trackserver']; //Tracking domain name or identifier
$subid = $_GET['subid']; //Prosper202 numerical subid
if ($trackserver == "domain1"){
$r = new HttpRequest('http://domain1.com/tracking202/static/gpb.php',HttpRequest::METH_GET);
$r->addQueryData(array('subid' => $subid));
try {
$r->send();
if ($r->getResponseCode() == 200) {
}
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
}
}
elseif{
if ($trackserver == "domain2"){
$r = new HttpRequest('http://domain2.com/tracking202/static/gpb.php',HttpRequest::METH_GET);
$r->addQueryData(array('subid' => $subid));
try {
$r->send();
if ($r->getResponseCode() == 200) {
}
} catch (HttpException $ex) {
}
}
else{
exit;
}
?>
[/PHP]
You could also tweak this to allow passing of conversion values as well.
Interesting problem!
Random subids also don't guarantee lack of overlap, and you'd need to check that you hadn't used them before on that tracker, which would introduce a fair bit of database load.
Personally, I'd recommend asking your AM for a second link, if you haven't tried that already. It's not a tech solution, but sounds like the simplest option!
However, the route that's being discussed here also looks like it'll work - and is very sensible. Let us know if it works OK!
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