This has been pretty frustrating... I set up my campaigns, ads, and landing pages according to this guide using Prosper 202: http://stmforum.com/forum/showthread...Campaign-Setup
My ad network uses Cake and I set up my postback. Been getting quite a few landing page click-throughs, but 0 conversions, so I was wondering whether something was screwed up with testing/tracking...
Whenever I simply take the offer link and sign up to it with some fake acct, I see a conversion in my network's dashboard. But it turns out conversions from my landing pages aren't getting picked up, what gives?
I set up all my ad/landing page tracking correctly, when I click on a link to my LP and click on a button to go to the offer signup page they all get tracked properly. But I tried going through the same flow like a user would, signed up with a fake acct on my offer's signup page, and then waited... no conversion are being picked up for some reason.
In Step 3 (of caurmen's guide I linked to above), I included my "Inbound Javascript LP Code" above the </body> tag. And I set up the redirect page using the outbound PHP redirect code, and linked it. The LP buttons redirect to the affiliate link just fine... but why isn't the network getting the conversion?!
1. Can you confirm the subids are being passed to the network - can you see them in the click report? No subids no communication, at least when using a postback URL.
2. Your second and later attempts at testing the flow are unlikely to work due to cookies. You will need to load e.g. Chrome in private browsing mode, should probably clear all browser data first to be sure, then connect to a VPN that you haven't user before, and only then test the campaign link > LP > offer > signup flow.
Thanks Zeno. Yeah I'm seeing the subids in my click report, so that's fine.
Tried testing this out with fake accounts on a different laptop and even at work on my comp at my day job. Still no conversions.... wonder what's up, I'm switching affiliate managers on this network and hopefully figure this all out with him tomorrow.
Have you added your postback on the affiliate network? If so, could you post it here (blank out the domain, of course) so that we can check the format's right?
Also definitely worth asking your AM!
Thanks caurmen, this is my postback url: "http://mydomain.com/tracking202/static/gpb.php?amount=&subid=#s2#"
Switched my affiliate manager to another dude who's been incredibly supportive and has been giving me guidance. He tested out my tracking and apparently my conversions are going through, he tested one out and I see it Prosper202... hmmm maybe I was overlooking something before.
UPDATE: got 21 LP click-throughs today and 0 conversions.... now I just had a buddy of mine try to go through my lander (using the same link I put on my FB ads), click to the offer, and sign up (saw his clicks and click-throughs on Prosper as he was doing it). He signed up using a real email address and everything, made sure he's 18+ since that's what this offer's conversion requires, and still no conversion on my network! WTF. I see the subids in my click reports from his visits...
My AM helped me out this morning and he tested my link out on the network's conversion tracking system, and it went through fine though. But it seems like something's really off when people try to sign up through my LP. Don't get me wrong, I'm new at this and I know my LP and ads, and everything, could use a lot of work... but I just want to make sure I'm getting the right data back for conversions.
Hmm - as a workaround, you can import converting subids manually into Prosper under Update -> Update Subids . Get a report of converting subids from your network, import them in there, and Bob's your uncle.
As for what's happening to your postbacks - that's incredibly weird. Which box in Cake did you enter the postback into?
Sounds like the offer may be failing to pass conversion data to the network, the offer has a conversion point further down the track (did your friend confirm their email, log in etc?), or the offer is scrub a dubbing. Also, did your friend complete this process while being from a country/IP within those allowed for this offer?
Note that it's fine to test the conversion flow yourself for every offer you run - as a precaution. Set up a system though - private browser, no cookies, direct to affiliate link, ideally through a VPN/proxy that is rarely used or private. You're well within your rights as an affiliate to vet the offer flow and confirm conversions are tracked correctly before sending a single cent of paid traffic to the offer.
Caurmen/Zeno - thanks, appreciate your input. From now on, I'll always vet my offers and test out the conversion with private browser/no cookies to make sure it's going through. Lesson learned.
Get this... switched affiliate managers on this network, new guy is totally awesome and has been giving me great guidance so far, had him test out my links on my landing page and it all looks good and registers on Prosper202 and goes to the right link. But for some reason, the offer signup page I was using failed to pass conversion data to the network. He was even looking into it with one of their tech guys and couldn't figure it out. He told me to use a different offer signup page that they're getting conversions with (I tested this and it works).
Pisses me off, man. Totally stressed me out for the past few days, blew like $150 just testing little stuff and getting data. I'm just happy that my suspicions were correct and we got it figured out finally. But like anything, lesson learned... and positive outcome out of this is that I got an awesome AM now and know that I need to check/test for conversions next time.
It pays to be cynical of everything haha - never assume networks have everything running perfectly, thoroughly tested etc. It at least makes you more cautious about throwing away money at things that aren't working properly.