Click loss per redirect (10)
Hi,
I've been testing multiple trackers, and I decided to test the click loss per 1 redirect. I just redirected traffic to my own server and compared the number of clicks that came to a tracker with the number I have on my side. It was rather an ideal experiment, as there was no server load, both servers located in the same geos, etc. The results are interesting:
I ran artificial (I emulated it with CURL) traffic, and I found no problem: number of clicks was the same. However, the real mobile traffic from popunders wasn't going that well. I lost about 10% of traffic just for 1 redirect. Please note that this redirect was rather quick (around 80ms).
How could that be? Is it *normal* to lose THAT BIG volume of traffic just because of a single redirect? Please give me your thoughts on this.
Real traffic is always a hodgepodge of bots, and humans, both of which can cause issues with your redirects....
I would tell you to always expect some level of loss no matter where the traffic is coming from....some sources higher than others....and mobile traffic tends to run a higher rate just due to the connection...pages are dropped/lost all the time due to a bad signal on the device....remember they are MOBILE devices...
best thing you can do to combat this is to remove as many as possible prior to your money page....
AND
in concert with that you should do a deep dive into whatever data you have to see if you can isolate a certain pubid, device, isp , etc thats causing the issue, then block it at the source....
I would tell you that 10% loss is common with many pop traffic sources....adware based pops being lower on avg than site/app pops
Polarbacon, thank you for your reply. But I'm not talking about click loss from the network, rather the loss on the "tracker => server" section. I have my own server where my tracker installed, and the server where I'm getting clicks from the tracker. I wonder why I lose 10% here...
I do understand there's a certain amount of click loss from the network, yes. But here we have just a single quick redirect from my tracker to my own web server. I did this test as I had thoughts something is wrong with my tracker
doesn't matter what setup you are talking about, a redirect is a point of failure, and with mobile traffic which is prone to issues with connections...its often a point where things get lost...
and if you really want to get to the bottom of the issue just pull the server logs and match requests between tracker and server...then you can see whats dropped
one would ask though how you are tracking the clicks to the "server"?
I don't want to get to the bottom of it at the moment, I just wanto understand the nature of redirect in terms of traffic loss. In other words, can we say that it is NORMAL to lose 10% of traffic just because of a single redirect? In this case I understand that this 10% is the price of having a tracker, otherwise I would just direct this traffic directly to the offer. And again, if that's NORMAL, than there's no issue at all, and I just have to live with it. It also seems that I'm losing even banner traffic, however I haven't performed similar tests as of yet, will do it in the future.
Originally Posted by polarbacon
Well getting to the bottom of it may be worth your while if you are paying for this traffic as you might be able to find that its a specific source/device/isp/ip-range etc thats causing the issue, then you can block it at the source....
"NORMAL" as you like to say....is a relative term based upon a wide variety of factors....for example is this a PHP redirect? a double meta refresh? JS? Those all have different rates of failure....so again NORMAL is relative to the method used in that case...
I will tell you that I personally, I often will remove tracking entirely on mobile once you get the camp dialed in, so you just send traffic direct to your money page...eliminating a possible point of failure....
Originally Posted by polarbacon
Originally Posted by polarbacon
Originally Posted by polarbacon
Well a meta or double meta is far more prone to breakage than a simple PHP redirect
And I can say that I rarely ran a meta refresh because of this, as I see it as a risk not need taking...I get why guys feel its needed but with all the spy tools and what not these days...if someone wants to suss you out its pretty easy to do....so why bother....thats just my take and its never really been an issue for me....
as far as different running direct vs thru a tracker....since there is no real accurate way to test...I just would look at the overall performance of the camp...i'd often still run a on page tracker like get clicky just to help see things as they hit my page...but I would often try to avoid putting anything infront of my money page if I could....
as I said before every redirect is always a point of failure....so if I could eliminate them in my flow I would always try to....
For traffic sent to a landing page you own don't use a redirect.
I'm pretty sure all the tracking tools have options for no redirect links to landing pages.
The only redirect would be from the lp to the offer but even that can be eliminated with code. Experimenting with this for the next release of P202.
As polarbacon said, avoid redirects if possible. Spy tools etc have made it not fully worth it to do the whole meta refresh redirect deal. I'm sure there are situations where it's still needed. E.g. When linking to 3rd parties, I use it as a form of privacy protection for users on p202 and my newsletter.
In terms of other reasons for click loss consider in addition to everything already discussed
Adblockers, some of them will prevent a redirect based on the URL. But the ad network will still track the click on their end.
Also, depending on traffic load, your server may be dropping requests. I doubt that's happening with you since you have tested with curl, but just in case, make sure your test matches up with the traffic load and velocity of your real campaign.
Bro, did you select the correct timezone, period and hours etc?
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