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Problem with Voluum / Zeydoo / Propeller Ads (20)

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Hi guys,

I'm trying to wrap my head around things but it's been so overwhelming so far... and I'm not a newbie in digital marketing as well! I can imagine what people not related to Digital Marketing feel when they come across Affiliate Marketing..

Okay so I've been following Amy's 40 day tutorial and I've opened up a Voluum account, I have deposited more than $100 so I can get an API from Propeller and integrate with Voluum. I have Zeydoo's offer available and unlocked and I think I did the postbacks integrations from all tutorials, from Voluums tutorial on Propeller, Voluums tutorial on Zeydoo, Zeydoo tutorial on Voluum, Propeller tutorial on Voluum etc..

Once all that was done, I created 2 campaigns in Propeller and were approved. Now they're active for 2-3 hours and I started seeing impressions flowing. I see in Zeydoo almost the same amount of impressions and the 2 campaigns in Voluum have the active status and have that triangular icon that they are connected through the automizer but no results whatsoever..

Just as a clarification - the URL from Zeydoo to Voluum looks like this now with the replaced tokens https://bainushe.com/link?z=1234567&var={trafficsource.id}&ymid={clicki d}

I have no clue what I did wrong as I went through every single tutorial from the 3 parties involved and did every single step possible as they suggested.

Please help me...

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Hey there.

You see impressions in Propeller Ads and you see almost the same amount of impressions impression in Zeydoo so it seems that the redirect from Propeller through Voluum to Zeydoo is working.

I guess you also see the impressions in Voluum?

What kind of results do you expect?

That automizer rules get triggered or that you can see conversions?

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Hi @gpanda

what do you mean by no "no results whatsover"?
Do you not see any data at all?

Two things that could be an explanation why you don't see conversions in Voluum (if that's what you mean by no results) are those:

• Did you set in Voluum the same timezone as in your Traffic source?
• Check your timestamp (visit timestamp or postback timestamp)

You can also send me a private DM with the email you use to log into Voluum and I will take a look into your campaign setup!

Christina

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Hey Twinaxe, I don't see any impressions in Voluum while there are impressions in Propeller and Zeydoo

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Yes there's no data in Voluum.

I think the dates are ok, Propeller says EST and Voluum UTC -04
Sorry I have no idea what or where to find a timestamp

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What link did you add to Propeller?

Did you maybe add your offer URL from Zeydoo instead of your Voluum campaign URL?

This is wrong, that´s the offer URL that you should use from Voluum to Zeydoo.

For the direction Zeydoo to Voluum you need to use your postback from Voluum so that Zeydoo can send conversion inbfo

Would be great when you could explain exactly what links you used for what platforms.

Maybe you can add some screenshots to show it, you can find an easy tutorial how to add screenshots in my signature

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Thanks a lot. Let's try and visualize everything. Not sure what should I post here, so I'll post everything...

The dedi domain from Voluum - saldshipthical.com

Next in Voluum > went to affiliate network > create from Zeydoo template > copy the following url https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid={ymid}&payout={amount}&txid={goal}

Next in Zeydoo > postback > https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid={ymid}&payout={amount}&txid={goal} or Amy wrote without someplace in the 40 day tutorial without the txid={goal}

Next in Zeydoo > offers > grab this link https://zagtertda.com/link?z=4162183&var={SOURCE_ID}&ymid={CLICK_ID}



Next in Voluum > offers > create the offer > https://zagtertda.com/link?z=4162183&var={trafficsource.id}&ymid={clicki d} (i replaced ymid={CLICK_ID} with {clickid} and I replaced var={SOURCE_ID} with {trafficsource.id} because it says that here > https://help.zeydoo.com/en/articles/...luum-in-zeydoo

Next in Propeller ads > tracking > take the postback url > http://ad.propellerads.com/conversion.php?aid=3498209&pid=&tid=97554&visitor_ id={externalid}&payout={payout}

Next in Voluum > traffic sources > paste the postback url from Propeller > http://ad.propellerads.com/conversion.php?aid=3498209&pid=&tid=97554&visitor_ id={externalid}&payout={payout}

Next in Voluum > Campaigns > create a campaign > choose the traffic source (propeller) > cost model auto cpc/cpm > Transition between ad and campaign funnel (direct because no lander) > paths offer only > choose the created offer > grab the url and paste it in propeller ads

Not sure if this is detailed enough

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Hey,

thank you for your DM, I looked into your campaign by now & noticed a couple of things:

Traffic Source setup
Postback:

Impression Tracking:
Regarding my questions:

I googled and I think EST is UTC-05 so please adjust it in Voluum accordingly

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You can find it in settings, general settings (there will be 2 options visit and postback timestamp)
On the same page you can also adjust the timezone

Campaign setup
Please choose "redirect" NOT "direct" in your campaign setup &
copy the campaign URL by clicking the copy button &
submit the campaign URL to your traffic source platform.

I hope you get it working, otherwise please get in touch again - I am always happy to help! 😉
Sorry, I have some issues with adding screenshots to my reply at the moment. I hope it was clear anyway 😄

Christina

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Hey Christina,

Thank you for your help, really appreciate it.

I have changed the time zone.

I have changed from Visit Timestamp to Postback Timestamp

I have changed Redirect in my campaign setup and copied the campaign url by click the copy button while submitting to the traffic source (in this case Propeller Ads) Now the campaign URL looks like this -> https://saldshipthical.com/1fea4dee-...1-aa92f6324ac5 and doesn't contain the previous tokens and I cannot add the URL to the traffic source campaign

What I didn't understand is the pid= part, even in the tutorials/manual nothing is mentioned about it... What should I do with it? I just enabled impression tracking in the traffic source section? Was that it ? Should I remove the pid= part? Will that change something?



Thanks again!

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Hi @gpanda,

I checked your campaign and it Voluum registered both my visits and my test conversion!
Therefore you should be good to go

I checked again and you can just delete the pid part.

Christina

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Hey Christina,

I enter the URL from the campaign in Voluum in the traffic source campaign (propeller) and it pops the following message >



I'm not sure what should I do here but that's the link generated from the Voluum campaign

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If you want to track Impressions you have to submit both the campaign url and the Impression Pixel URL to your traffic source.

You can also skip impression tracking (just switch it off in the set up of your Traffic source) and in that case it's enough to copy and paste the campaign url.

Christina

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Yes, that relates to what you posted before

Can you please post a screenshot of your Propeller Ads setup in Voluum?

Then we will get you the tracking tokens back so that you can finally start running campaigns with proper tracking

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Yep sure, screenshots below





Thanks


p.s.

is it possible that I learn more about how the tracking works as I'm mind-boggled right now and I just execute instead of understand

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The tutorial should be accurate unless one of the user interfaces changed in a significant way. The pid token shouldn't make any difference.

Let's take a look together and get this resolved. I'll PM you.



Amy


Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums

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I can imagine that all these stuff can be very confusing when you never did something with it before so let´s try to make it as easy as possible for you

First thing, get rid of unneeded parameters and keep your stuff as simple as possible.

You don´t need to add tokens for browser, OS, device etc to your trafficsource setup in the tracker.

These things can be seen in the tracker anyway.

Focus on the things that are important to optimize the campaigns on the trafficsource.

For PropellerAds these would be the ${SUBID} token when you want to post back conversion info to Propeller.

Then the {cost} token to see the cost in your tracker.

When you run pops then {zoneid} is the only thing you really need to track, everything else is optional.

Again, keep it as simple as possible

Impression tracking isn´t needed.

Also don´t choose direct tracking in your campaign, you need to select redirect tracking as Christina already mentioned.



Direct tracking is only used when you send a visitor directly to your LP without going through your tracking link first but this shouldn´t matter for you yet.

In the end you just need to understand the flow and what does what.

Mostly it´s just the parameters and tokens that change, when you understand these you can apply it to many different trafficsources and CPA networks.

Parameters are fixed values in your URL to track specific things, parameters are before the =
Tokens are dynamic values that convert into real values when you call the URL through the platform that supports the tokens in the URL.
Tokens are the stuff after the =

https://exampleurl.com/?parameter={token}

Different platforms have different formats for tokens like {token}, {{token}}, ##token## and so on.
Such specific formats help the platforms to recognize that it´s a token and then they converte the token in the real value.

When you prepare the setup for a trafficsource you can use whatever parameter you want but you have to use the trafficsources tokens so that they can send real values to your tracker.

For Propeller Ads it doesn´t make a different if you call the parameter for the zones https://exampleurl.com/?zones= or if you call it https://exampleurl.com/?placement=, it´s only important that you use their {zoneid} token so that they can convert it and send the correct zone ID to your tracker.

In this case the parameters just reflect the name that´s used for these values in your trackers stats.

When you send traffic to the CPA networks it works the other way around, there you have to use their parameters so that they know what kind of data you send.

On the other hand a CPA network doesn´t care what tokens you use because they never see the token, they only get the real values.

There the tokens depend on your tracking platform.

The forward flow is: Trafficsource -> Tracker -> CPA Network
The short postback flow is: CPA Network -> Tracker
When you also want to post conversion info back to the trafficsource then the postback flow is: CPA Network -> Tracker -> Trafficsource

Now let´s check what every one of these steps is doing.

To do so we need to work us through these things backwards.

If you want to add a campaign to your trafficsource you first need to create the campaign in your tracker, when you want to create a campaign in your tracker you first need to add offer and trafficsource and this is where we start.

When you get an offer from your CPA network you will have an offer URL where you can send data through parameters to the CPA networks.

By far the most important data is your trackers click ID, that´s a unique value that every user that goes through your trackers campaigns gets.

This is needed to assign a conversion to the correct click.

Mostly CPA networks use parameters like sub1=, sub2= or in case of Zeydoo ymid= for the click IDs so your offer URL is something like this https://cpanetwork.com/?offer=12345abcde&aff=xyz&ymid=

When you add the offer to your tracker you need to attach the trackers click ID token to the offer URL.

In Voluums case it should be {clickid} so that the offer URL would look like this https://cpanetwork.com/?offer=12345abcde&aff=xyz&ymid={clickid}

When you use a CPA network that uses sub1 as parameter for click ID tracking then the offer URL could be like this:

https://othernetwork.com/?offer=12345abcde&aff=xyz&sub1={clickid}

The red part will change from CPA network to CPA network the green part will always be the same because this is the token your tracker uses to send its click ID to the CPA networks.

For trafficsource we choose Propeller Ads.

As I posted above, the most important tokens are {cost} for cost tracking and {zoneid} so that you can see which zones converted in your stats.
Additionally you can add the ${SUBID} token to receive unique IDs from Propeller that can be used to send postback data back to the trafficsource.

These 3 tokens are the only ones you need for your pop campaigns so you can deactivate or delete all others from the trafficsource setup in your tracker.

You can also use {user_activity} when you want to run fixed CPA campaigns.

When trafficsource and offer are to your tracker added you can create the campaign, your campaign link will be something like https://yourtrackinglink.com/?campaignid=abcdefg1234567&cost={cost}&visitor_id= ${SUBID}&zoneid={zoneid}

Now you can create the campaign on Propeller Ads and use the campaign link as Target URL, then

- Trafficsource sends traffic to the tracker
- Tracker sends user to correct campaign (from campaignid parameter in campaign link)
- Tracker redirects user to offer

This is the forward flow, now let´s go through the postback flow that happens when you receive a conversion.

In your CPA network you set a global postback from your tracker.

Global means that it´s used for all offers so that you don´t have to add it for every offer manually.

The postback URL of your tracker uses the same parameters for all CPA networks, it´s only the tokens that can change.

The token for click ID in the postback reflect the parameter for click ID that was used in the offer URL.

https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid={ymid}&payout={amount}

The green part is always the same because your tracker expects a specific format for the postback, the red part changes depending on the parameters that the CPA networks use.

When you would use another CPA network that uses the sub1 parameter for click ID and payout to send the offer payout through the postback then the URL would look like this:

https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid={sub1}&payout={payout}

For the trafficources postback it´s the other way around in your tracker.

The trafficsources expect to receive data to specific parameters so that they can process the postback information, that´s what changes when you setup different trafficsources in your tracker.

The tokens however stay always the same this time because each tracker has its own tokens that are uses to send postback data back to trafficsources.

In this case you only need to send back the unique ID that the trafficsource sent through the campaign link.

For Propeller Ads the postback would be something like:

http://ad.propellerads.com/conversion.php?aid=12345&pid=&tid=abcde&visitor_id ={externalid}

The red part is different from trafficsource to trafficsource, the green part stays the same because the tracker always uses the same token to send these data to the trafficsource.

This is what happens when you get a conversion:

- CPA networks sends conversion info to the tracker
- Because of the unique click ID the tracker knows exactly which click generated the conversion
- Tracker send conversion info (unique ID) to trafficsource, trafficsource knows exactly which click generated the conversion

To explain it a bit better let´s go through the whole flow with example values:

- Propeller Ads sends traffic to your campaign URL https://yourtrackinglink.com/?campai...g1234567&cost={cost}&visitor_id=${SUBID}&zoneid={zoneid}
- Propeller Ads recognizes the tokens and translates them to real values, your campaign URL then becomes something like https://yourtrackinglink.com/?campai...g1234567&cost=0.001&visitor_id=hghj231jhgg321&zoneid=12345678
- Now your tracker knows that the user comes from campaign abcdefg1234567, that the cost for the user is $0.001, the unique ID from the trafficsource is hghj231jhgg321 and your ad was shown on zone 12345678
- Your tracker prepares to redirect the user to the offer that´s attached to the campaign, example offer URL is https://cpanetwork.com/?offer=12345abcde&aff=xyz&ymid={clickid}
- Before the redirect happens Voluum converts the {clickid} token to the real click ID so offer URL will become something like this https://cpanetwork.com/?offer=12345abcde&aff=xyz&ymid=lklh45hkjhkj43
- User arrives at offer
- When the user converts the CPA sends the unique click ID back to the tracker
- Your global postback for Zeydoo is https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid={ymid}&payout={amount}, when a user converts the tokens will be converted to real values and your postback in ths example will become https://saldshipthical.com/postback?cid=lklh45hkjhkj43&payout=1.00
- Voluum knows now that the click with ID lklh45hkjhkj43 converted and you can see all stats that are connected to this click in your tracker.
- Voluum knows that click ID lklh45hkjhkj43 came from Propellers click ID hghj231jhgg321
- Voluum converts the ${SUBID} token to Propellers unique click ID and sends conversion data through postback to Propeller
- http://ad.propellerads.com/conversio...de&visitor_id={externalid} becomes http://ad.propellerads.com/conversio...de&visitor_id=hghj231jhgg321
- Propeller Ads knows that click with ID hghj231jhgg321 generated the conversion

That´s all

If you want to add landing pages to your funnel it´s just one more step.

The flow from trafficsource to tracker is the same, the whole postback flow is also exactly the same.

What changes is that instead of sending the users directly to the offer you first send them to your landing page.

On your landing pages you add your trackers click URL, this is always the same for all landers.

The forward flow with a landing page is:

- Trafficsource sends traffic through campaign link to tracker
- Tracker redirects to the landing page for the campaign
- User clicks the call to action on the LP
- User gets redirected through the click URL to the correct offer in the campaign

Let me know if you have more questions about it.

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Hi @gpanda,

did you get it sorted out or do you need more support?

One month ago we launched our FREE Affiliate Academy that includes a lot of super helpful videos that will help you with tracking and beyond!
Take a look here!

Christina

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Guys I can't thank you enough for your time and dedication!

@twinaxe @vortex @Voluum

Impressions started flowing in and I might start my journey (if I find the subforum lol)

Once again thank you and talk to you soon. Cheers

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Sounds good, keep us updated.

For pops you can start a follow along HERE

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For the record: We spent maybe 15 minutes on skype and teamviewer yesterday - found and fixed these two issues:

1)The affiliate network settings in Voluum: Parameters were inserted, and not correct ones. No parameters need to be specified here if the affiliate links are modified when added to Voluum as offers. So we deleted all the parameters here.

2)Impression tracking was turned on, which didn't need to be.

When it was turned on, the usual Voluum campaign url no longer contained PropellerAds' tracking tokens - which was why no impression data was posted back.



Amy


Sent from my iPhone using STM Forums

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