Add an Offer (Offer Wizard)
To start promoting a product, you have to add an offer — the most important element of the campaign where you describe all the parameters of the future deal. This article will guide you through the process of adding an offer on your Scaleo platform step-by-step.
In this article
Step 1. Prepare the Required Information
To add a new offer, you have to gather some information first. Request it from your advertiser or prepare the information yourself. You will need to specify the following data:
- Offer Title — the name of the product or service you are going to promote.
- Offer Description — a short description of the promoted product or service.
- Default Landing Page — the URL from the advertiser to track impressions, clicks, and other actions you provide for the offer. This is the link where affiliates will send the traffic to.
- Preview URL— the URL that shows a preview of the offer without tracking or other restrictions. This is where an affiliate can see the offer.
- Payout — the amount you pay your affiliate for every completed goal.
- Targeting — the geographical location where your offer will or will not be available.
- Creatives — how the advertisement will look like. It can be a banner (visual ad), an email (used in email marketing), XML Feed (product feed URL) or anything else that includes formats like JavaScript, Flash, etc.
Step 2. Add an Offer to the Platform
Once you have prepared all the necessary data, it’s time to add the offer🪄
- 1
-
In the menu on the left-hand side of the screen, go to Offers > Add Offer.
Next page is introducing Offer Wizard - streamlined offer creation and editing. The Revamped design structure will guide you through the whole Offer creation process. With this step-by-step addition, you can conveniently input all the necessary parameters in one place, making Offer creation a breeze.
- 2
-
The first tab is General. Basic information about the offer should be added here.
- Title — the name of the offer. It is a mandatory field.
- Image — upload an image from your computer. For the offer cover, you can use the image size 225x225 px or 400x400 px, format: PNG, JPG.
- Advertiser - select an advertiser for this offer from the drop-down menu.
- Featured offer labels — check these buttons to mark the offer as Top or Exclusive. Featured offers are usually paid a higher rate or have a limited offer. These offers will be highlighted to the affiliates on the Dashboard.
- Landing Page URL - the URL where traffic will be sent via affiliate tracking links.
- Preview URL - the URL without Geo or other restrictions where an affiliate can see the offer destination page.
- Categories - assign categories to your offer. Categories are visible for both teammates and affiliates. It allows filtering offers by categories on the offer page and in the reports.
- Tags - assign tags to your offer. Visible only for teammates. It allows filtering offers by tags in the reports.
- Descrption and Localization - provide details and helpful information for your affiliates. Localization - translation of the offer description, which will be shown for a specific language that's used by an affiliate. If no localizations are added, it will show the default description for each language.
- Allowed Traffic Types - assign allowed traffic types to your offer. Allowed Traffic Types are visible for both teammates and affiliates. It has only an informative purpose.
- Denied Traffic Types - assign denied traffic types to your offer. Denied Traffic Types are visible for both teammates and affiliates. It has only an informative purpose.
- External ID - this information is visible to managers only. It might be used for internal purposes, like storing the offer ID from an external system.
- Internal Information - this information is visible to managers only. It might be used for internal purposes.
- Time Zone - Time Zone is used for different purposes, for example: Goal Caps, Offer Expiration Date, etc.
- Expires - if the offer has an expiration date, please specify it here. The Offer status will be changed automatically to Inactive on that day.
Advanced Options
The Status of an offer can be kept as Draft during the creation process and after that. The Save button allows saving an offer at any stage of the creation process.
- 3
-
On the Payouts & Goals tab, an Offer Goal(s) must be added. A goal is required to allow the creation of a completed activity, called "conversion", that your affiliates are paid for.
- Goal Title — Name the goal. For example, Purchase, App Install, Registration, Deposit, Lead, Paid Subscription, etc. It is a mandatory field.
- Goal Type — CPC (Cost per Click, goal with this type can be added only as a default one), CPA (Cost per Action), CPL (Cost per Lead), CPS (Cost per Sale), CPI (Cost per Install), REG (Registration, specific goal type for iGaming), DEP (Deposit CPA, specific goal type for iGaming), RevShare (DEP RevShare, specific goal type for iGaming).
- Default Revenue - The amount an Advertiser pays you for a completed Goal. In case you are an Advertiser, set the value the same as for Payout.
- Default Payout - The amount you pay to your Affiliates for a completed Goal.
- Payouts by Country - Revenue and Payout for specific countries. It can be set only for a default goal.
- Payouts by Tier - Revenue and Payout by Affiliate Tiers. It can be set only for a default goal.
- Initial Status - Initial status indicates the status that will be recorded in the system upon a conversion event. Available Options: Approved or Pending.
- Multiple Conversions - Multiple Conversions allow generating multiple conversions from a single user's click (with the same click_id) for the same Goal. This is useful for subscriptions and recurring fees.
Advanced Options
- Display Payout for Affiliate - This option allows specifying the payout value that will be displayed to your affiliates, especially when specific rules or custom parameters are implemented.
- Goal Alias - An alternative Goal ID. It allows using the same Postback for different offers. This is useful whenever there are the same kinds of goals used in multiple offers (e.g. reg and dep). Only lowercase letters and numbers are allowed (e.g. "registration").
- Trigger Partner Postback - Trigger Affiliate Postbacks: if disabled, an affiliate postback won’t be triggered.
- Unique Track ID - Unique Track ID requires the advertiser to send a unique value along with the conversion in the Track ID parameter. If a conversion with such a Track ID already exists, a new one won't be created.
- Currency - The currency is used for all Offer Goals and cannot be changed for already created conversions.
- Caps - This option allows limiting the number of conversions or the budget for a specific time period. Select the conversions type, the period (Daily, Weekly, Monthly, Total), and enter the limit value.
- 4
-
Tracking Settings - This step includes a set of options that can be left as default or modified according to your preference.
- Domain for Tracking - Will be used for both the Affiliate Tracking Link and an Advertiser Postback.
- Tracking method - Determines how the conversion data will be received. Postback (S2S), IFRAME, IMG, JavaScript Pixel, or via Direct Linking.
- Click Session Lifespan - Click session duration, during which a conversion can be made. By default, it is set for 365 days.
- Invalid Traffic Forwarding - traffic that doesn't comply with offer settings (targeting, caps, etc). It can be redirected to the following channels: Default Landing Page, Preview URL, Offer, Custom Trafficback URL, Global Trafficback URL.
- Redirect Mode:
- - The Standard 302 redirect is the fastest and most reliable method of traffic redirection. In case of specific requirements, different modes can be used.
- - Single META Redirect prevents the traffic source (referrer data) from being sent to the offer or landing page.
- - Double META Redirect is the most reliable redirection method that ensures the referrer data will never leak, however, consequently, this mode is a bit slower.
- 5
-
Availability. Offer visibility can be managed here. Allowed and denied partners, approval questions to get additional information from your partners required to promote an offer can be set here.
- Offer Availability:
- - Public: all the affiliates can see the offer and promote it.
- - Requires Approval: the affiliate must send a request and receive approval to promote the offer.
- - Private: affiliates won't see the offer, the manager can share it with selected affiliates.
- Allowed & Denied Partners - select allowed affiliates and denied for current offer. The option depends on the availability type.
- Ask Partners the Approval Questions - Option is available for editing only for the "Requires Approval" availability type.
- 6
-
Targeting. - This option grants an opportunity to set up allowed and denied countries. Advanced targeting rules for checking user's browser, device, OS, or Mobile Operator can also be added there .
- Allowed & Denied Countries - Select allowed and denied countries for current offer.
- Advanced Targeting - The option is used for a more precise offer targeting based on the user’s device, software, or ISP settings. The user should match ALL the set rules.
- Strict Targeting
- If enabled, non-targeted traffic is not allowed for that offer and is marked as Invalid Traffic. This traffic will be redirected according to the Inappropriate Traffic Forwarding settings on the Tracking page.
If disabled, non-targeted traffic is allowed and will be redirected to the Offer’s Landing Page, and conversions will be recorded.
- 7
-
Creatives. In this step it is possible to add marketing materials such as banners, XML feeds, and custom HTML code for counting impressions.
- Banner - an image ad affiliates can use to promote the offer.
- Email - an email example the affiliates can use for Email marketing. If the Count Impressions option is enabled, the impression pixel will be added and impressions will be counted.
- HTML - can be any other format (e.g., Flash, JS). If the Count Impressions option is enabled, the impression pixel will be added and impressions will be counted.
- XML Feed - advertiser product feed URL.
After all information was added and options were set up, the Offer can be published in one of three statuses: Active, Testing, Inactive.
Active - offer is ready for promotion and visible for affiliates.
Testing - offer is not visible for affiliates but allows to generate conversions to test integrations.
Inactive - offer is not available for affiliates, conversions won't be created.
Step 3. Place a Postback/Pixel on an Advertiser's Side
After having created the offer, install a postback or a tracking pixel on the advertiser’s side. This is a piece of code you add to the target page layout.
- 1
-
First, you have to copy your postback or tracking pixel. You can find it on the Offer page,
Conversion Tracking section. If you want to learn more about goal settings or tracking types (S2S, Client side-tracking), check the
Conversion Tracking article.
- 2
- Once you have copied the postback or tracking pixel, send it to your advertiser or paste it into the conversion page on your website.
- 3
- Depending on your setup, place the tracking pixel or the postback on the conversion page. This is the page that is displayed to the user once he has completed a target action (e.g. a registration or a purchase). Most likely, this would be a "Thank you" page or "Your order is complete" page.
- 4
-
To get accurate statistics, please place that piece of code at the top of the page as s user may leave the page without scrolling down to the end. The best place for it is right after the
<head>
tag, if it doesn't break the page layout. - 5
- Once you’ve placed the tracking pixel or postback on the conversion page, you can test the offer.
Step 4. Test the Conversion Tracking
Having placed the tracking pixel or postback on the conversion page, you can test the offer to make sure everything is set up correctly.
- 1
-
Find the affiliate ID in the
Affiliates page. The number before the name is the affiliate ID.
- 2
-
Next, open
Offers > select your offer in the list >
Tracking > Generate Tracking Link. Select the desired Affiliate from the list.
- 3
-
Copy the tracking link. Now, your link will look like this:
https://yourcompany.scaletrk.com/click?o=5&a=1
- 4
- Open the link in your browser. If you have done everything right, you will be redirected to your landing page. Complete the target goal to get to the conversion page where postback or pixel will be triggered.
- 5
-
Once you open the conversion page and the test is successful, you’ll see the conversion on the dashboard and in the Reports section.
- To check this, go to the Reports page. The conversion should become available in the Approved Conversions > Qty column.
- Also, you can check the conversions in the Dashboard > Approved Conversions.
- To check this, go to the Reports page. The conversion should become available in the Approved Conversions > Qty column.
- 6
- In case the conversion is not available, or you have any additional questions, please contact Scaleo Support for additional assistance.