Custom Conversions

In the postback URL or conversion tracking pixel, there is a parameter, called et, and conversions will be categorized based on its value. Some affiliate networks let you input a specific postback URL for specific events, conversion types, but some only let you input one specific URL with a dynamic token that returns the event type name. This is why within Voluum you can define multiple et values that will be considered to be the same conversion type.

If you cannot use the postback URLs to track conversions, it is also possible to add the et parameter to your tracking pixel following the same pattern as for the postback URL. You can find an example of how the tracking URL should look like in the FAQ section below.

The conversion types can only be defined by the owner of the Voluum account. Users, who were invited by the account owner and got access to the Voluum platform, cannot add the conversion types to the Voluum platform.

Example:

Let’s assume that you are sending traffic to two different affiliate networks, and you are promoting app installation. Every time someone installs the app, you earn $4, but also, every time someone purchases in-app virtual gold, you earn $2.

1. The first affiliate network lets you define postback URL for both events:

   • Postback URL for installing the app:

     http://your_Voluum_domain.com/postback?cid=[subid]&payout=[commission]&txid=[transactionID]&et=install

   • Postback URL for in-app purchase:

     http://your_Voluum_domain.com/postback?cid=[subid]&payout=[comission]&txid=[transactionID]&et=purchase

2. The second affiliate network lets you only specify one postback URL, and they have a token for a conversion type, so you can specify as follows: https://voluum_domain.com/postback?cid=#AFF_SUB_ID#&payout=#PAYOUT#&txid=#TXID#&et=#TYPE#

   where the #TYPE# can return those values:

   • inst when the app is installed
   • sale for every in-app purchase

In Voluum, you want to see app installs and in-app purchases from both affiliate networks grouped together, so the correct setup would look as in the picture below:

To group together both conversion types, you need to add two custom conversion events to Voluum:

1. One for the App install custom conversion event:

   

2. One for the In-app purchase custom conversion event:

   

With that setup, every time there is a postback URL with et=install or et=inst, it will be categorized as an App install, and whenever there is et=sale or et=purchase, it will be considered as an In-app purchase, and reflected so in reports:

To add a new type of the custom conversion, called in Voluum custom conversion event, perform the following step:

1. Sign in to Voluum.
2. Go to the Advanced module.
3. Go to the Custom conversions tab.
4. Click the Add button. The Custom conversion event pop-up window will show up.
5. Provide a unique name of your custom conversion event. While providing the custom conversion name, you need to take into account that the name will be displayed as a column header in reports, therefore it is recommended to have a consistent naming convention for all the names.
6. Provide accepted values for the et parameter added to the postback URL in Voluum. You need to take those values from your affiliate networks based on parameters the affiliate networks enable you to use in the postback URL.

7. If required, you can configure extra options for the custom conversion types you are going to add:

   • Include in 'Conversions' column defines whether the custom conversion is counted towards the general Conversions count. If your custom event is, for example, uninstall, or some other internal metric, you might want not to add it to general conversions count.
   • Include in ‘Revenue’ column lets you choose whether revenue from a given custom conversion type is added to campaigns’ overall revenue. The column Revenue will only include conversions that have this box checked while the Total revenue column will show revenue also from conversions that have this box unchecked.
   • Send postback to traffic source lets you choose if an outbound postback to the traffic source is fired when a given custom conversion is registered in Voluum.
   • Include in ‘Cost’ column is applicable to the CPA and Revshare cost models. When selected, even though the postback URL to the traffic source will be fired, still it will be counted only as an informational one, and not the one that incurs the CPA cost.

8. Click the Save button. The Custom conversion event pop-up window will close.

   

9. You have added the custom conversion event to Voluum.

When you have added the custom conversion event, you need to define the postback URL that you are going to paste to the affiliate network. To do so, follow the steps:

1. In the Custom conversions tab click the Copy link.

2. Paste the copied postback URL to any tool where you can edit and specify the URL parameters. You need to define the following parameters in the URL:

   Voluum Info: Keep in mind that the postback URL parameters should be replaced with the corresponding values defined by your affiliate network. To find those values you need to refer to the affiliate network documentation. If you want to use more than one affiliate network, you need to set up the postback URL for each of them.

   1. cid : This is a mandatory parameter used to record a conversion. It is dedicated to passing Voluum's click ID
   2. payout : This is an optional parameter used to pass the revenue amount per conversion.
   3. txid: This is an optional parameter that you can use to pass a unique transaction ID for each conversion.

   4. et: This is a mandatory parameter if you want to define a custom conversion type for your campaign funnel.

      Voluum Note: The et parameter is marked as OPTIONAL in the postback URL because if you have not set it up, the conversions still will be recorded in Voluum. However, in this case you would not be able to differentiate the conversion types. If you want to record the custom conversions in Voluum, you need to define the et parameter.

3. When you have defined all the parameters in the postback URL, paste the URL to the affiliate network.

   Voluum Note: Take into consideration that adding several et parameter values will result in accepting several postback URLs with different conversion types. Only the combination of the same click ID and the same conversion type will be rejected as a duplication of the postback URL. Parameter values are case sensitive, so for example, the install and INSTALL values will be treated as different and in this case two postback URLs will be accepted.

You can add maximum 20 slots and define up to 10 parameter values per 1 slot.

Yes, you can use the tracking pixel, tracking pixel URL, or tracking script. The concept of adding the custom conversion event is exactly the same, however you need to define your tracking pixel properly. In other words, you need to add the et parameter to the tracking pixel and an appropriate conversion type token specified by the affiliate network.

Getting back to the example presented above, the tracking pixel should look as follows:

• For the first affiliate network:

  • https://your_Voluum_domain.com/conversion.gif?cid=[subid]&payout=[commission]&txid=[transactionID]&et=install

    Tracking pixel for installing the app:

  • https://your_Voluum_domain.com/conversion.gif?cid=[subid]&payout=[commission]&txid=[transactionID]&et=purchase

    Tracking pixel for in-app purchase:

• https://your_Voluum_domain.com/conversion.gif?cid=#AFF_SUB_ID#&payout=#PAYOUT# &txid=#TID#&et=#TYPE#

  For the second affiliate network where you can define one tracking pixel for both events:

No, you cannot do it. You can only modify the existing slot of the custom conversion type by selecting it and next, clicking the Edit button.

Yes, you can. You can upload your conversions manually with the Conversion upload functionality.

You can upload your conversions manually by going to the Conversion upload tab:

1. Sign in to Voluum.
2. Click the  icon (top right screen). Your account view will show up.
3. Click the Conversion upload tab.

4. Provide one click ID per line with optional parameters separated by commas. The optional parameters are payout, transaction ID, and conversion type.

   If you do not want to use a parameter, leave a blank space, but keep the commas.

Example 1:

You have two conversions that you want to upload with different click ID: c384EFV6JHQODRN70575OK6U and d574EPV2JHQQQRN70575OGHC, but with the same conversion type, install.

You have defined the custom conversion event, so they can be registered in Voluum as two different conversion types. 

To upload the conversions manually, provide the lines in the Conversion upload panel as presented below:

Once you have clicked the Save button, the conversions will be uploaded and then, added as two conversions with the same type.

Example 2:

You have two conversions that you want to upload with same click ID, d574EPV2JHQQQRN70575OGHC, but different conversion types: install and inapp. 

You have defined the custom conversion event, so the conversions can be registered in Voluum as two different conversion types.

To upload the conversions manually, provide the lines in the Conversion upload panel as presented below:

Once you have clicked the Save button, two conversions of different types but with the same click ID will be uploaded and then, added as two conversions with the same click ID, but different type.

Postback URL is one of the two methods of tracking conversions that will be later visible in the 'Conversions' column. You can differentiate between various conversion types with Custom Conversions.

In order to track custom events with Voluum, firstly, you need to create custom conversions. Go to Settings (the gear icon in the top right corner), and select the "Custom conversions" tab. Then, click the "Add" button in the "AVAILABLE CUSTOM CONVERSIONS" section. Add your custom event types there. Once your custom conversion events will be created, you need to add this event to your conversion pixel, or to your S2S postback URL (depending on your current way of reporting conversions back to Voluum). In order to do so, add the "et" parameter to your current pixel/postback, and pair it with the custom event value - see Values of the et parameter. Remember that the value paired with the "et" parameter has to match the value created inside Voluum.