WHAT ON EARTH IS A POSTBACK?

Those new to affiliate marketing might be wondering what the fuss is all about when discussing postbacks. Confused? Don’t worry, this article is going to clear it all up now.

Postback

A postback is an advanced tracking tool used for affiliates to track their conversions. Also known as server-side, server-to-server or s2s, a postback relies on the advertiser’s servers to track sessions generated with clicks and credit conversions. When a conversion is reported on the advertiser side, the data is then sent back to an affiliate’s reporting tool. 

There are two types of postbacks you can run.

  1. Standard postback URL
  2. Global postback URL

A Standard postback URL is used for a single offer, while a Global postback URL is used to notify conversions across all offers.

Postbacks are the most accurate and advanced tracking mechanism for affiliate sales and should not be overlooked when working in affiliate marketing.

How it Works

  1. User sees an offer
  2. User clicks on the offer
  3. Click goes on a server. The server records the click, then generates and records the ID for that session.
  4. The server immediately directs the user to the offer’s landing page, including the ID for that session in the offer URL
  5. Finally, the user sees the offer’s page on the advertiser’s site and the advertiser’s site handles recording this session’s ID.

User Converts

  1. The advertiser’s server sends a signal to the affiliate’s server (fires a postback) that includes the ID.
  2. Affiliates tracking server records the conversion for that session.

Using a Postback

At Revolution Force, we can record as much information as you would like posted back to you. Do you want to know the source of the conversion? Or maybe you’d like to know the user click ID, payout, and transaction ID. Those are all variables that can be easily recorded.

An example of how a postback:

www.yourdomainname.com/track?&source={aff_sub} &clickid={aff_sub3}&amount={payout}&transaction_id={transaction_id}

We offer a variety of variables you can place in your postback. Below are a list of sample variables to add in your URL.

A picture of URL postback variables.

Although postbacks are not available by default, your Affiliate Manager (AM) can quickly help set one up.  Or two. Or three.

By: Lauren Van Sloten