This document discusses pixels and postback tracking for affiliate marketing. It defines pixels as tracking code that fires when a user visits a website or opens an email. Pixels drop cookies to track user behavior and attribute conversions based on the last cookie placed. Postback tracking uses unique transaction IDs passed between networks and advertisers to track clicks and attribute conversions independently of cookies. The document compares the pros and cons of each method and provides examples of how attribution would work in different scenarios.

1. PRESENTATION
ON
PIXEL AND POSTBACK
Submitted by:
Nikita Bansal

2. What is a Pixel
A tracking pixel is a code which is loaded when a user visits a website or
opens an email. It is useful for tracking user behavior and conversions.
Example: <!-- Offer Conversion: Nerolac Oct'19 CPL -->
<img src="https://tracking.vcommission.com/aff_l?offer_id=1759"
width="1" height="1" />
<!-- // End Offer Conversion -->

3. Pixel Based Tracking
• https://tracking.vcommission.com/aff_c?offer_id=260&aff_id=99785
• Click ID/Transaction ID is generated (it contains Session IP, Date, Offer ID, Network
ID, User agent). Along with it , it also contains other information like Affiliate Sub
IDs, Source, Session IP, etc.
• Cookie is dropped and it is saved in user’s browser.
• Has offers will track all the pre conversion events at this stage i.e., Device of the
user, session IP, affiliate source etc.
• If the conversion is made and pixel will fire after matching all the information that
is saved in a cookie.
• All the post conversion information like Conversion IP,Order ID, Sales amount,
mode of payment , etc. will be seen on Has offers. to track from where the
conversion actually has come.

4. Flow of Pixel Tracking

5. Working
Pixel will be fired only if the cookie is active in user’s
browser and it will be attributed to that affiliate
whose cookie is placed in the last and it will be
attributed only & only if all the information in cookie
matches with the information in pixel
This cookie is
saved in user’s
browser.

6. Gross Click vs Unique Click
If any of the above parameters change, Transaction ID will get change.
Then, it will be counted as unique click otherwise it will remain a gross
click.
Parameters of
Transaction ID
DateUser agentSession IP Network
ID
Offer ID

7. Pros of Pixel based tracking
• Pixel tracking is extremely easy to implement. Because it’s just
copying and pasting code into the HTML of your website, you don’t
need to be a developer to set up tracking.

8. Cons of Pixel Based Tracking
• Cookie Dependency:
a) If the user deletes the cookie from
his browser, then Pixel will not fire
&conversion can not be tracked.
b) If cookie is expired, then
conversion will not be counted &
your affiliate will not get paid for
it.
c) If some other marketing channel
will overlap cookie in user’s
browser.
• Cross device problem:
a) Pixel tracking doesn’t work if the
conversion occurs on a mobile
device. That means conversions
on mobile web, in the app
stores, and in apps will not
register. (Mobile devices and
smartphones usually have
cookies blocked as a default
setting, so a cookie will never be
placed on mobile in the first
place.)

9. Case on pixel based tracking
• If a user goes on myntra website by clicking on affiliate link.
https://tracking.vcommission.com/aff_c?offer_id=260&aff_id=99785
• By clicking on this link, cookie will be saved in his browser but did not
made any conversion.
• Next time, he went organically on myntra’s website & now he made a
conversion
So my question to you here is, will the affiliate whose ID is 99785 be
attributed for this conversion or not and why?

10. Postback Tracking
• It is known as server-side, server 2 server (or server-to-server), to
track sessions generated on clicks to attribute conversions. The
servers record and then pass the transaction ID back to Has offers.
• This method is independent of the user’s browser.
• Postback tracking can be thought of as two separate processes: what
happens when a user clicks on an offer and what happens upon
conversion.
• It is a cookie less based tracking & a greater way to track conversions.

11. Flowchart of Postback tracking

12. Working of Postback
• https://tracking.vcommission.com/aff_c?offer_id=22&aff_id=99785, Firstly
the link is clicked by a user.
• After clicking it Transaction ID is generated which contains all the
information which I have already mentioned above.
• Has Offers will track the Transaction ID & pass on to its advertiser in
Advertiser’s URL.
https://www.myntra.com/?transaction_id={t_id}
• Since Myntra has its own server due to which it has all the information of
all its users saved in the backend system.
• After that it will assign a temporary click ID to a particular user A/C and
duration of assigning is decided with the mutual consent between Network
and Advertiser.

13. Cont..
• When a product is purchased by a user. Then,postback will be fired&
then advertiser will pass on all the required information to the
network in Advertiser’s sub IDs by fetching it from the server like sales
amount, product name, order ID, etc.
• All the information will seen on Has offers.

14. Pros of postback tracking
• Solves the problem of cross device.(Be it different browser/ machine)
• Postback tracking works on mobile devices. Remember, pixel tracking
will not work on a smartphone or mobile device.
• There is no cookie dependency in postback tracking.
• Since transaction IDs are unique, Has offers can immediately reject
any duplicated conversion that could happen due to accidental user
action, server glitches, and some forms of fraud.

15. Cons of Postback tracking
• More expensive than pixel because you need more people to handle
all this.
• Postback tracking is harder to implement. It requires direct
communication between the network and the advertiser to make
sure that the ID is passed into the correct parameter(to be passedin
UTM), then it requires technical implementation on behalf of the
advertiser to store and pass back the value.

16. What if a user comes on advertiser’s website
as a guest
• If a user browses on Myntra’s website without signing up/ logged in
and add the items to the cart, then he closed the activity.
• After some time, he went organically on Myntra from his mobile app
& he signed up this time.
• He will add the items to his cart and made a purchase.
In this case, the affiliate will not be attributed for such conversion.
Because in postback, user account plays a very important role.

17. THANK YOU!