AvantMetrics is a proprietary container pixel and analytics platform that allows for more intelligent Affiliate sale referral tracking rules. This service offers much more insight into the entire customer click stream leading up to a sale.
This document describes the steps needed to set up AvantMetrics services. Information on AvantMetrics and available services can be found here.
Tracking Integration
Documentation for the AvantMetrics tracking code can be found here. In addition to the tracking integration as described in the documentation above it will need to be ensured that when affiliate links direct to the merchant's website that the passed 'avad' parameter isn't being stripped on a redirect.
AvantMetrics Services
Below are listed different AvantMetrics services and the information needed to configure those services. AvantMetrics services are configured by AvantLink representatives with the necessary information needed to configure those services provided by the Merchant.
Tracking marketing and affiliate channels
We track referrals from the affiliates a few different ways. In order to track specific marketing, from specific affiliates, AvantMetrics uses the following tools to identify them.
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AVAD - (example: www.merchant.com/?avad=AnyValue) a parameter in the destination URL, tied to AvantLink’s tracking that tracks the customers activity on your site.
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SRC=AvantLink - (example: www.merchant.com/?src=AvantLink) a parameter in the in the destination URL of a click. This also sends data back to AvantMetrics
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Additionally tracking can be done when the host portion of the referrer of the clicked URL is always the same, e.g. “www.facebook.com”
If you would like AvantMetrics to fire a pixel for a specific channel, we will need to see an example pixel order tracking call, i.e. the code to implement the pixel.
Attribution
AvantMetrics is able to categorize affiliates/channels into 3 different affiliates group depending on when they enter the click stream and an attribution model can be set up to split commissions between the referral groups. The three different referral groups are Introducer, Influencer, and Checkout Influencer and are categorized as follows:
- Introducer referrals occur when a customer is introduced or directed to the merchant's site for the first time.
- Influencer referrals occur when a customer has previously visited the site and before entering the checkout phase.
- Checkout influencer referrals occur during a customizable time frame after which the customer enters the checkout process. A checkout influencer is rewarded if the customer completes a purchase within the time frame.
By providing us with the URL(s) that identify the start of the checkout process we can start to categorize referrals into the referral groups and that data can be used to determine an attribution model to split commissions between referral groups.
Note: Our system is flexible so if you would like to split commissions outside of using the Introducer, Influencer, Checkout Influencer referral groups defined above, feel free to contact us with the details of the attribution model you would like to implement.
De-duplication
Is a process that determines which affiliate network gets credit for a sale when there are multiple networks referring the same customer. This is usually done on the merchant side on the Order Confirmation page.
If the merchant doesn’t have de-duplication logic on their side, AvantMetrics can perform de-duplication across whatever configured pixels are in the AvantMetrics. AvantMetrics takes care of this entirely, so there is no need for merchants to implement any custom logic on their side. Using AvantMetrics also enables the merchant to implement shared attribution models, so they can split commissions between the various affiliates that influenced the sale.
After following the above steps to track marketing and affiliate channels, contact us with what channels to include in de-duplication.
If you have any questions please contact avantmetrics@avantlink.com for help.