User Tracking

As opposed to website traffic analytics which provides statistics on visitors to a specific website, 'user tracking' refers to the techniques employed to plot individual online journeys across multiple websites.

The technology historically has been developed by affiliate networks that need to track the reverse user journey from a sales conversion back to a display ad in order to pay commission.

Using our bespoke user tracking software will enable you to understand the true value of each advertising channel that drives actual conversion. Our system produces detailed reports showing exactly what advertising medium and campaigns that users have been exposed to and interacted with before progressing through to final conversion.

Although traditional user tracking is vital to allow companies to judge ROI across various campaigns, in certain circumstances there is a fundamental flaw inherent within the way traditional affiliate networks operate that has a negative effect to the merchant/client.

The issue

Currently when a merchant runs an online advertising campaign through more than one ad network/tracking engine, the resulting sales are not de-duped. The consequence is a potential payment for a lead or sale to more than one party i.e. for every click through, not the channel that generated the actual sales conversion.

Example click through site journey

• The user clicks on a banner advert (display) but fails to convert visit to an actual sale.
• Three days later the user uses a comparison site, for example MoneySuperMarket.com (Affiliate Engine).
• The user then uses Google to find the site and clicks on the Pay Per Click link then goes on to convert the visit into an actual sale.

From the above example, payment would be made not only to the Pay Per Click tracking engine, but also the full Cost Per Acquisition would be paid to both the comparison site and display add network.

The reason for the duplication is each tracking engine / ad network use their own priority tracking technology. The problem is that none of these technologies talk to each other, they all use post impression techniques - getting the various systems to communicate and de-duplicate their own results in real time at the moment is impossible.

Taken from a recent Econsultancy article the issue of sale duplication could be affecting as much as 30% of all sales driven though online marketing.

Source: http://econsultancy.com/blog/1881-let-s-put-the-issue-of-sale-duplication-to-bed

Our solution - Last Referrer Wins

By utilising Gravitate Media’s unique software, all tracking duplication is eliminated without having to change any current ad network or setup network deals. It allows the merchant to takes control, making sure that only the last referrer, or first depending on your business model, is paid.

The benefits

• Greatly reduces your online media spend (see cost saving below)
• More accurate reporting from your providers (all the figures from each network / application should now tie up)
• Easy addition of ad new networks to your site
• Can be easily incorporated into you existing site

Example cost saving

A client receives about 1000 applications a day through their online portal. Of these about 86.5% come from more than one online source - 865 applications with a cost per lead / conversion of £13 each.

If we assume that 1 in 10 (10%) of these results in a duplicate payout, by implementing the Last Referrer system within their site, the client saves £1,118.00 per day or £408,070.00 pa on a media spend of £4.1 Million.

This was assuming a figure of 10% for duplicate payouts. However, the real value based on external research can be up to 30%.

Want to no more

For more information on the user racking and the benefits and implementation of ‘The Last Referrer Wins’ please contact us.