Tracking Mobile Using CPVLab Guide

CPVLab is one of the most foolproof tracking systems all along: it helps in all aspects, including mobile, to track and optimize your profits. It's highly important to track your mobile campaigns with CPVLab then optimize them to get the best ROI! Although a lot of mobile ad networks provide you with detailed stats, it isalways wise to have your own solution for those stats. Our previous guide had complete info on the options that CPVLab has, fortunately, we will not need all ofthem for now. For this guide, let's focus on simple conversion tracking with CPVLab including a little split testing.

General Stuff

Give the campaign a name, usually something which you can easily remember. I prefer to use OfferName.MobileNetwork etc. That way you will know the offer and the network where you are running it on. You could change it accordingly if you are going to run it on many networks.

Server Side

If you really plan on making money from mobile, i don't mean change, i mean real money! Get yourself a server. No shared hosting, although i would recommend a dedicated server, a VPS does the job well to a certain extent. But if you go past half the bandwidth limit, you better get a dedicated server soon! You don't want to lose money!

Ad Network Side Tracking

No matter how much of tracking you do, the ad network does its share of tracking and this tracking will be very useful for you. Most ad networks have a set ofpre defined parameters. You can totally use these parameters, seriously, make the best use of those parameters.

If you are going to use JumpTap (for example), here are their macros which you can use with your tracking:

  • JT_CAMPAIGN: the name of the campaign responsible for the user's click
  • JT_ADBUNDLE: the name of the ad bundle responsible for the user's click
  • JT_KEYWORD: the category or keyword matched from the advertiser's campaign
  • JT_REQID: the unique ID for the ad request
  • JT_HANDSET : the handset/device associated with the ad request
  • JT_PUBLISHER: the publisher ID associated with the ad request
  • JT_SITE: the site ID (for a given publisher) associated with the ad request
  • JT_QUERY: the search query passed by the publisher; if applicable
  • JT_OPERATOR: the carrier associated with the ad request
  • JT_TIMESTAMP: the time associated with the ad request

The Campaign

With mobile, lets totally deal with direct linking campaigns for now, as quoted in our previous guide:

This is the most basic of CPV Labs features. If you are using a simple landing page or if you are tracking an offer that is direct linked and does not run thru a landing page, this is the way to go. We suggest that you split test before taking a decision. You might lose some leads, you might gain some leads. Split test and settle on one after you get the best results. With the direct link campaigns, all you need to do is enter the URL from the affiliate network and generate the offer URLs. Use that URL on the PPV network. As usual, add the links to their respective locations.

As you remember, jumptap gave us a set of macros. We use them! Lets give them a sub ID value each for the most important parts of tracking that will help us in optimizing.

  • C1 = JT_CAMPAIGN
  • C2 = JT_HANDSET
  • C3 = JT_OPERATOR
  • C1 = returns the name of the campaign. Come on, you aren't going to have just one campaign are you?
  • C2 = Handset, might look simple, but is important. You will want to know which device converted best!
  • C3 = Operator, can be ignored. But still, it is a good option. Some operators have blocks on certain sites. If that's the case with your landing page, you will want to know that!

Test, test and test. I really can't stress that enough, but you must test a lot. A few clicks isn't testing, more than a hundred is! Make sure that you have at least hundred entities for each sub ID before you take a decision. IE: Make sure that you run at least 100 clicks for one campaign for each of the handsets, and for each of the operators. I don't mean the handset models, go by their operating systems. Further test by manufacturer depending on the situation. Although jumptap has its macros, the macros or tracking variables on each and every network vary. Find the tracking info, use them well. Without good and stable tracking, everything is going to crash!

The Biggest Compliment is a Referral

I decided to use JumpTap as just an example - there are literally dozens of mobile ad serving companies popping up over night. Our favorite ones are AirPush, InMobi, and JumpTap - but don't be scared to step outside of the box and you'll get some big bucks. If you ever have any questions feel free to contact your account manager now - we will share some of our other mobile sources we have been experimenting with. The best thing about the entire mobile advertising scene is that it is completely "open", almost like the wild-west. We're getting some of the most "extreme" ads approved, ones that would never get approved on traditional media buying exchanges.

This guide has been archived from our network emails. EWA sends out new guides every week explaining how to run certain niches and specific traffic sources.