Before you begin
On Affise, you can use the Trafficback URL to redirect traffic that doesn't match the targeting restrictions in your offer. Mistargeting is the most common trafficback reason.
You can check such traffic and the exact reasons for mistargeting in Statistics > Trafficback.
To resolve the issue of sending clicks to trafficback due to mistargeting, follow the guide below.
General tips and recommendations
Before you check the Trafficback statistics, you need to know which targeting group a click chose. If it was a personal targeting group, use a filter by affiliates while checking statistics.
Use an Affise tracking link as a trafficback. For example, you have offer #1 and offer #2. Set the Affise tracking link to offer #2 as a local trafficback URL to offer #1. In this case, you can track all values that led clicks to trafficback. For this, check the data on offer #2.
Use the Custom statistics to check clicks sent to trafficback. Possible useful checkboxes are the following:
When you check countries, regions, and cities, there can be a GEO discrepancy between Affise and your affiliate. Affise uses the maximum version of the Digital Element database to define a certain country. Your affiliate can use other solutions to define GEO. As a result, the system can define a certain country as France on Affise, but on the affiliate side, it is Germany.
Mistargeting: Click-level Anti-fraud
If you see the Click-level Anti-fraud as a mistargeting reason in the statistics, do the following:
In Statistics > Trafficback, check the number of clicks with the Mistargeting: Click-level Anti-fraud reason.
In Statistics > Countries, check the Trafficback column. See the number of clicks from forbidden countries, or the countries you didn't specify in Offers > a certain offer > Targeting groups.
Compare both values to see from which countries end-users made clicks using proxy or VPN.
🔎 The number of clicks in the Countries slice can be bigger than in the Trafficback slice under the Mistargeting: Click-level Anti-fraud reason. Affise registers clicks from forbidden countries, which were made without a proxy or VPN. The system displays them in the Countries slice together with clicks made with a proxy or VPN. Check the Mistargeting: Country reason here.
The example: the offer has Sweden, Switzerland, and Belgium as allowed countries, but in Statistics > Trafficback, there are clicks with the Mistargeting: Click-level Anti-fraud reason:
The Countries slice looks like this:
You can also use a filter by affiliates or drop-down groups.
When you see who sends the VPN or proxy traffic, you can contact this affiliate directly.
Mistargeting: IP
If in Offers > a certain offer > Targeting groups you inserted IPs to the whitelist to allow a certain country/region/city, you can do the following:
Check which country/region/city they belong to. To do that, contact the Affise Customer Support team via [email protected] or the life-chat. The team can help you define which country/region/city these IPs belong to.
In Statistics > Countries, check the number of clicks in the Trafficback column. All countries to which those IPs don't belong are the reasons for trafficback.
If you inserted IPs into the blacklist, you need to proceed with all the steps above. In this case, clicks in the Countries slice mean that IPs on the blacklist belong to these particular countries.
🔎 Clarify the information on regions and cities with your affiliates, because Affise doesn't store this data.
Recommendation: If you want to limit countries, it is better to use the Countries field in your targeting group. In this case, you don't need to use IP checkers. Select the Exclude checkbox if you want to receive traffic from all countries except the mentioned ones.
Mistargeting: Sub1&Sub2, Sub, Sub is empty
If in Offers > a certain offer > Targeting you use Subs, they can be the trafficback reasons.
Affise doesn't store the sub values of clicks, which went to trafficback. However, there is a workaround:
Ask your affiliate for the Affise tracking link in the way they installed it. If the reason is Mistargeting: Sub is empty, or if the affiliate sends you fixed values instead of macros, you can check whether the link contains the forbidden pair of subs, forbidden sub values, or empty subparameter.
To compare the data you received with the data your affiliate passed, check the relevant subs (sub1-sub8) and clicks in Statistics > Custom.
In Statistics > Daily, get a click log to see all the information about clicks, including those passed by your affiliate.
⚠️ The system can hardly load click log when there are lots of clicks. Once you face difficulties in loading the click log, use a smaller timeframe. Whichever slice of Statistics you use, apply a filter by offers or affiliates.
Export the data to an Excel file. It is better to export one file per affiliate.
Request a click log from the affiliate and compare values on both sides. The affiliate's file should contain values which didn't come to Affise.
Mistargeting: Mobile carriers, Brands, Browsers, OS, Connection type, Devices, Cities, Regions
Affise doesn't store all relevant data on clicks, which went to trafficback. Request a click log from your affiliates and compare the data with your targeting restrictions in the offer.
🔎 When you compare the data like cities, regions, IPs, etc, there can be a discrepancy between the data of Affise and of the system of your affiliate. Different tracking systems use different databases to define IPs, cities, and regions. Also, mobile IPs can change locations every week. Affise doesn't make manual updates to mobile IPs. This discrepancy is a norm.
For example: During a week, a user can have one IP in one state, and then another user can have the same IP in an entirely different state or region the next week.
Mistargeting: Country
If you see this reason in Trafficback statistics, do the following:
In Statistics > Trafficback, check the number of clicks with the Mistargeting: Country reason.
In Statistics > Countries, check the Trafficback column. See the number of clicks from forbidden countries, or the countries you didn't specify in Offers > a certain offers > Targeting groups.
Compare both values to see which clicks end-users made from forbidden countries.
You can also use a filter by affiliates or drop-down groups.
Make sure you don't have the Click-level Anti-fraud option enabled in the offer. In this case, the system displays clicks, which came from unwanted countries and were made with the usage of a proxy or VPN, in the Countries slice as well, but the reason in the Trafficback statistics is Mistargeting: Click-level Anti-fraud.
Please contact the Affise Customer Support team regarding all raised questions via the e-mail: [email protected].