Promo codes
Promo code (coupon, vanity code, discount code, referral code) is a code you can use to track campaign performance without the tracking URL. They are effective when it's difficult or impossible to use a tracking URL. Promo code tracking is an integral part of e-commerce and is beneficial for you if you work with influencers.
The promo code contains a set of symbols that you can generate and give to your affiliate. Affiliates place promo codes on their sources, and end-users get a code (from any source), go to the offers page, and make conversions.
Since you don't use a tracking URL, the matching of a conversion with an offer happens with a promo code.
💰 The Promo codes feature is only available for certain plans. Contact your Affise account manager to get the feature.
⚠️ You need the following permissions to work with Promo codes:
Users > Advertisers editing > Write
Users > Affiliates editing > Write
The tool is located in Offers > a certain offer > Promo codes.
where:
Promo code type: at the moment, only manual promo code generation is available. Auto generation is coming soon. This is to make the generation process easier and more flexible.
Promo code: you need to type the name of a promo code. Usually, your advertiser gives you the code.
Symbols requirements: from 3 to 36, a-z, A-Z, 0-9 -_. {}+=/:~. You can't save two identical promo codes with different cases (uppercase & lowercase).Affiliate: you need to select an affiliate for your promo code. You can select only one affiliate.
Optional. Description: you can write a description of up to 140 symbols for your promo code. Your affiliates can see this description in the Affiliate panel.
Start date: the date when the promo code becomes active. The system set today's date by default.
End date: the date when the promo code becomes invalid. The system sets the default end date as today's date + 7 days.
⚠️ If the conversion comes with the promo code with the expired lifespan, it becomes declined with the comment [Promo code is expired].
Optional. Usage: the number of conversions you want to receive with this particular promo code. Once the limit is reached, the system stops receiving conversions with this promo code. The system counts only the Approved, Pending, and Hold conversions within the Usage limit. If you have caps in the offer, it has priority over the promo code limit.
A promo code must be unique for each affiliate and offer. Otherwise, you get the following error message: "The promo code's value you're trying to add is already used for other offer or affiliate. Re-check your code's settings and use a different unique code's value".
⚠️ You can't edit the promo code and the affiliate. If you want to change the affiliate for a particular promo code, you need to delete it and create a new one.
In the promo codes list, you can see a progress bar in the Usage column:
The system updates the progress bar in real-time:
If you delete the promo code and then create a new one (the same code), the progress bar gets reduced to zero.
If the promo code doesn't have a limit for conversions, you can see the No limit message.
Once the first conversion comes, the progress bar shows the number of conversions.
⚠️ There is a limit of 5 000 000 promo codes per all the offers in the Admin panel.
Tracking process
Usually, promo code tracking doesn't involve a tracking URL, there is no click ID value. The attribution happens by the promo code itself. However, sometimes you can use a tracking URL together with a promo code.
There are three tracking scenarios when you use promo codes:
Affise received a conversion with the promo code only.
Affise received the conversion with the promo code and click ID.
Affise received the conversion with the click ID only, but there is a promo code in the relevant offer.
Conversions with a promo code only
To attribute the conversion correctly, do the following:
Add the &promo_code parameter either to the Affise postback URL or pixel.
⚠️ The value passed via this parameter is case insensitive.
2. Add the &secure parameter to pass a secure postback code.
3. Pass promo codes to affiliates either via their pixel or postback URL. To do this, use the {promo_code} macro.
🔎 You can use the same macro in a cross-postback URL.
Once the system receives the postback, it checks whether there is a promo code in the postback link and the offer. When the system finds your promo code, it attributes the code to the affiliate.
Possible errors in Statistics > Server Postbacks:
Validation error, "Promo code usage limit is reached": the limit for conversions set up in the Usage field in the promo code settings is exceeded.
Validation error, "Promo code 12345sgjk6 not found": the system can't find the promo code received in the postback.
Validation error, "Secure is required when promo code is sent": there is no secure parameter in the postback link.
Validation error, "Access denied": there is no secure postback code, but the click ID was used.
In this scenario, the system ignores the following fields in Offers > a certain offer > Payouts:
country
cities
devices
os
sub1-sub8
The system uses the affiliate ID to select a payout and goal value.
Conversions with a promo code and click ID
Sometimes your tracking flow requires a tracking URL. In this case, follow the usual S2S tracking flow:
Your advertiser gives you a tracking URL. You need to update it with the {clickid} macro to pass the click ID value.
Give an Affise tracking link to your affiliate.
Update an Affise postback URL with the clickid and promocode parameters. The secure is not mandatory. Share the link with your advertiser.
The system attributes a conversion to the click ID value. Promo code does not influence the tracking process, you only see it in the Server postbacks and Conversions slices of Statistics.
Possible errors in Statistics > Server Postbacks:
Validation error, "Promo code usage limit is reached": the limit for conversions set up in the Usage field in the promo code settings is exceeded.
Validation error, "Broken clickid": you received the wrong click ID.
Conversions with click ID only
This is a basic S2S integration with an advertiser and affiliate.
Once the system receives the conversion, it checks whether there is a click ID value.
Promo codes in statistics
You can filter conversions by promo codes in Statistics > Conversions:
The system considers both uppercase and lowercase while filtering.
Promo codes in the Affiliate panel
Your affiliates can see promo codes in their panel in Offers > a certain offer.
They see the name, description, dates, and limits for promo codes.
Promo codes via API
It is possible to manage Promo codes via API:
To see the list of promo codes for a certain offer:
GET 3.1/offers/promocodes
To see the list of promo codes for a certain affiliate:
GET 3.1/offers/promocodes
To add promo codes in bulk:
POST /3.1/offers/promocodes/bulk
What to do next
Please contact the Affise Customer Support team regarding all raised questions via the e-mail: [email protected].