Tracking links are fundamental in affiliate marketing. They are used to credit referral actions to the rightful affiliates. They are more than just a functional way to attribute results; Fintel Connect’s tracking links can also be used by publishers to achieve greater visibility into campaign performance to further optimize results and increase revenue-earning potential.

Fintel Connect Tracking Links 101

Fintel Connect’s tracking links use three fundamental parameters:

1. The Site ID: An ID unique to you that will credit results to you, the publisher.
   Hot Tip: Did you know you can set up multiple tracking profiles (Site IDs)? This can help  you further distinguish your results across each of your different tactics.
2. The Ad ID: The ID that characterizes the creative that is used in promotion, instructing what landing page a user will be driven to.
3. The Custom ID: An optional keyword field that you can use to pass valuable dynamic information on from click through to conversion.

We’ll dive into the power of the Custom ID next.

Why Use the Custom ID

The Custom ID, sometimes referred to as the ACID or affiliate custom ID, can be a powerful tool for publishers to improve campaign performance.

It provides you as the publisher with the opportunity to access more datapoints to drive campaign decision-making. Since the values persist from click-through to your Fintel Connect Transaction Master report, you can use this parameter to test, learn and optimize. Here are a few of the many ways this feature can be used:
  

• A/B Test Placement: Want to see what banner placement converts better on your site? Equip your banner’s tracking link with a unique keyword for each placement and check your reporting to see which placements are driving more conversions.
• Give Data More Meaning: Want to be able to reference your promotion performance in future, with more detail? Assign an Custom ID value to give your conversion data meaning. Think of it as giving your transactions names. You can more easily look back and see what conditions were at play in a given performance period and how they did. If you are running a campaign, you can denote your tracking links with your campaign in the Custom ID.
• Distinguish Unique Users: Want to know which specific user of your database convert or which marketing channels they went through to convert? Leverage the keyword field to dynamically populate your user ID and/or their user flow as a Custom ID value in your tracking link upon their click out. That way, you can turn to your Fintel reports to know who took action and how they got there. Note this requires more advanced technical set up on your end. Please feel free to reach out to your Fintel contact to learn how to implement!

How to Use the Custom ID with Your Fintel Connect Tracking Links

Proceed to the “Ads” section in the Fintel Connect portal, either by:

• going to the Ads tab in the navigation menu; or
• going to the Merchant tab, selecting your desired merchant, then choosing the Ads in the sub-menu

You can then pull your code for your desired creative chosen from your available ads.

When you pull your code, you will be presented with the Keyword field. Here is where you can input your value of choice. We recommend keeping it alphanumeric. It must be less than 100 characters long and should not include the following characters: = , # &

Once you’ve inserted your keyword value, hit ‘Generate Code’ and copy your link or code – it is ready for use!

You can continue to generate as many keywords for the same creative as you would like.

Note – The above step-by-step is perfect for those looking to use static Custom ID values. If you’re wanting to make your Keywords dynamic, please reach out to your account manager to help get you set up.

As always, in your Transaction Master report, you will be able to see transactional details across many data points such as the date the transaction took place, the creative that was used and the commission earned. Once you’ve implemented Keyword values in your tracking links, you will also be able to see your Custom ID values on a transaction-basis, under the Publisher CID column.

Next Steps

There are a number of ways to use the Custom ID or Publisher CID parameter to your advantage. Whether it is simply to organize your data or to optimize it, the keyword field provides you the transparency from click to conversion that can help you level up your results. Give it a try!

We hope that you’ve found this blog helpful and that you’re ready to get started.

If you’re interested in working with financially-focused brands, we can certainly help and welcome you to sign up for our network by clicking here.