Why are you still blowing your budget: analyzing typical affiliate mistakes. Part 1

Smartlink is a universal link that selects the most relevant offer for the user. At Resality, we have developed a cool technical solution called Smartlink, which simplifies life when launching new projects. It sounds simple and profitable, but the result greatly depends on how you set up your campaign. And here, media buyers repeat the same mistakes. So in this article, we’ll break down the most common ones and tell you how to avoid them.

Technical mistakes when working with an affiliate program 

Even if you have the best creatives and the right targeting, technical glitches can completely ruin the result. We’ve highlighted the key points where mistakes are most often made. 

Problem: postback is not set up

What are the risks: conversions are not tracked, it is impossible to optimize the campaign 

How to solve it: Before starting work, we always recommend double-checking all technical settings and, most importantly, starting with postback. To avoid tracking problems and have data for analysis on your side, always send the postback link to the affiliate manager with a request to set it up, or configure it yourself through your personal account.

An example of a correctly configured postback in Rezalit via Telegram https://api.telegram.org/bot7433305463:AAG2lRJ-16U9Bme1t98AgSe-NUsF87u9UxU/sendMessage?chat_id=7173429923&text={{source}},{ {country}},{{payout}}

Example of a correctly configured postback in Rezaliti via a tracker – http://trk.smth.com/postback?sub_id={{click_id}}&payout={{payout}}&offer_name={{smartlinkId}}&tid={{slcid}}

Problem: click ID is not transmitted

What are the risks: data is transmitted incorrectly or not transmitted at all 

How to solve it: After you have set up the postback, you should ask the affiliate manager to test your postback, i.e., to run a test conversion. If the conversion is displayed without errors in your tracker, then you are ready to launch traffic.

Examples of correct click_id – cid={{click_id}}, tid={{click_id}}, click_id={{click_id}}

Problem: mixed up postback URL and offer URL

What are the risks: traffic and data go nowhere. 

How to solve it: remember one simple rule: the offer URL always goes to the source, and the postback URL goes to the tracker. The postback link is in your tracker, so that’s where you should look for the correct macro to transfer the click_id. If you’re not sure where to put what, your affiliate manager will always help you.

Example of an offer URL: https://domain.com/client?camp=s9&aff_id=35&source={source}&aff_sub2=banner&click_id={click_id}

Example of a postback URL: https://postback.com/click?cnv_id={{click_id}}&payout={{payout}}

Problem: source parameters (source, subid) are not transferred. 

What are the risks: optimizations (increases, decreases in payments, stops) will apply to all traffic, without the possibility of continuing to work with good traffic segments.

How to solve it: among the parameters offered by the network, find the one responsible for transferring sources for the advertiser. Label different streams and tests, such as source1, source2, etc. These can be different approaches, tests of creatives, advertising platforms, banner types, etc. The more detailed your traffic segmentation, the more analytics you will get and the better traffic you will be able to provide to the advertiser.

An example of a parameter for transferring traffic sources is &source={source}. 

Problem: different time zones in the tracker, source, and affiliate dashboard. 

What are the risks: the data will differ, and you will get the false impression that you are “losing” conversions somewhere. 

How to solve it: after connecting a new affiliate or traffic network, check if the time zones match your main one, which you use to check your stats. 

Example of where to check the time zone in Resality  –

Technical errors when launching traffic – 

It would seem that everything is simple – you have a budget, you set up a campaign, check everything we described above, and start running tests. But in order to make the launch of tests effective for both the affiliate and the advertiser, it is worth avoiding certain mistakes when launching. So let’s take a look at them. 

Problem: choosing a traffic source without checking its quality. 

What are the risks: a high percentage of bots and motivational traffic. 

How to solve it: check possible reviews of traffic in the network — most likely, someone has already bought traffic there and knows how good it is. Don’t buy large volumes at the start — it’s worth starting with moderate tests, waiting for the first feedback, and only then scaling up your purchase.

Examples of traffic networks with great traffic quality — Exoclick, Trafficjunky, TrafficFactory

Problem: lack of white/black lists. 

What are the risks: poor traffic quality, traffic pauses, no retests possible. 

How to solve it: always ask the advertiser for feedback on sources, and once you get info on bumps and pauses, you can make lists of good and bad sources or approaches. But remember: your sources should not be too small (from 10-15 conversions per source) so that the advertiser can evaluate the quality of traffic from a specific source.

Problem: unoptimized pre-landing page 

What are the risks: high bounce rate, low passability, and conversion 

How to solve it: it is worth checking pre-landing pages for loading speed and speeding them up accordingly. Also, don’t forget to optimize landing pages for mobile devices, as this also kills conversion. 

Register with Resality and get access to cool pre-landing pages that are already optimized and can be tailored to your specific needs. 

Problem: lack of auto-stop for unprofitable sources 

What are the risks: merging budgets for unprofitable segments

How to solve it: it sounds obvious, but it’s better to remind yourself and check the automation rules settings in the source or tracker before launching traffic. For example, if the ROI per source/segment is less than 20% with a spend of $50/100/200, then you need to stop the campaign and focus your budget on effective areas.

Problems with targeting and strategy 

Proper targeting and a balanced strategy are no less important than technical settings. If advertising is not targeted at the right users or is built without taking into account the specifics of the source, there will be no result.

Problem: the language of promotional materials does not match the geography. 

What are the risks: low CTR and conversion due to irrelevance. 

How to solve it: before launching traffic, when you have already decided on the countries to work with, it is worth checking which official languages are used in each of them. It is important to adapt your creatives to the language spoken in the country. For example, launching in English in Mexico will be ineffective unless the browser language is set to English in the targeting. In all other cases, promotional materials should be in Spanish.

Problem: WW campaign without geo adaptation

What are the risks: loss of potential conversions 

How to solve it: the solution is similar to the previous problem: if you are buying traffic, it is worth dividing campaigns by region — English-speaking, Spanish-speaking — and launching them separately with appropriate creatives and targeting. You can also adapt the landing page to the browser language. By the way, our smart link is perfect for WW campaigns: it adapts to the language, device type, and all other user nuances, showing the ideal offer for them. But in order for the user to reach the smart link, they must go through a well-thought-out and targeted affiliate funnel.

Problem: launching without understanding your target audience

What are the risks: high CPC and low ROI

How to solve it: it is worth researching the target audience you are targeting, either through test launches (A/B testing from different angles) or through basic independent research. There are specialized companies that conduct surveys and identify the characteristics of specific population groups — the interests of men over 30, perceptions of relationships in Latin America, etc. This means you can write “Find love” on your banner, while your audience is looking for “A friend for the evening.”

Problem: ignoring EPC/CTR 

What are the risks: lost profits 

How to solve it: there are basic indicators when working with traffic purchasing — EPC, CTR, CR — these are the basics, and it is worth keeping track of them. This will allow you to optimize weak areas and ultimately get a better ROI. Also, don’t hesitate to ask your affiliate manager how to improve EPC or request a better flow to increase EPC when working with smart links.

Problem: one approach for different traffic sources

What are the risks: a drop in purchasing efficiency 

How to solve it: remember that each traffic source has its own specifics. On TikTok, a trigger sound often attracts the user’s attention better, while in banner advertising, the main thing is to catch the eye visually. Recommendation: use spytools for each traffic source so you can accurately determine which approach works best on a particular advertising platform.

So, today we’ve covered some of the basic but most common mistakes our partners make when they first start working with us. We hope you found this information useful. Please let us know in the comments if you are interested in reading about analyzing mistakes when working with creatives and what exactly you are missing if you do not interact enough with affiliate managers.