Onboarding : Custom network onboarding process

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This article will review:

• The stages in the onboarding process to migrate a new brand onto a new or existing network.  This particular process is aimed at brands / agencies / partners who have greater responsibility over their integrations and are mostly self sufficient
• The roles and responsibilities for each onboarding stage
• Detailed tracking implementation options and testing verification
• Access to additional onboarding documentation

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Index

• Overview
• Onboarding Steps
• Default Campaign Settings
• Tracking Solution to Implement
• Testing and verification
• Next Steps

Overview

When brands migrate to Partnerize, there are various stages to the onboarding process to ensure a smooth transition.  Agencies, brands and partners can manage the majority of the onboarding process, if required.  Alternatively, they can follow the 'standard' integration process, where the Partnerize Integrations team are more heavily involved.

However, should an agency, brand or partner want to be more self service, they can opt for a custom network onboarding process, where predefined requirements and options are agreed up front, and are then applied to all future campaigns that are required.  This provides the agency, brand or partner with greater control over their integration process and will result in the campaign implementation time being significantly reduced, due to the streamlined process.

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Onboarding Steps

The stages of the onboarding process are covered below, including:

• Description of the stage
• Stage Owner
  

Stage	Description	Stage Owner
New campaign request	The agency, brand or partner will need to contact their Partnerize Customer Success Manager to advise that a new campaign is required	Agency, Brand, or Partner
Submission to Integration Team	Customer Success Manager will notify the Integration team of the new campaign request	Partnerize - Customer Success
Campaign Creation	Create campaign(s) on Partnerize platform	Partnerize - Integration team
Tracking Solution Instructions	Standardised tracking implementation instructions will be used for all campaigns - referenced below	Partnerize - Integration team
Tracking Solution Implementation	Implement Tracking Solution	Agency, Brand, or Partner
Platform readiness	Upload campaign collateral Set up commissions Partner migration (if applicable)	Agency, Brand, or Partner
Tracking Solution Testing	Testing of implemented tracking solution and verifying results	Agency, Brand, or Partner
Final Review	Internal sign off: Legal - contract received Finance - fees set up Integration - tracking / campaign settings checks	Partnerize - Integration team
Launch	Set campaign(s) live	Partnerize - Integration team

 

Default Campaign Requirements

For all campaigns on the network, standardised requirements and campaign settings will be used​. There will still be options for technical variations per campaign (Destination URL, Campaign Name etc), and this can be included in the new campaign request.

Below are the standard settings that will be set for all networks that utilise this integration process: 

Campaign requirement	Default Campaign setting	Notes
Cookie Period	30 days	N/A
Force Approval Period	Never	N/A
Default Currency	GBP	A different standard default currency can be agreed, should the agency / brand / partner have different requirements
Conversions per Click	Unlimited	N/A
Duplicate Conversion References	Completely Ignore Duplicates	N/A
Deeplinking Enabled	Yes	N/A
Reporting Timezone	[GMT+00:00] Greenwich Mean Time (Europe/London)	This can be updated once a campaign is live to a more suitable timezone, if required
Default Publisher Commission Rate (%)	0%	This can be updated once a campaign is live, as default commissions will differ per brand
What to Invoice	Publisher Commission & Network Override	N/A
Who performs the payments	Payments are performed by Partnerize	N/A

 

Tracking Solution to Implement

For agencies, brands or partners who choose to integrate as a custom network, we recommend that the following approach is taken to web tracking:

• A web tracking solution is implemented which uses 1st party cookies.  Available options:
  • Partnerize Tag First Party Tracking - Implementation guide here: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020029897-Partnerize-Tag-First-Party-Tracking-Integration
  • Server to Server - Implementation guide here: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360020395238-Partnerize-Server-to-Server-s2s-Tracking-Integration
• Tracking parameters to be included within the implemented solution should be either the standard parameters or vertical specific.  This is covered in this guide: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/4410042606225-Vertical-Specific-Tracking-Parameters

As agencies and partners may have multiple campaigns with different brands, it is still possible to implement different solutions for different brands, depending on the individual requirement.  However, tracking parameters should be standardised.

In addition to the above solutions, should any brands be working with eCommerce platforms, we also have the following integrations:

• Shopify - Implementation guide here: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018790917-Partnerize-Shopify-Integration
• Magento - Implementation guide here: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018839357-Partnerize-Magento-Integration
• Salesforce Commerce Cloud - Implementation guide here: https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360018499697-Partnerize-Salesforce-Commerce-Cloud-Integration

Testing and verification

Once tracking has been implemented, a test order must be placed on the live brand site to ensure that tracking has been successfully implemented. The tests must be reviewed and meet criteria referenced below, before tracking implementation can be signed off.

Step 1: Place test order

Place the test order as per the instructions in this document:

https://help.phgsupport.com/hc/en-us/articles/360019824018-Testing-Tracking-Solutions-FAQs

Step 2 : Check Partnerize to verify test transaction

There are two ways in which to check if the test conversion has tracked and also the validity of the data:

• Via the Partnerize platform
• Via the Partnerize API

Option 1 : Check conversion data via Partnerize platform

• Log in to the Partnerize platform
• Access the campaign that is being tested
• Navigate to Analytics > Transaction Report
• If the conversion has tracked, this should appear in the Reporting Table:

• You can then perform the checks (see Step 3 for detailed instructions on what should be checked).  You can check the item level data using the Conversion Items table, shown above, and check any additional item metadata by exposing the data points via the 'Columns' drop down

Option 2 : Retrieve conversion data via Partnerize API

Use the below API endpoint to retrieve the conversion data:

https://<app_api_key>:<user_api_key>@api.partnerize.com/reporting/report_advertiser/campaign/<campaign_id>/conversion.json?conversion_reference=<order_id>

The below values will need to be injected into the relevant parameter within the API call:

API parameter	Description
app_api_key	Can be found in the platform via Account Settings > User application key
user_application_key	Can be found in the platform via Account Settings > User API key
campaign_id	The campaign ID for the campaign that is being tested
order_id	The Order ID for the test order that was placed

Populated API call example (NOTE: Example values have been used for illustration purposes):

https://abcdef:ghijkl@api.partnerize.com/reporting/report_advertiser/campaign/100l12345/conversion.json?conversion_reference=348876522

Once the above values have been injected, the API call can be pasted into your browser

If a transaction has tracked successfully, you will receive a response containing all of the conversion data associated with the order. The response should appear like the below example screen shots:

 

Step 3: Testing verification & success criteria

If a successful response is received, check each test order for the following:

Test condition	Parameter name to check values	Description / Success criteria	Example value
Correct item value used	item_value	Is the item_value correct and consistent with the value for the items placed? (NOTE: The value used should be the net item value) The item_value should be a value greater than 0.01. If the item_value is populated with 0.00, this could be due to any voucher codes applied, but please check this Negative or empty/blank values are not permitted	29.99
Correct/valid voucher code used	voucher_code	If any voucher code was used, has this been correctly passed into the voucher_code parameter? If no voucher code was used, this parameter should be empty/blank. No values such as 'NULL', 'NO VOUCHER', etc. should be used, as they will be treated as actual voucher codes
Latest/correct clickref used	clickref	Is the correct clickref value present? This should be the clickref from the most recent click For example, if there have multiple clicks via the test partner link, different clickref values will have been generated and the last clickref generated should be associated with the conversion	1a33eljjh5
Correct Order information tracked	conversion_reference	The Order ID that was generated at order confirmation must be passed into the 'conversionref' parameter This ID is the unique transaction ID within the brand's own system, and is used to validate conversions within the Partnerize platform	325454780
	currency	Should be populated with the local currency used for purchase. Must conform to the ISO 4217 3-letter currency codes.	GBP, EUR, USD, etc.
	category	Should be populated with the top level product category
	sku	Should be populated with the product SKU for each item within the order	5264362666
Multiple items tracked correctly	N/A	Have all individual items tracked as expected? (NOTE: You should place an order containing multiple items for each test)	N/A
Live site testing	N/A	Was the test transaction placed via the live brand site?	N/A

If any of the above tests fail and do not meet the success criteria outlined above, then this will need to be reviewed by the agency / brand / partner. Once resolved, a further test will need to be placed and checked in the same way as above.

Troubleshooting tips:

Potential issue	Steps to check
No conversions shown in the Partnerize platform	Check the date range selected in the platform to ensure that this corresponds with the date the test order was placed Ensure you are logged into the correct campaign (for instances where there are multiple campaigns on one network) If these are correct, this means that the test transaction has not tracked.  Further steps to check:  Was a link clicked prior to placing the test order? Was the test order placed via the live brand site? Has the tracking been implemented on the live site? If the answer is YES to all of the above, then contact the Partnerize Integration team for more assistance
If NO response is received when querying the API:	Check that the API keys, campaign ID and order ID are all present and valid If the conversion count returned is zero, this means that the test transaction has not tracked.  Further steps to check:  Was a link clicked prior to placing the test order? Was the test order placed via the live brand site? Has the tracking been implemented on the live site? If the answer is YES to all of the above, then contact the Partnerize Integration team for more assistance

 

Next Steps

Contact your Partnerize Customer Success Manager to begin the onboarding process.