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Basic Tracking - Pixel Integration

1.  Overview
2.  Transaction Types

 

1. Overview

This document assists advertisers with basic pixel integration.

No Personally Identifiable Information (PII) may be passed to Ascend. PII includes but is not limited to information which can be used to distinguish or trace an individual's identity, such as their name, social security number, email address, phone number, or physical address.
 

2. Transaction Types

 

2.1. Lead

A publisher is paid a flat amount when they direct a consumer to an advertiser's website and that consumer fills out a membership form, registers online, starts a subscription, or similar.
 

2.2. Sale

A publisher is paid a percentage of the sale when they direct a consumer to an advertiser's website and that consumer purchases a product or service.
 

3. Advertiser Types

 

3.1. Standard Advertiser

This type of advertiser logs all sales or leads through Pepperjam. Tracking these sales and leads can be done from anywhere in the advertiser's website and does not require a specific "landing page".
 

3.2. Gateway Advertiser

This type of advertiser uses a URL with special parameters that are used to indicate the source of traffic and determine whether or not to display the pixel on the order confirmation page.

The pixel is located in the HTML of your confirmation/thank you page that is displayed after a successful sale or lead. This page has the final details such as the sale amount, products or services purchased, and the tracking data. The pixel must also contain other, static (unchanging), data. There should only be one pixel on the confirmation page. 

 

4. Pixel Integration

The pixel is located in the HTML of your confirmation/thank you page that is displayed after a successful sale or lead. This page has the final details such as the sale amount, products or services purchased, and the tracking data. The pixel must also contain other, static (unchanging), data. There should only be one pixel on the confirmation page. 

Pixels are very flexible and can be used with many programming languages, including (but not limited to): PHP, JavaScript, CGI Scripting, ASP, Perl, and Java.
 

4.1. Pixel Examples

Values within the <> brackets such as  must be assigned programmatically. A live pixel should look similar to the following:

<iframe src="https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?PID=<PROGRAMID>;
&AMOUNT=<SALEAMOUNT>&TYPE=<TYPE>&OID=<ORDERID>&CLICK_ID=<CLICK_ID>" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Values within the < > brackets such as <SaleAmount> must be assigned programmatically. A live pixel should look similar to the following:

<iframe src="https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?PID=000
&AMOUNT=25000.99&TYPE=1&OID=54563131&CLICK_ID=123456" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0"></iframe>

 

4.2. Pixel Parameters Explained

PID Program ID
AMOUNT Total Sale Amount. The amount should reflect any coupon or discount that is applied to an order and should be before shipping/taxes.

NOTE: The amount passed through in this field can only be a numeric value and cannot contain any characters, such as commas for amounts that are greater than one thousand dollars. If a comma exists within the amount field, it will generate an error in the system and not track properly.
TYPE Transaction Type (1=sale, 2=lead)
OID Order ID
CLICK_ID Unique ID assigned by Ascend to each click record generated from a creative. This value is passed to the advertiser's website as the placeholder clid in the creative destination URL. This will need to be captured and stored so it can later be passed back in your pixel fire.

NOTE - This parameter is not required if you are currently using the Ascend Container Tag.  However, if you are not using the Ascend Container tag, please see the additional info link below to learn more about creating your own ITP mitigation functionality.

Usage: The most recent click ID associated with the transaction's customer.

Additional Info: See Basic Tracking - Click ID Capture and Storage for more information.
PROMOCODE
(optional)		 A single or comma-separated list of promotional codes tied to a personalized coupon. It is used to ensure credit is given to the owner of the personalized creative, rather than someone who may have used it without permission. If a list is provided, the first valid code will be used. If a valid code is not provided, the sale will be attributed as normal. This is an optional parameter and requires additional setup by your account manager.

SIGNATURE

(optional)

A hashed order id (OID) using the SHA256 hash with the private key saved by the advertiser in the pixel signing portion of the site Pixel Signature Generation Code Examples.


Note: The code that generates the signature value, including the secret, should not be referenced in a way that is exposed to the user.

4.3. Real-World Integrations

HTML Integration:
Example taken from Section 4.1

<iframe src="https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?PID=000
&AMOUNT=25000.99&TYPE=1&OID=54563131&CLICK_ID=1565435" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0"></iframe>

PHP Integration:
Example taken from Section 4.1.

<?php
$output = '<iframe src="https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?';;
$output .="PID=000";
$output .="&AMOUNT=$totalAmount";
$output .="&TYPE=$transactionType";
$output .="&OID=$orderID";
$output .="&CLICK_ID=$clickID";
$output .='" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0"></iframe>';
echo $output;
?>
<-- This will create the following: //-->

<iframe src="https://t.pepperjamnetwork.com/track?PID=000
&AMOUNT=25000.99&TYPE=1&OID=54563131&CLICK_ID=1565435" width="1" height="1" frameborder="0"></iframe>


6. Pixel Integration Problems

Correctly working pixels and tracking cookies are extremely important to a successful marketing campaign. Be sure that you completely understand how to implement pixel tracking. Problems such as incorrect reports can be caused from incorrect values being entered into the tracking pixel at the time of sale. At least one successful test must be completed. The correct information must be set in the pixel so that the tracking and reporting systems function properly.
 

7. Common Phrases and Definitions

See Glossary for common phrases.