The Complete Beginner's Guide to Postback Tracking for CPAlead Advertisers

Author: CPAlead

Updated Friday, January 24, 2025 at 8:02 AM CDT

The Complete Beginner's Guide to Postback Tracking for CPAlead Advertisers

Adding a CPI or CPA offer to CPAlead is easy once you can understand how postback tracking works. We're writing this as a follow-up guide to CPAlead Advertiser Guide: Setting Up Your First Campaign . Let's learn about postback tracking in the simplest way possible! Imagine you're running a lemonade stand (your offer), and CPAlead is your friendly neighbor helping to send customers to you. Here's how it works:

When CPAlead sends a customer (traffic) to your lemonade stand, they give the customer a special numbered ticket (for example, ticket #1946035-1356547260)
The customer takes this numbered ticket to your stand (just like a user following your tracking URL with the click_id parameter)
When the customer buys lemonade (converts), your stand keeper (your network) takes the ticket and reads the number
Your stand keeper then sends a message to CPAlead saying "Ticket #1946035-1356547260 made a purchase!" (this is what happens when the postback URL is triggered)
CPAlead matches this ticket number to their records and knows exactly which customer made the purchase

This way, CPAlead knows exactly which customers bought lemonade and can reward the neighbor who sent them! We'll show you exactly how to set this up with real examples.

What is a Click ID?

A click ID is like a special sticker we put on each click. When someone clicks your offer:

CPAlead generates a unique identifier in the following format: 1946035-1356547260. We will use this as an example.
This identifier follows the user, similar to a name tag.
When the user installs your app or completes an action, your network sends this identifier back to CPAlead by inserting it into the CPAlead postback URL as the click ID (e.g., 1946055-1356557260) and then programmatically triggering the CPAlead postback URL that willl look like this:
https://net.go2trck.org/aff_lsr?id=f9433aab68f4172dcc9851fecd633a51&click_id=1946055-1356557260.
When CPAlead receives a postback containing the identifier (e.g., 1946055-1356557260), it recognizes that a lead has been generated from the corresponding click. Using this identifier, CPAlead retrieves all relevant details, such as your advertiser ID, campaign ID, and the sub-ID of the user who clicked. CPAlead then processes the reward accordingly.

Important Notes:

Notice how {CLICK_ID} in the tracking URL is replaced with the actual click ID (1946035-1356547260)
The same click ID appears in both the tracking URL and postback URL, creating a perfect match
The click ID remains unchanged throughout the entire process - this is crucial for proper tracking
Your network automatically handles the replacement of the parameter with the actual click ID value

How to Find Your Network's Click ID Parameter

Not sure what parameter your network uses? Here's what to do:

Open your network's support center or documentation
Search for "click ID parameter" or "tracking parameter"
Or simply ask your network manager: "What parameter do you use to store click IDs?"