Attributing conversions to the right campaign is vital for optimizing campaign performance and enabling data-driven decisions. Because banners can link to several kinds of targets, setting up attribution requires a bit more work compared to listings. In this example, you’ll learn how to set up attribution for banners that link to products, brands, or vendors. Let’s get started.

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Overview

In the context of banner attribution, the primary goal is to track and attribute conversions resulting from interactions with a banner and products associated with the banner you’ve configured in Topsort. Sometimes a user may view a banner, click on it, and then make a purchase later. In such cases, it’s essential to attribute the purchase to the banner that initially caught the user’s attention.

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Common Practice/Recommendation

When a user views a banner within a page, any subsequent purchases of products associated with the banner by the same user should be attributed to the banner campaign.

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Implementation: Attribution Methods

Currently, there are two primary methods for attributing a purchase to a banner within the platform, depending on the type of landing page the banner redirects to: one is product detail & listing pages (PDP & PLP), and the other is vendor pages.

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1. Product Detail & Listing Pages (PDP & PLP)

This method involves sending a resolvedBidId along with an additionalAttribution object in a follow-up event linked to a specific product. The user journey follows this sequence:

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Step 1: Page Loads with a Banner

  • A page loads with a banner that has won a Topsort auction.
  • If the banner is set to charge by CPM (Cost Per Mille), a banner impression event should be sent to Topsort, including the resolvedBidId from the auction response, for billing purposes.
  • If the user clicks on the banner and it’s set to charge by CPC (Cost Per Click), a banner click event should be sent to Topsort, again using the resolvedBidId from the auction response, for billing purposes.

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Step 2: User Click and Redirection

  • Upon clicking the banner, the user is redirected to the specified landing page.

  • From this point, different event requirements come into play depending on the type of banner landing page:

    Case 1.1. PDP (Product Detail Page)

    • If the banner redirects to a Product Detail Page, a product click event should be reported to Topsort when the user clicks on the banner.
    • This event must include the resolvedBidId from the banner and the additionalAttribution object.
    • In this case, the additionalAttribution object should have:
      • id: Product ID of the clicked product.
      • type: Set as “product”.
    • This approach ensures that any subsequent purchase of the product is attributed to the original banner.

    Example of a click event with the additionalAttribution object:

    {
  "clicks": [
    {
      "id": "9dcb05ad-9bb4-40da-bd71-663cab413564",
      "resolvedBidId": "ChAGcYkXyzR3q5UEOql7QpBd...",
      "placement": {
        "path": "/home/banner-destination-page"
      },
      "occurredAt": "2024-10-23T06:03:21.403Z",
      "opaqueUserId": "7205415c-179f-4f7f-9fde-3ca8e7f16bc7",
      "additionalAttribution": {
        "id": "MKJY40600",
        "type": "product"
      }
    }
  ]
}

    Case 1.2. PLP (Product Listing Page)

    • If the banner leads to a Product Listing Page, a product click event should be sent to Topsort only after the user clicks on one of the listed products.
    • This event should include both the resolvedBidId from the banner and an additionalAttribution object.
    • This ensures that any subsequent purchase of the clicked product is correctly attributed to the initial banner.

    Case 1.3. BLP (Brand or Vendor Landing Page)

    • If the banner leads to a brand or vendor page, and the goal is to attribute subsequent purchases to that brand/vendor, then Halo attribution should be used. See the next section for more details.

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2. Vendor attribution

When the banner redirects to a vendor landing page or if all products purchased from a vendor after seeing a banner related to it should be attributed, then we use Halo attribution. This kind of attribution indirectly links a purchase to the banner by associating the vendor or brand from the resolvedBidId of the original banner event. This ensures that purchases are attributed even when the conversion path is not direct. Halo attribution can work in two ways:

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2.1. Vendor Only Attribution:

Banners can attribute all purchases of products from a specific vendor to the banner that led the user to the vendor’s page. Communicate with the Topsort team to set up this attribution method at support@topsort.com.

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2.2. Vendor + Other Attribution:

This approach is used when not all banners redirect to vendor pages and multiple landing page types exist. The flow is the same as described in Product Detail & Listing Pages (PDP & PLP), but each purchased product item must be reported with its vendor ID. Example:

{
  "purchases": [
    {
      "id": "06581ac9-0098-7797-b913-820b6bbbbed4",
      "opaqueUserId": "065e8780-d526-789c-a813-cd1a9ab08d8e",
      "occurredAt": "2024-10-28T07:43:54-06:00",
      "items": [
        {
          "vendorId": "VEIA929919",
          "unitPrice": 900,
          "quantity": 1,
          "productId": "MKQUJ9191"
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}
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