How To Set Up A Postback URL with CPV Lab

CPV Lab has been my tracking platform of choice ever since it launched. Despite the name, it can be used to track just about any type of traffic, not just CPV/PPV. I’ve used it for PPV, Facebook, Media Buys, and Mobile. Recently I had a campaign that required a Postback URL (also called Server-to-Server Pixel) for tracking instead of the usual pixel. It’s basically the same thing, but instead of placing a pixel on the landing page that gets loaded by the user’s browser, your affiliate network’s tracking system itself will tell your CPV Lab that a conversion has taken place. This is the primary tracking method used for Mobile campaigns, where pixels often don’t work. It is also much more reliable for tracking correctly (at least in my experience).

There is nothing in the CPV Lab interface that tells you how to do it. I had to go searching for the answer in the CPV Lab help desk, so I figured I’d share it with you. It’s actually quite simple.

First you will need your Image Pixel URL from your CPV Lab installation. Just go to the Edit Campaign window (any campaign), scroll down and copy the code in the box labeled “Image Pixel”. It should look like this:

<img src="https://yourtracker.com/adclick.php" width="1" height="1" border="0" />

Now copy just the URL part:

http://yourtracker.com/adclick.php

Next we are going to add “?subid=” on to the end of it, so we have this:

http://yourtracker.com/adclick.php?subid=

The final step is going to depend on what tracking platform your affiliate network is using. They each have a “token” that will make the system place the subid value into your link dynamically. Below I’ve listed the tokens for some of the most common tracking platforms.

Cake: #s1#

LinkTrust: [=SID=]

HasOffers: {aff_sub}

HitPath: xxc1xx

To complete your Postback URL, just paste the correct token onto the end of your link. If you aren’t sure what platform your network uses, just ask your Affiliate Manager. Here’s an example using the Cake token:

http://yourtracker.com/adclick.php?subid=#s1#

That’s it! Now all you need to do is send your new Postback URL to your Affiliate Manager and tell them to place it for you. Be sure to tell them it’s a Postback URL, not an Image Pixel. Also, if you have the proper access, you can place it yourself in all of these platforms I’ve listed above. It depends from network to network and also offer to offer whether they allow you to place your own pixel.

Try it out, once you get it working you won’t go back to Image Pixels…

17 thoughts on “How To Set Up A Postback URL with CPV Lab

  1. Great job Josh!

    I have always used image pixel, but was told postback is more reliable, but I never new the correct syntax for the postback link.

    I also searched through CPVLab knowledge base and it says the postback link is like this http://www.yourdomain.com/addclick.php? with no subid on the end?

    Any way I am glad you have cleared this point up for me…

    Well done

    Cheers

    Antoni

  2. Thanks for clarifying this! Like Antoni above, I read the knowledge base and it didn’t mention about appending ‘subid’ parameter. I asked their support but the person gave vague answers. Glad to have this sorted out now.

    Cheers,
    Battra

  3. Hi Josh
    I’ve installed Cpvlab on my WordPress website to track sales from natural search and its working but its not giving me keyword information.
    Do you do freelance work or do you know someone who can do this?
    Thanks

    • CPV Lab isn’t really designed for natural search. Honestly I would use something like Google Analytics with sales goals for that. But if you wanted to use CPV Lab anyway, you would have to figure out a way to insert the keyword that they are searching from dynamically, which would take some custom scripting most likely. You could check the CPV Lab helpdesk (http://thelabhelpdesk.com) for more help.

  4. Urgent!
    Much help is needed.

    If I have 10 Landing Pages for 10 Campaigns, do the source code of CPVLab tracker in the Landing Pages all end with base2.php or base2.php/id= xxx etc.

    How should the link in Landing Page source code for CPVLab domain looks like?

    Apparently I could not link the Landing page to the Advertiser’s page. The webpage that appear after someone click on the button to go to Advertiser page go to http://www.mycpvlabdomain.com/base2.php shows blank page.

    In this case of split testing so many LPs and offers on single CPVLab campaingn, which option should I used? :
    1. Direct Linking & Landing Page Campaigns
    2. Multiple Option Campaigns
    3. Multiple Path Campaigns
    4. Landing Page Sequence Campaigns

    Many thanks.

    Regards,

    • The code ends in base2.php for all the landing pages. The other variables are passed through the URL automatically.

      It will show a blank page when you click on base2.php unless you clicked on an actual CPV Lab tracking link for the campaign first. If people go directly to the page then click through, it doesn’t work. Try clearing your cookies then doing it again by first clicking on a tracking link.

      You should use Direct Linking & Landing Page Campaigns for split testing multiple LPs and offers. The other options are more complex and harder to setup.

      If you’ve got more questions about CPV Lab, definitely check out the CPV Lab help desk at http://thelabhelpdesk.com/.

  5. Hey Josh,

    Thank you so much for your help.

    I clicked on the CPVLab Campaign URL to go to my Landing Page with .php extension successfully.

    But when I clicked on the the hyperlink in the Landing Page to go to the Advertiser’s offer page, it leads to http://www.mycpvlabdomain.com/base2.php which is a blank page. I will try once more after I clear the cookies.

    One more question for someone not so technically trained, do my Landing Pages need to be under the same root domain as my CPVLab domain for it to be able to pull link successfully?

    • No, you do not have to have your landing pages on the same root domain as your CPV Lab. In fact, I would advise against that. I always use a separate domain for the landers.

  6. THANK YOU. It took me a wile to figure out the postback. Now I just tried to implement the hitpath postback and it works. Really happy!

    Thank you for taking the time to explain how to do it.

  7. Hi,
    I was reading your post at: https://insideaffiliate.net/how-to-set-up-a-postback-url-with-cpv-lab/comment-page-1/ and I wanted to know if is possible to fire google or bing pixel if I will add the pixels in the: “Enter additional pixel” area in CPV Labs.

    I have an offer on w4 that is only accepting post back pixel and if I have a lot of keywords, ads and a lot of conversions it is hard to figure out what was the specific item that gave me the sale. The same will go for device platform and for referring website if is for a referring partner or if is from the original network.

    You will help me a lot if you can tell me exactly, cuz I’ve been searching like crazy to find this information. Even for post back I was looking for 7 months to figure out how to write the subbed for each specific platform, really glad that I stumble on your post.

    Thank you,
    Alex

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