Awin and ClickFlare Integration Guide

• The offer URL sends the ClickFlare click ID to Awin in clickref2.
• The postback URL sends it back to ClickFlare with every transaction, together with your commission and Awin’s transaction ID. Awin calls this a Transaction Notification.

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At a glance

1. Set the domain and reporting time.
2. Create the Awin affiliate network.
3. Build the tracking link in Awin.
4. Create the offer in ClickFlare.
5. Turn on Transaction Notifications.

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How the data flows

Ad click
  → https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/r/CAMPAIGN?...
     (ClickFlare records the click and generates the click ID)
  → [optional lander → CTA uses the ClickFlare click URL]
  → https://www.awin1.com/...&clickref2=CF_CLICK_ID&...
     (Awin stores the ClickFlare click ID as ClickRef2)
  → Visitor buys on the advertiser's site
  → Awin sends your Transaction Notification:
     https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id=CF_CLICK_ID&payout=4.20&txid=AWIN_TRANSACTION_ID
     (ClickFlare matches the conversion to the original click)

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What you’ll need

• An active ClickFlare account with your own tracking domain set up. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. See Tracking domains.
• An Awin publisher account, approved in the advertiser programs you want to promote.
• Access to Transaction Notifications in Awin. If you don’t see it under Toolbox, raise a support ticket with Awin to request access.

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What the AWIN template contains

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Setup

1

Set up your own tracking domain

Add a custom tracking domain before anything else, for example trk.yourdomain.com. The postback URL is built on this domain, so changing it later means updating the callback in Awin too. See Tracking domains.

2

Report conversions by postback time

Go to Settings → General Settings and set Conversion registration time reporting to Postback Timestamp.Awin reports a transaction on the day it happened. With the default Visit Timestamp, ClickFlare reports it on the day of the original click, so a sale that comes in days after the click lands on a different date in each platform. See Conversion registration time.

This is an account-wide setting. It changes the date conversions are reported on for every campaign.

3

Create the campaign

Go to Campaigns → New Campaign, choose Redirect tracking, pick your traffic source and select your tracking domain. See Creating a campaign.

4

Create the Awin affiliate network

While creating the offer for the campaign, create a new affiliate network in its Affiliate Network field. You can also create it first under Affiliate Networks → + New. Either way:

1. Search for AWIN and pick the AWIN template.
2. Name it, for example “Awin”. Transaction Notifications are set once for your Awin account, so one affiliate network covers every Awin program.
3. Check that Click Id is !!!clickRef2!!!, Payout is !!!commission!!! and Transaction ID is !!!transactionId!!!.
4. Leave Event Type empty.
5. Under Conversion tracking, select your own Tracking Domain and keep S2S Postback URL as the tracking method.
6. Set Payout currency to the currency your Awin programs pay in. If they pay in several currencies, see Programs in other currencies.

ClickFlare builds the postback URL from these fields:

https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id=!!!clickRef2!!!&payout=!!!commission!!!&txid=!!!transactionId!!!

Copy the postback URL and save the network.

5

Build the tracking link in Awin

In Awin, open the Link Builder, pick the advertiser and enter the page you want to send visitors to. If the Link Builder shows ClickRef fields, type {cf_click_id} in ClickRef2. Braces are on Awin’s list of approved ClickRef characters. Check the generated link: it must contain {cf_click_id} with the braces as typed. If the braces were encoded as %7B and %7D, fix them by hand in the offer URL.If you build the link yourself, put the ClickRefs before the destination URL, as Awin asks. The destination is the part that holds the advertiser’s page.

Use clickref2, not clickref. Only the first ClickRef (ClickRef1) is visible to advertisers. ClickRef2 keeps the ClickFlare click ID in your own reports only, and leaves ClickRef1 free for a label you don’t mind advertisers seeing.

6

Create the offer in ClickFlare

In the offer form:

1. Name the offer, for example after the advertiser.
2. Select the Awin affiliate network you just created.
3. Paste the Awin link into Offer URL. It must contain clickref2={cf_click_id}, either from the Link Builder or added by hand before the destination URL.

Append Click ID to Offer Url adds clickref2={cf_click_id} to the end of the link. That puts it after the destination URL, not before it as Awin recommends, so prefer the Link Builder or adding it by hand, and leave the toggle off. Use one or the other, not both.

Write {cf_click_id} with braces. Without them Awin stores the literal text cf_click_id, the notification returns that text, and the conversion cannot be matched to a click.

Set the payout to Auto so ClickFlare uses the payout value from the notification.

7

Turn on Transaction Notifications in Awin

Log in to Awin and go to Toolbox → Transaction Notifications. Fill in the settings:

Setting	What to do
Call-back URL	Paste the ClickFlare postback URL you copied
Call-back method	Choose GET. With GET, Awin replaces the macros in your URL. With POST, it sends a JSON payload instead, which doesn’t fill in ClickFlare’s parameters.
Product Data	Leave unticked. ClickFlare doesn’t use it.
Click Source Data	Leave unticked. ClickFlare already has the click.

Click Submit. Awin confirms that your changes are saved.If Transaction Notifications isn’t in your Toolbox menu, raise a support ticket with Awin to request access.

8

Add a lander (optional)

If you send traffic through a lander before the offer, the lander’s CTA must use the ClickFlare click URL, not the Awin link. ClickFlare then fills in the click ID when it redirects to the offer. See Paths with landers and offers.

9

Save the campaign and launch

Save the campaign, copy the campaign URL from the Tracking tab and use it in your ads. Before you spend money on traffic, run the checks in Verify the setup.

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ClickRef rules

• Awin links take up to six ClickRefs: clickref and clickref2 to clickref6. Keep the click ID in clickref2 and use the others for labels such as a placement or creative.
• Keep each value under 50 characters, or the Click Reference report won’t show it in full.
• Don’t use #, +, ", ;, &, | or ' in a ClickRef value.
• Awin’s Click Reference report shows ClickRef1 only. Data from the other ClickRefs is available in exports and through Awin’s Publisher API.

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Programs in other currencies

https://trk.yourdomain.com/cf/cv?click_id=!!!clickRef2!!!&payout=!!!commission!!!&txid=!!!transactionId!!!&payout_currency=!!!transactionCurrency!!!

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Pending, approved and declined transactions

• Approve: the commission becomes payable.
• Amend: the advertiser corrects the order value or commission group, which changes the commission.
• Decline: the commission is cancelled, for example because the order was returned or broke the program terms.

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Verify the setup

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Troubleshooting

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FAQ

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