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ROIads traffic source template ROIads is a self-serve ad network selling push, in-page push, popunder and direct-click traffic. Push is sold per click and popunder per 1,000 impressions, with bid tools such as micro bidding and a CPA Goal mode. This guide sets up ROIads as a traffic source in ClickFlare. It covers passing ROIads’ click data and bid into your reports and sending conversions back to ROIads, so its optimization and your stats agree. You do everything from the campaign editor. The ROIads traffic source is created inline, without leaving the campaign.

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At a glance

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How it works

1

ROIads sends the click

A visitor clicks your ad, or a popunder opens. ROIads opens your ClickFlare campaign URL and fills in its macros: the click ID in click_id, your bid in bid_price, plus the publisher, site, campaign, creative, country and OS.
2

ClickFlare stores the ROIads click ID

ClickFlare saves the value of click_id as the visit’s External ID, records the cost, and redirects the visitor to your lander or offer.
3

The conversion reaches ClickFlare

Your affiliate network or store posts the conversion back to ClickFlare, matched on the ClickFlare click ID.
4

ClickFlare posts it back to ROIads

ClickFlare fires the ROIads postback, replacing {external_id} with the stored ROIads click ID. ROIads matches it to the original click.
The mirror to keep straight: in the campaign URL you write ClickFlare’s parameter (click_id) and ROIads’ macro ({click_id}). The template does this for you. In the postback URL you write ROIads’ parameter (id) and ClickFlare’s token ({external_id}).

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Before you start

  • Set up your own tracking domain. Run the campaign and the postback on your own custom domain. Shared domains get flagged by networks and blocked by browsers. See Custom Domains.
  • Have an offer ready in ClickFlare, and its affiliate network set up to post conversions back to ClickFlare. See Creating an Offer and Adding an Affiliate Network.
  • Know your format. ROIads keeps separate macro lists for push and popunder, in the Tracking tab of your advertiser dashboard. Check that the template’s macros are in the list for your format.
  • Decide which conversions ROIads should receive. ROIads optimizes on what you send it, and it accepts two events. See Tracking a second event.

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Step 1 – Create the campaign and the ROIads traffic source

  1. Go to Campaigns and click New.
  2. In Traffic Source, open the dropdown and click + New Traffic Source.
  3. Type roiads in the search box and select the ROIads template.
  4. Enter a Name, for example ROIads.
  5. Leave Cost currency on USD unless your ROIads account is billed in another currency.
The template fills in the Parameters table for you: The ROIads template's Parameters table in ClickFlare, with ROIads' macros pre-filled Each tracking field becomes a column you can group reports by. publisher_id and site_id are the ones you will use most: they tell you which sources convert, so you can blacklist them or bid them up in ROIads. creative_id tells you which creative won.
Don’t change or remove the External ID row. ROIads links each conversion to a click through {click_id}. Without it in the campaign URL, ClickFlare has no ROIads click ID to send back, and ROIads cannot match any conversion.
To pass more ROIads data, click Add Parameter, give it a name and parameter, and enter the ROIads macro as the TS Token. ClickFlare assigns the next free tracking field. ROIads also offers {region}, {city} and {os_ver}. Its Tracking tab and the destination URL field show the full list for your format.

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Step 2 – Set up the postback

The postback is what sends conversions to ROIads. It lives on the traffic source, so every campaign that uses this ROIads traffic source sends conversions the same way.

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How ROIads’ postback works

ROIads has one postback endpoint for all advertisers. It doesn’t need an account ID or a goal ID. ROIads’ format is:
action=conversion is a fixed value that marks the event. id carries the click ID. In ROIads’ example, {click_id} is a placeholder your tracker replaces. In ClickFlare, that token is {external_id}.

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Add the template’s postback in ClickFlare

  1. Back in the New Traffic Source form, scroll to Passing conversion info to traffic source.
  2. Turn on Traffic source postback URL. The template’s postback appears:
There’s nothing to replace. {external_id} is a ClickFlare token, filled with the ROIads click ID stored from the visit.
  1. In the dropdown on the left, choose the ClickFlare event that should fire the postback. Keep Conversions to send every conversion. If your final action is a custom conversion (for example lead), choose that instead.
  2. Click Save. You are back in the campaign editor with the ROIads traffic source selected.
The Traffic source postback URL switched on, showing the ROIads template's postback
Don’t replace {external_id} with ROIads’ {click_id}. In the postback, {click_id} isn’t a ClickFlare token, so ClickFlare sends it as literal text and ROIads can’t match the conversion.
The postback sends no revenue. ROIads counts the conversion, but your payout and ROI live in ClickFlare. To learn what each postback token does, see How to Configure a Traffic Source S2S Postback URL.

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Step 3 – Finish the campaign and copy its URL

  1. Name the campaign.
  2. Set the Cost Model: Not Tracked for push, CPC for popunder. See Cost.
  3. Choose Redirect or Direct tracking. Redirect is the usual choice for ROIads’ push and popunder traffic.
  4. Click Next and, on Destination, add your lander (optional) and your offer.
  5. Save, open Tracking, select your own tracking domain and copy the campaign URL.
The campaign URL already contains every ROIads macro from the template, for example click_id={click_id} and bid_price={bid_price}. If you use a lander, its call-to-action must link to the ClickFlare click URL, not to the offer directly. Otherwise the visit reaches the offer without a ClickFlare click ID, and the conversion cannot be traced back to ROIads. See Creating a Campaign in ClickFlare.

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Step 4 – Create the campaign in ROIads

  1. In ROIads, select the ad format (push or pop) and create a campaign.
  2. Paste the ClickFlare campaign URL into the Destination URL field.
  3. In the campaign settings, under Tracking Type, select Postback request.
  4. Choose your targeting, bid and budget as usual, and submit the campaign.
Paste the URL exactly as ClickFlare gives it. ROIads replaces each macro in curly braces when the ad is clicked. Don’t add click_id a second time: the ClickFlare URL already carries it.

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Step 5 – Test the integration

ROIads’ guides recommend a test click and a test conversion before you scale.
  1. Open your ClickFlare campaign URL through a live ROIads ad, or let a small test budget bring the first clicks.
  2. In ClickFlare, check the visit. The External ID should hold a ROIads click ID, not the literal text {click_id}.
  3. Complete the offer, or trigger a test conversion on your affiliate network’s side.
  4. Go to Logs → Postback Status and filter by the campaign. A successful request to us.roiapp.net confirms ClickFlare sent the postback.
  5. In ROIads, check the campaign’s statistics for the conversion.
If the conversion doesn’t appear in ROIads, check the click ID first: the postback must carry the same value ROIads passed in click_id.

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Tracking a second event

ROIads accepts a second conversion event, for example a deposit or a sale after a registration. It uses the same URL with action=conversion1:
  1. In ClickFlare, create a custom conversion for each step, for example registration and deposit.
  2. On the ROIads traffic source, click + Another postback URL.
  3. Paste the second URL, with action=conversion1.
  4. Map each postback to its ClickFlare event: registration to action=conversion, deposit to action=conversion1.
  5. Test both events.
  • Two events: conversion for the first, conversion1 for the second.
  • One postback per event. Don’t combine events in one URL.
  • Both postbacks send the same click ID in id.
  • ROIads calls this feature Postback Deposit Tracking. Use it for funnels where the paying step comes after the first conversion.
If ROIads should only learn from your final sale, keep a single postback with action=conversion and map it to that event. Earlier steps still show in ClickFlare. They just don’t reach ROIads.To send a postback only for some conversions, for example only those above a certain payout, use Event filter under the postback to add conditions.

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Cost

The template passes cost with ROIads’ {bid_price} macro, and ClickFlare records it as the visit’s cost. ROIads describes it as how much you paid for the click. What it means depends on the format:
On popunder, {bid_price} is a CPM price. With the Cost Model on Not Tracked, ClickFlare would record each visit at 1,000 times its real cost. Set the Cost Model to CPC and enter your CPM bid divided by 1,000. A popunder impression is roughly one visit. The bid_price column still shows your bid for reference.
{bid_price} is your bid, not a cleared auction price. With micro bidding or bid changes during the day, compare ClickFlare’s Cost column with your ROIads spend. When it differs, correct it with a manual cost upload. See Cost Models and Traffic Source Cost Tracking.

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Delayed revenue

If you run search arbitrage (RSOC or AFD) behind ROIads, the feed reports revenue hours or days after the click. ClickFlare can fire the postback once the revenue arrives. ROIads’ postback carries no revenue, but it still counts the conversion. See Sending Delayed Revenue to Traffic Sources.

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Troubleshooting

  • The campaign URL in ROIads is missing click_id={click_id}, or the macro was edited. Copy the URL from ClickFlare again.
  • The postback uses {click_id} instead of ClickFlare’s {external_id}.
  • Tracking Type in the ROIads campaign isn’t set to Postback request.
  • The External ID row was removed from the traffic source.
  • Traffic source postback URL is off on the ROIads traffic source.
  • Disable sending postbacks to traffic source is on in the campaign.
  • The postback is mapped to a different event than the one the conversion logged. Check Logs → Event Logs to see which event was recorded.
  • Check Logs → Postback Status: a failed request shows the status code ROIads returned.
The campaign is on Not Tracked, so ClickFlare records the CPM bid as the cost of each visit. Switch the Cost Model to CPC with your CPM bid divided by 1,000, and fix past days with a manual cost upload.
The macro isn’t available for your format, or the URL was edited. Check the macro list for push or pop in ROIads’ Tracking tab, and paste the campaign URL from ClickFlare unchanged. See Traffic Source Tokens Arriving Empty.
For the general checklist, see Conversions not showing.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Q1: Can I use the same ROIads traffic source for all my ROIads campaigns?
A1: Yes. ROIads’ postback has no account or goal ID, so one traffic source covers every campaign. Create a second one only if a campaign needs a different event mapping.
Q2: Why is it called click_id in the campaign URL and id in the postback?
A2: They are two halves of the same value. ClickFlare reads ROIads’ click ID from its own click_id parameter. ROIads expects it back in its own id parameter. Both names are fixed. Change neither.
Q3: Can I send my payout to ROIads?
A3: The template doesn’t, and ROIads doesn’t document a revenue parameter for its postback. If you need ROIads to see revenue, ask ROIads support for the exact parameter before adding one.
Q4: Should I use Redirect or Direct tracking with ROIads?
A4: Redirect is the usual choice and works with every ROIads format. Use Direct only if ROIads must see your lander’s domain as the destination. See Direct Campaign Tracking.
Q5: Does the template work for ROIads’ CPA Goal campaigns?
A5: Yes. CPA Goal needs the postback, because ROIads optimizes on the conversions it receives. Map the postback to the event you want ROIads to optimize for.

Traffic source postbacks

Every token you can use in a postback.

Custom conversions

Split registrations and deposits into separate events.

Cost models

How CPC, CPA and RevShare costs are calculated.

Conversions not showing

The general checklist when postbacks don’t arrive.