A Campaign is the central element for traffic management, as it connects a Traffic Source with one or more offers. Campaigns can also optionally include the use of Prelanders to improve traffic qualification and testing.
Within a Campaign, you can configure advanced flows that define rules for directing traffic to the most suitable offers based on parameters such as origin, device, or custom conditions.
Campaigns also determine how the cost tracking will be handled for the acquired traffic—either with a fixed cost or a dynamic cost model.
Additionally, the Campaign module offers tools to automatically generate tracking URLs for each Traffic Source, ensuring a smooth setup and integration process without the need for manual adjustments.
Let's go step by step.
Go to Campaigns in the left navigation menu, and then click Create in the Campaign list.
The Campaign creation screen will appear with the following fields:
Main setup
Main setup
Name (required) — The name of the campaign.
Traffic source (required) — The traffic source for this campaign. Based on this traffic source, when you get the campaign URL, the parameters configured in the Traffic source will be automatically added.
Routing strategy (required) — It defines how to send the traffic from the Traffic Source to Aftrad:
Direct (No Redirect): This method, configured directly in your Aftrad campaign, is the fastest way to send a user to a landing page. Instead of using a redirect, the tracking information is embedded as parameters in the URL of the landing page.
How it works: Your ad's Final URL is the same as the landing page URL, with Aftrad's tracking parameters automatically appended (e.g.,
www.example.com/?clickid={clickid}). A tracking script on the landing page then captures this data.Best for: Campaigns where maximum speed is critical and you have installed Aftrad's tracking script on the landing page, as well as when your Traffic Source doesn't allow redirections, such as Google Ads
Redirect 302 (Server-Side): This is a fast and standard redirect. When a user clicks your tracking link, the Aftrad server immediately sends them to the final destination.
How it works: The Aftrad server responds with a
302 Foundstatus and the final landing page URL. The user's browser automatically follows the new URL, passing along the referral information.Best for: When speed and reliability are your top priorities, and the final destination needs to see that the click came from your tracking domain. Additionally, this is the redirection method you must select when using a Tracking Template in Google Ads.
Redirect Meta Refresh (Client-Side): This method uses an intermediate page to send the user to the final destination. It's often used to hide the original traffic source from the final destination.
How it works: Aftrad's tracking URL loads a small, invisible HTML page containing a meta refresh tag. This tag then instructs the user's browser to redirect to the final landing page.
Best for: Campaigns where you want to protect the original traffic source from the final destination, as it breaks the referral chain.
Redirect Double Meta Refresh (Client-Side): This is the most secure method for concealing referrer data. It involves a two-step redirection process to ensure no referral information is passed to the final destination.
How it works: The user is sent to an Aftrad tracking page, which redirects to a secondary, intermediate page, and then redirects to the final landing page.
Best for: When absolute privacy of the original traffic source is required from the final destination.
Cost tracking
Cost model (required) — The way to track the cost:
Do not track: the cost for this campaign will be 0.
Fixed cost-per-click (CPC): The cost for a single click. The same for every click.
Dynamic cost-per-click (CPC): The cost of every click is included in the cost parameter. If this parameter is empty, the cost for the click will be considered as 0.
Hybrid cost-per-click (CPC): The cost of every click is included in the cost parameter. If this parameter is empty, the cost for the click will be the one configured in the campaign.
Fixed cost-per-thousand-clicks: The cost for every 1000 clicks.
Dynamic cost-per-thousand-clicks: The cost of every 1000 clicks is included in the cost parameter. If this parameter is empty, the cost for the click will be considered as 0.
Hybrid cost-per-thousand-clicks: The cost of every 1000 clicks is included in the cost parameter. If this parameter is empty, the cost for every 1000 clicks will be the one configured in the campaign.
Enable traffic loss estimation (optional) — It defines the % of discrepancy between the traffic you see in the Traffic Source and the real one you receive in Aftrad. Based on the % configured here, Aftrad will recalculate the cost of the traffic applying the discrepancy.
Postback settings
Send postback to traffic source (optional) — It defines the postback URL of the Traffic Source where to notify the events.
The most common method for notifying a postback is GET, but you can also set it to POST.
The available macros to include in the postack URL of your Traffic sources are:
{external_event_id}: this macro will be replaced by the value sent by the Traffic Source as "External event ID"
{event_type_name}: this macro will be replaced by the Event type associated with the Offer payout rule.
Funnel settings
In this tab, you can configure the different Prelanders and offers where you want to send the traffic.
You have two main groups:
Default paths
Rule-based paths
The Rule-based paths will be evaluated first, and if the click matches one of these paths, it will be redirected to one of the prelanders or offers configured in these Rule-based paths. If none of the Rule-based paths match the click, then the click will be managed by one of the Default paths.
CTA count: number of "Calls To Action"
If no prelancer is selected, this will be the maximum number of offers you can configure in the Path.
If there is a prelander selected, this value will be filled automatically with the number of CTA defined in the prelander.
Routing strategy (required) — It defines how to send the traffic from Aftrad to the offers:
Redirect 302 (Server-Side): This is a fast and standard redirect. When a user clicks your tracking link, the Aftrad server immediately sends them to the final destination.
Redirect Meta Refresh (Client-Side): This method uses an intermediate page to send the user to the final destination. It's often used to hide the original traffic source from the final destination.
Redirect Double Meta Refresh (Client-Side): This is the most secure method for concealing referrer data. It involves a two-step redirection process to ensure no referral information is passed to the final destination.
