Sounds easy enough right, you want to buy media from traffic source “A” and they request that you drop their conversion pixel. Harmless, its just a javascript code that will shoot data back to traffic source “A” and in turn help them managed my placements with a goal of lowering my CPA.
Thinking more deeply about it, what is the essential purpose of sharing conversion data with third parties? Will third parties actually do the hard work for me and optimize my campaign?
They are already tracking all of my basic analytics such as CTR, Click Throughs and all the other important pertinent campaign data through my redirect so they’re is no need to go off AD network stats.
The big question is with the fast evolving online data market, are ad network reselling data?
The data they have is hugely valuable it includes “KEYWORDS” Site based “SUBIDS” for your specific niche. This data will also help them optimize other advertiser’s campaign.
This post should serve as a warning to think twice, before allowing any third party access to any conversion data.
If the advertiser doesn’t place the ad network’s pixel, the ad network’s platform will not count conversions. If it doesn’t count conversions, the system believes the campaign is not working. This generates a bad learning, and the campaign starts receiving less impressions. The campaign will eventually stop working if conversions are not tracked.
I see the logic here, but at the same time how can me being the advertiser be sure that my campaign data isn’t being leveraged by my competitors? Direct buying with your own ad-server is always the safest way.