Postback conversion tracking demo

How postback tracking works for affiliate attribution

Learn the full server-to-server flow for postback conversion tracking, from click_id capture to conversion attribution and publisher payout credit.

What is a postback URL?

A postback URL is a server-to-server (S2S) callback sent when a conversion happens on the advertiser side. The request includes the original click identifier so the ad server can match the conversion to the right click.

This is the core of affiliate conversion tracking and attribution. Once the click is matched, the platform can credit the publisher, update campaign stats, and report revenue performance.

How postback conversion tracking works

  1. User clicks a publisher ad and the ad server issues a click identifier. The parameter name can vary by advertiser stack, such as click_id, cid, or custom names.
  2. User lands on the advertiser page and completes an action.
  3. Advertiser calls the postback URL with the same click identifier value.
  4. Ad server attributes the conversion and credits the publisher.

Flow diagram

steps 0/5 completeActive: Publisher

user clicks ad on publisher site → tracking request

Postback attribution depends on preserving click_id from click to conversion.

Goal-based payout

You can restrict payouts to a specific conversion type. When Enable goal-based payout is on, only conversions whose type matches your Payout goal type (e.g. deposit, purchase, signup) generate payout. All other conversions are still tracked for analytics, but payout is 0.

Send the conversion type in the postback URL with a type query parameter. Examples:

# Path-style click_id
https://api.affset.com/px/{click_id}?type=deposit

# Query-style click_id
https://api.affset.com/px?click_id={click_id}&type=purchase

Example: If the campaign goal type is signup, a postback with type=signup is credited with payout; postbacks with type=page_view or type=lead are recorded in analytics but payout remains 0.

Try the demo

This page reads these URL parameters from your browser query string:

  • click_id - conversion identifier
  • postback_url - optional URL. It can include the {click_id} macro. If omitted, this demo uses the Affset tracking URL pattern: https://api.affset.com/px/{click_id}.

Example query string:?click_id=abc123

# Direct test URL
https://affset.com/postback-demo?click_id=abc123

Detected parameters

click_id

(empty)

Empty because click_id is missing. Open the example URL above to load demo values.

postback_url

https://api.affset.com/px/{click_id}

Resolved postback URL

https://api.affset.com/px/

Advertisers can optionally pass extra conversion metadata for analysis, for example:
?type=subscription&value=49

This form sends:

https://api.affset.com/px/?type=subscription&value=49

Fake checkout (conversion trigger)

Simulate an advertiser-side conversion. Submitting this form sends the request from backend so you can inspect real response codes and response text.

Demo Product

Starter Subscription

$49.00

Note: this demo sends the postback from backend to avoid browser CORS limitations and to show upstream response details.

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