Integrating Cashback Applications with 2Performant Platform: A Guide to API Integration
Cashback applications need an API integration with the platform to be able to link the clicks and conversions with their users’ accounts. Documentation can be found here:
Things to consider when integrating the cashback application with the 2Performant platform:
Transaction statuses - available through API
- Pending - a temporary status that appears between the time the commission is registered, until de moment the advertiser processes the final status.
- Approved - a final status, meaning that the order is valid and final. The amount of the order may be adjusted at this point. It cannot be changed after this.
- Rejected - a final status, meaning that the order was not valid. The status cannot be changed after this.
- Paid - indicates that the commission was paid by the advertiser and the value is available in your account for withdrawal.
Once a commission is processed into Approved or Rejected, no further changes can be done for that instance. That is the final status and it also includes adjustments of value (if the customer partially returns an item or makes swaps in their order). If a commission is Approved, it remains with this status until the publisher pays, but it cannot go back to Pending or change in value.
More details about Commissions Statuses: https://support.2performant.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000095292-What-statuses-can-commissions-have-
Time to payment
There are two types of affiliate programs on the platform:
- PrePaid - charged with a sum of money in advance
- PostPaid - invoiced at least once a month (usually on the 1st of the month)
Time to payment depends on the type of affiliate program:
- PrePaid:
- Once a commission is recorded, the sum is automatically withdrawn from the advertiser’s account.
- When the commission gets processed and approved, the sum is transferred to the affiliate’s account.
- PostPaid:
- When a commission gets processed and approved, it becomes Payable and it will be invoiced to the advertiser with their next bill.
- When the advertiser pays the invoice which contains the respective commission, the sum is transferred to the affiliate’s account.
Time to payment is a transparent indicator that can be seen in each affiliate program’s statistics (average for the last 6 months):
When and how are commissions being processed?
Generating links programmatically
An affiliate link has the following structure:
- //event.2performant.com/events/click? -> the main event, which is static
- ad_type=quicklink -> the type of ad, which can be either quicklink, banner or product (recommended: quicklink)
- aff_code=xxxxxxxxx -> your unique affiliate code
- unique=xxxxxxxxx -> the unique identifier of each advertiser, which need to be congruent with redirect_to=
- redirect_to=http%3A//advertiserstore.ro/ (or .com or whatever other extension the store has) -> the location on the advertiser’s online store where you want to send the user
- st=tag -> custom tags where you can load different information, such as the unique ID of each of your users (works as a sub-ID). More about tags: https://support.2performant.com/hc/en-us/articles/115000364472-How-to-add-TAGs-in-affiliate-links-
General considerations
Before integrating any advertiser onto your cashback application, make sure the advertiser allows cashbacks as a promotional method.
FAQs
How long does it take for a transaction to appear in the system?
Commissions usually register instantly or with little delay. There are some special programs in our platform which may have a longer delay in commission register (up to a day) because they are an integration with another affiliate platform.
Where and what is the most reliable and always up-to-date source of information on program pause or commission changes?
Whenever a program closes/runs out of funds or the commission changes, alerts are automatically sent to the email setup as administrative in the account. Also, an important note is that any change in commission in the sense of lowering it requires 30-day advance notice from the publisher (or less if cookie time is lower).
What are the potential reasons that might lead to a transaction not being tracked, i.e. not appearing in the platform? Assuming that the user has followed usual steps, e.g. clicking the link & making the transactions?
The most common situations in which a transaction can end up not being tracked are the following:
- user privacy settings (third party cookies not allowed etc especially on IOS)
- using certain browsers or antiviruses that actively block cookies
- specific user behavior (completing transactions on different browsers or even devices, clicking on other affiliate links right before completing a purchase which would lead to the commission being attributed to another affiliate etc.)
In the light of these facts, you can prompt the users to follow certains steps so they don’t lose their cashback, such as: making sure they don’t use adblock applications and they don’t block 3rd party cookies, complete the order in the same browser, not to click on other links (e.g. coupon/voucher sites) before completing the order, etc.
Do you have a test advertiser where I can test clicks, commissions, post back and generally the API?
We can connect you to a dummy advertiser account for testing purposes. For this, reach out to us at support@2performant.com.
How can I get a key/token for the API?
In order to make any request to 2Performant API, you first need to login into the platform:
curl -H "Content-Type: application/json" -X POST -d '{"user":{"email":"mail@example.com","password":"secret"}}' -i https://api.2performant.com/users/sign_in.json
In response you will receive several headers that define your session. These are: access-token | client | expiry | token-type | uid
After first API log in, use the token to access all further sessions.
Very important: whenever you change your password or the email address you use to login to your 2Performant account, you’ll need to update it here too.