Frequently Asked Questions: All you need to know for your successful start in Golden Goose

Offers

What does “cap” in the offer description mean?

Cap, shortened from “capacity”, is the limit of daily subscription volume, or, to put it simply, the number of users who can subscribe to a service you promote within the 24-hour period starting from 00:00 (offer’s time zone). Some offers have the cap, while others don’t. Our platform specifies the percentage of cap remaining on a particular offer in its description, so we recommend checking this figure once in a while. If the offer reaches its daily cap limit, you will receive a notification in your dashboard.

When you see the word “billable” in the offer description, this means that the subscription is activated, and conversion is accepted only when money is taken from a user’s account. Regarding non-billable offers, funds’ write-off is unnecessary for the subscription to be activated and conversion to be accepted.

The percentage of CR for non-billable offers is higher than for billable offers.

Campaigns

I’ve started a campaign, but there are no conversions. What’s the matter?

A low conversion rate (CR) or the total absence of it might happen due to several reasons:

• An unattractive offer: The audience might not be interested in the offer at all;
• Dull creatives that don’t catch the eye of users;
• Mistargeting: A typical mistake of beginner affiliates is incorrectly adjusted targeting. There is a chance a webmaster isn’t attentive enough and might forget to select the needed carriers, etc. You might also buy traffic that isn’t relevant to the offer;
• Absent or poorly conducted analytics on traffic sources;

Our managers are always here to help you, ready to analyze your click stats and find a solution to your problem.

Also, read our article on the most common mistakes leading to no conversions.

What to do if an advertiser service stops being available but I’ve already started my campaign?

We’re sorry when such situations arise, but it’s not our fault. We strive to swiftly notify our affiliates about problems on the advertiser side so you can stop your campaign. And if you don’t switch off the SmartLink, your traffic will be automatically redirected to it, letting you avoid losses.

The main channels we use to inform our affiliates about such changes are notifications in your personal account, our official Telegram group, and our shiny new Telegram bot. Subscribe to our bot: it’s the easiest and fastest way to be updated when the offer is switched off/on.

What should I choose: a custom ad campaign or using SmartLink?

Suppose you have an opportunity to separate GEOs, mobile carriers, and IPs. In that case, we recommend creating a custom campaign using the list of our top offers. This is the most efficient way to monetize your traffic, which is more suitable for professional affiliate marketers.On the other hand, if you don’t want to spend a lot of time on targeting adjustments or you have mixed traffic, use SmartLink so that we can choose the right offers for you. Run a campaign in just a couple of minutes! SmartLink is perfect for beginners, especially if you want to have some tests.

Why do I need a TrafficBack link?

Imagine: you send traffic that doesn’t match a carrier in a chosen campaign or an advertiser/operator doesn’t accept your clicks (for example, a user’s tariff plan prohibits subscriptions). We can return the clicks on your specified TrafficBack URL in those cases.

All my clicks are sent to TrafficBack. Why?

You can see why your clicks are sent to TrafficBack by clicking on the numbers shown in the column of the same name. There are several reasons, and we’ll try to explain each:

• Returned from advertiser: This means the advertiser returns clicks for some reason. For example, a subscription for a user is prohibited, or you send fraudulent traffic.
• Campaign disabled: The campaign is blocked.
• Mobile apps BL: An app where a user sees an ad and goes to a landing page (LP) is black-listed.
• Devices BL: Traffic goes from black-listed devices.
• Unknown operator: If you turn off SmartLink in your campaign and run incorrectly targeted traffic, your traffic will be sent to TrafficBack. For example, your selected operator is Vodacom, but the user is an MTN subscriber.
• Empty referrer: It’s prohibited to promote an offer without a link source. Our system sees such traffic as fraudulent and blocks it.
• Referrers BL: The link source is black-listed.
• Offer source BL: The parameters «source»-«site» are black-listed.
• CapIsReached: The daily cap limit is reached, and the offer will be available again after midnight.
• Offer off by schedule: The offer works only during the hours specified in the offer description.

At Golden Goose, TrafficBack is separated into general and campaign-related.

How to reduce TrafficBack?

1. Check the accuracy of campaign settings. Find out if the offer for a specific GEO is chosen for needed carriers.
2. See if your traffic sources aren’t black-listed (this is indicated with the reason of TrafficBack in the dedicated column.)
3. Analyze your traffic and reduce the number of clicks from IP zones that are not accepted on your chosen offers.

What is a PostBack URL?

PostBack is a URL created by a conversion tracking platform that transfers conversion-related information. Each time a conversion occurs, the affiliate network passes essential data, such as its name and type, by calling thePostBack URL.In Golden Goose, PostBack can be either general or for a selected campaign.

How to get a test conversion for the PostBack checking?

To run a test, you need the following:

• click_id of affiliate: A unique identifier of a click generated by an affiliate’s system; it’s developed for each click when it’s sent to GG. It can be transmitted in P1 or P2 parameters.
• Postback URL of affiliate: An URL which an affiliate’s system is ready to take notifications for. It is shown in the GG campaign.