| Name | Description |
| A | |
| Absolute URL | A full URL that specifies the exact location of a file/directory. |
| Access rights | The roles that define account user permissions. This enables you to control which features each account user can access. |
| Account | An Account is where users manage their partnerships, ads, technical settings, tags, reports, and financial settings. There are three account types: Brand Account, Agency Account, and Partner Account. |
| Account user | An Account user is an individual member that is granted access rights to an Account. Based on the user's access rights, they are able to perform certain functions on the Account. |
| ACH payment | ACH stands for Automated Clearing House. It is the recommended payment method for partners with a US bank account. |
| Action | An event that is tracked. Examples of actions include clicks, sales, leads, calls, page visits, downloads, dataposts, mobile app installs, and in-app events. |
| Action cap | The maximum number of actions that a partner can generate and still be eligible for payout. Actions generated over the designated cap may not be paid (this is decided by the Brand). |
| Action date | The date an action occurred. |
| Action ID | A unique ID number assigned by the system to each action. The Action ID is available in both partner and brand reports. |
| Action locking | Action Locking determines the period in which an action can be modified or returned. It is important to set the appropriate action locking period to account for returns or cancellations. |
| Action listing | The Action Listing report provides very detailed information for each action credited to partners. |
| Action payout | The payout to the partner for an action. |
| Action status | The status of an action influences the eligibility for payout. For example, a partner will not be paid for a returned action. Possible action statuses include: approved, modified, new, over (contract expired), over (concurrent call), over (unknown caller), Over Action Cap, Over Budget, Over Cap, Over Weekday Cap, Over Weekend Cap, Returned. |
| Active Partner | A partner that has generated at least one impression or click. The partner is actively promoting your program. |
| Ad Blocker | Software that blocks ads (such as pop-ups/pop-unders/etc) from displaying. |
| Additional terms | Business terms that can be appended to a Contract to further define the relationship between a brand and a partner. Additional terms could include trademark policies, brand compliance terms, keyword restrictions, etc. |
| Ad creatives | An advertisement used for media promotions. The platform supports ad creative in the following formats; banners, video, rich media, custom widgets, email, text, product feeds, Xml syndication feeds, television, radio and print. |
| Ad ID | Each ad in the system will be assigned a unique Ad ID. |
| Ad reference name | This is the name of the ad and it is visible to partners. It is recommended to assign a descriptive and unique name to distinguish between ads in the reporting. |
| Ad request | A request submitted by a partner to obtain a new ad creative. |
| Ad serving | Brands are able to elect to have the platform or a third-party serve their ad. |
| Ad type | Ad types can be offline ads, online ads, tracking values, and feeds. Offline ad types include: print, TV, radio, Directory listing. Online ad types include: banner, rich media, email, video, sponsored listing, text link, coupon, and content ads. Tracking Values include: promo codes, unique branded URL, and unique phone number. Feed ad types include: product catalog and Xml Syndication. |
| Ad unit size | These are the dimensions of the ad. Most banner and rich media ads, in particular, will be one of the standard IAB sizes (e.g. 120x60, 300x250, 468x60, 728x90, etc.) |
| Affiliate Marketing | A marketing program in which a partner receives a commission for generating actions (such as leads or sales) for a brand. See also performance-based marketing, CPA, or pay-for-performance program. |
| Agency | A third party that may manage a brand's program. |
| Agency Marketplace | The Agency Marketplace features all available agencies on the platform. You might search for all programs a particular agency manages or, if you seek agency-related services, this is a great place to connect with service providers. |
| Aggregator | Website dedicated to gathering, organizing, and displaying content or offers from a collection of third-parties or user submissions. |
| Alexa rating | Alexa is a service that ranks websites based on their relative popularity. A lower number means a more popular site. |
| Alt tag | Some web browsers do not display the images on a web page. When this occurs the image should have a caption, or alt-tag, saying what would normally appear. |
| Analytic event type | An event type used in conversion funnel reporting. An analytic event type cannot be included in a contract or be tied to a Payout. It will not appear in any reports other than the Conversion Path report and is used to monitor visitor drop off in a transaction flow. |
| Anchor tag | An HTML tag that allows you to create a link to another document or web page or to a bookmark within the current web page. |
| API | An acronym for Application Programming Interface. Our API enables you to send a request or post data to our servers. |
| Approval rules (applications) | Automatic filters for accepting or declining partner program applications based on specific criteria such as country, state, partner size, or promotional methods. |
| Approval rules (action inquiries) | Brands are able to set up automatic approval settings for action inquiries, based on the partner, the payout requested, and a monthly budget. |
| Approved "From" Address Name | For Partners that wish to promote your program through email marketing, you are able to specify pre-approved options for the "From" name that appears in recipients' inboxes. |
| Approved Subject Lines | For Partners that wish to promote your program through email marketing, you are able to specify pre-approved options for the subject lines that recipients see. |
| Automatic Payments | Brands have the option to setup automatic payments to avoid going in default. Brands specify a balance threshold and a deposit amount. A deposit for the amount specified will be triggered as soon as the balance dips below the threshold. |
| Automonetization | Automonetization enables Partners to generate revenue for traffic sent to expired programs or for traffic not accepted by brands. |
| AOV (Average Order Value) | A common data point that measures the average amount of a purchase. It is calculated by dividing the total sale amount by the total number of sales over a given time period. |
| B | |
| Banner | A banner is an image that displays a marketing message for a brand's program. Banners are promoted by media and are used as a means to entice customers to click through to the brand's site. |
| Batch file | A delimited flat file that contains conversion data. |
| Behavioral Targeting | Behavioral targeting uses information collected on a visitor's web browsing behavior to optimize the ads delivered to the visitor across the web. |
| Black Hat | A term used to describe unethical promotional methods. |
| Bonus transfer | Bonus transfers can be rewarded to partners for meeting performance goals or for paid placements. These are one time transactions initiated with the Partner Funds Transfer tool. |
| Brand FTP | A method used for batch file submission to the system. This transmission method requires the system to retrieve data files via File Transfer Protocol from the brand's servers. |
| Brand return request | A contract may stipulate that all rejections or modifications must be reviewed and approved by a partner prior to being processed. This is called a Brand Return Request. |
| Branded signup | Partners and brands are able to customize the styling of their sign up pages. These pages are available through specific links generated by the system. A brand's branded signup links are very important as they are one method used to recruit direct partners. |
| Browser | A web browser is a software application for retrieving, presenting, and traversing information resources on the World Wide Web. Common browsers include Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, and Safari. |
| Business logic | Programmatic rules that define how and when to fire the impact.com tracking pixel. |
| Business-to-Business (B2B) | Refers to commerce conducted between two businesses. |
| C | |
| Call action | An action that is triggered based on a customer call. |
| Call conversion | A conversion that happens over the phone, usually by a call center representative. |
| Call center | A customer service center that is trained to answer and fulfill customer inquiries via phone. |
| Call duration | A defined length of time that a call must last to trigger a call action. |
| Category | The category is a field in the brand's conversion tag/pixel. A category is added to a category list. The brand determines the value or text to populate in the pixel for the category field. |
| Category list | A list of values used to designate a payout rate to a specific product category. For example an electronics site may have better margins on DVDs than DVD players; therefore, the electronics site could assign a payout of 5% to all items with a category of "DVD" and a payout of 2% to all items with a category of "DVD player". |
| Chained action | When an action is contingent on the successful completion of a previous action taking place. |
| Change notification period | If a brand makes any substantive changes to the contract, you are required to give an advanced notice to partners before the changes go into effect. We set a default of 3 days, which is the recommended minimum. |
| Channel promo codes | Channel promo codes is a feature that enables a brand to white list or black list a series of promo codes. White listing promo codes will make it so that only the codes uploaded will be eligible for payout. Black listing promo codes will make it so that partners are not eligible for a payout when one of the codes is used at checkout. |
| Child action | A child action is a classification for an event type that is a chained action. The child action is dependent on the parent action. For example, a brand might want to chain together reservations and a completed stay. The completed stay would be considered the child action. |
| Cleared payout | A cleared payout indicates that funds have been transferred to a partner. |
| Click | A click is a result of a visitor clicking on a link or ad. |
| Click ID | A click ID is a unique identifier assigned by the system when a visitor clicks a link or ad. For brands submitting batch files to record conversion events, a click ID can be used to identify the partner who referred the visitor. |
| Click referral period | The number of days a partner is eligible to be credited for an action after the initial referral. |
| Click-Through Rate (CTR) | The percentage of clicks based on the number of impressions served. It is calculated by dividing the total number of clicks by the total number of impressions and multiplying by 100 for a set date range. |
| Click tracker | The click tracker enables a brand to track and payout on clicks generated by their partner. |
| Click tracking settings | The system allows a brand to set their own custom definition of a unique click. By default, the system uses the standard of a 30 minute rolling session for a click from the same user and ad. |
| Client cost settings | As an agency or network you can account for the fees you charge as an agency. Clients will see total cost, including your fees, when accessing reports. |
| Confirmation page | Also known as a thank you page, the conversion page is displayed once an action, such as an e-commerce sale, has occurred. |
| Container Tag | These simple code snippets are powerful in that they are capable of acting as a container to manage all different types of tags. Implementing a container tag makes it easy to add, edit, and delete tags across a site with minimal effort. Container tags are an integral piece of tag management solutions. |
| Content link | A content link is often an HTML ad that provides valuable content and sales information to assist partners in promoting a product or service. Widgets can also be uploaded as content links. |
| Contract | A set of rules that govern the performance advertising relationship between a brand and a partner within the platform. All contracts are governed by the Master Program Agreement. |
| Contract rules | You are able to specify contract defaults and restrictions. This helps guarantee your required policies are upheld each time an event type or contract is created or modified. In addition, you are able to specify whether or not other account users have the authority to modify the settings from the default. |
| Conversion event | An event, such as a lead form submission or online sale that triggers an action. |
| Conversion path | The path that a customer follows prior to completing a conversion. This will show all the different channels or touch points the customer encountered. |
| Conversion return | An action that is reversed or returned. |
| Conversion tag | A script in the source code of a page that records a completed transaction. Typically, a conversion tag is placed on a thank you or confirmation page. It is often referred to as a pixel. |
| Cookie | A non-executable text file that is stored on the consumer's browser. Cookies are used to track click events and identify the referring partner when an action is generated. |
| Cost per Action (CPA) | A compensation model where a payout rate is set for every action that is taken by a user. |
| Cost per Click (CPC) | A compensation model in which a brand pays partners every time a visitor clicks through a link on the partner's website and is redirected to the brand’s site. |
| Cost per Install (CPI) | A compensation model in which a brand pays partners for every mobile app install referred. |
| Cost per Lead (CPL) | A compensation model in which a brand pays partners for every qualified lead referred. |
| Cost per Sale (CPS) | A compensation model in which a brand pays partners for every sale referred. |
| Cost per Thousand Impressions (CPM) | A compensation model in which a brand pays partners for every 1,000 impressions delivered. |
| Coupon | Usually a code entitling the visitor to an offer at a brand's site (discount, free shipping, buy one get one free, etc.). |
| Creative | A piece of creative is an ad used by partners to promote a program. Common examples of creatives include email image creative, banners, text links, flash ads, video ads, and advanced links. |
| Custom ad | When a brand assigns a unique tracking value to a partner, the partner may request that a custom ad be created. The ad is customized with the unique tracking value assigned to the partner. For example, if a partner is assigned a unique phone number, a custom ad may be created that shows the assigned phone number. |
| Custom reports | Custom reports are designed by the platform analytics team based on your reporting needs. Fees may apply. |
| Custom tracking domain | A brand has the option to send all their traffic through a custom tracking domain. Instead of having partners send traffic through platform servers (e.g.http://brand.evyy.net/c/1111/2222/333), the partner would promote a custom domain that is more user-friendly (e.g.http://goto.brandname.com/c/1111/2222/333) |
| Customer ID | The customer ID is a unique identifier that a brand assigns to a visitor. It is often used to link a parent action to a child action. |
| D | |
| Data feeds | The platform offers XML and CSV data feeds that are uploaded to your designated FTP account or sent via email. You can choose the frequency at which to receive the data feeds, and impact.com will give you any new or updated data since you last received the feed. Partners are offered daily action feeds, promotional ad feeds or product feeds, while Brands may receive a daily action feed. |
| Data post | A method supported by the http protocol to request that a web server accept the enclosed data. It is often used when uploading a file or submitting a completed form. |
| Data transfer | The act of transferring a file, typically by batch FTP or web services. |
| Deep linking | A partner may want to specify a landing page URL for a given ad that is different than the one provided by the brand. This can be the case if the partner wants to promote a specific product category or even a specific product on your site. Thus when a consumer clicks on the ad they are directed to the specified landing page URL, hence, a deep-link on the brand's site. |
| Default landing page URL | The default landing page URL is the page that users will be sent to when clicking on your ads. |
| Deposit history | Shows a history of funds deposited to the account. |
| Directory ad | Directory listings, also referred to as call ads, are used in printed phone and specialty directories. |
| Discover | A listing of programs, agencies, and partners. The directory is designed to connect partners and brands via keyword and search filters such as payout type, partner size, media type, payout model, and language. The directory also provides a listing of agencies to help brands and partners obtain help with creative services, program management, and technical integration, if needed. |
| Disposition code | Advanced functionality in the system whereby a brand is able to update the status of an action. The disposition code is the actual value that is passed through to the system to update the status. Prime examples include hotel reservations or car reservations, where an initial booking occurs and the action becomes payable upon the completed reservation. |
| Discover partner | The brand and partner found one another and established a partnership through Discover. |
| Down tracking | Refers to tracking issues that impact.com partners could experience. Examples include the accidental removal of the tracking tag, incorrect conversion tag formatting, or interruptions to a batch file job - to name a few. |
| Dub house | A business that provides voice-over and video production services. Dub houses are designated by brands and are used to fulfill unique ad tracking requests. |
| Dynamic banner | A link type that dynamically updates on a real-time basis. |
| E | |
| Earnings | Earnings are the funds a partner receives for locked actions. |
| Earnings per Click (EPC) | Average Earnings Per One Hundred Clicks. |
| e-Commerce | Commerce that happens online or electronically. |
| Effective CPC (eCPC) | The cost of a program divided by the total number of clicks delivered by that program. |
| Electronic Funds Transfer (EFT) | A transfer of funds that happens electronically. |
| Email creative | A brand may choose to offer email as a way for their partners to promote the programs. The email creative must offer an unsubscribe option and a suppression list (scrub file). Partners who are interested in promoting the email creative must apply for permission by submitting an Email Drop Request. |
| Email Drop Request | Partners using email as a promotional method must submit an Email Drop Request to their respective brand partners before deploying an email program. When a brand approves an email drop request, they are agreeing to the drop size, flight dates, and caps stated in the request. If approved, the partner will be granted access to their suppression file (scrub file) so they can scrub their email list against the brand's list. |
| Event date | The date a transaction or conversion occurs. |
| Event postback | This is a common method to sync event data reported to our system with third party vendors. It utilizes an http post. |
| Event type | A tracking method that is applied to a defined action. impact.com supports five different event types. Online Event Types define an event that takes place on a website or mobile website that is tracked and credited to the referring partner. Call Event Types define an event that is tracked and credited to the referring partner by telephone. Click Event Types track clicks to accommodate CPC partnerships. Data Post Event Types accommodate "host and post" partnerships, where the partner collects and submits contact information on behalf of the customer. Finally, Mobile App Event Types track mobile app installs and in-app events. |
| Expired ad | When creating ads, a brand may choose to limit the date range of the creative. This is common for seasonal promotions or temporary discounts. An expired ad will continue to track and credit conversions to partners. |
| Expire contract | An expired contract has either reached its predetermined expiration date or has been expired manually by the brand. If a brand chooses to expire a contract, the formal date of expiration will fall at the end of the change notification period stipulated in the terms. Partners will no longer receive payouts after the contract is expired. |
| F | |
| Fingerprint | The system provides industry leading tracking accuracy with cookie-less tracking. A unique identifier, called a fingerprint, is assigned to visitors. In cases where cookies are cleared or blocked, our system is able to reference the fingerprint to determine the referral source. |
| Flash ad | An ad that includes animation, changing images, or interactivity. |
| Flexi ad | An advanced ad type that allows the brand to host the ad code on their end. This provides the opportunity for complete customization. For example, some brands have offered the ability for partners to build custom shopping portals with color, dimension, and product options. The resulting partner ad code is generated on the fly at the brand's hosted location. |
| File Transfer Protocol (FTP) | Method used to send/receive files from a web server. |
| Funnel reporting | If a brand chooses to monitor a series of steps in a checkout or signup flow, the funnel report shows drop off at each stage. |
| G | |
| Gateway URL | A tracking setting that requires referral traffic to enter via a designated URL. Gateway tracking is commonly used by brands who want to restrict the firing of the conversion pixel/tag to traffic referred by partners. |
| Geo location | The identification of the real-world geographic location of a visitor. |
| Google PageRank | An algorithm used by the Google web search engine to rank websites in their search engine results. |
| Guaranteed minimum cost per click | This guarantees a minimum payout to the partner for each click. At month end, if a partner's total action payout is less than the total number of clicks multiplied by the guaranteed minimum cost per click, the partner will receive a payout for the difference. Setting a guaranteed minimum gives partners the ability to analyze their marketing costs and determine if they can earn an adequate return. |
| Group contract | This is a contract available to more than one partner. This is in contrast to an individual contract. |
| H | |
| HTML email | An email that uses HTML. HTML is an acronym for hypertext markup language. It is the code that is used to create hypertext documents for use on the web. |
| I | |
| IAB | The Interactive Advertising Bureau is an advertising business organization that develops industry standards, conducts research, and provides legal support for the online advertising industry. |
| iFrame | Tag supporting an inline frame, displaying external content, including other HTML documents or webpages. |
| Image email | Converse to an HTML email that utilizes code, an image email utilizes an image graphic to display the content of an email message. |
| Image pixel | A tracking method for brands. Image pixels are also used to track view-throughs. |
| Image size | Dimensions of an image, measured in pixels. |
| Imminent changes | Upcoming changes to contract terms. |
| Import existing partners | Helpful for migrations. A brand is able to import a complete list of partners. This will automatically create new partner accounts for existing partners. |
| Impressions | Occurs every time an ad is served in a visitor’s browser. Helps partners and brands assess the effectiveness of ads. |
| Inactive partner | A partner that is joined to a program, but has not yet generated an impression, click, or conversion. |
| In default | If a brand does not have sufficient funds to cover locked actions, and subsequently partner payouts, their account status changes to "In Default." |
| Incent | A particular type of promotional method whereby the partner offers an incentive to shop through their links. |
| Invalid conversions | Conversions referred by the partner that did not meet the terms stipulated in the executed contract. |
| Invoice | The invoice that shows the monthly fees incurred for using the platform. This is generated on the 2nd of each month. |
| IP address | A unique identifier of each computer using the Internet over a network. |
| Item category payouts | Allows a brand to offer different payout rates for different items. This is helpful for brands that might have different margins for different products. |
| J | |
| JavaScript | A client-side scripting language. Its functionality is primarily aimed at enhanced forms, simple Web database front-ends, navigation enhancements and allows for dynamic updating via servers. |
| Joined | A status of joined indicates the partner has an electronic contract executed with the brand. |
| K | |
| Keyword | A word used to search for a data set. They are often referred to in search engine and content marketing. |
| L | |
| Landing page | A webpage that the consumer is directed to when they click on an ad. |
| Landing page URL query string | The query string is comprised of parameters appended to a URL. The parameters are often used for internal analytics, such as Google Analytics or Coremetrics. |
| Last-click | Attribution model that credits a partner or media source who had the last referral. |
| Lead | A lead is typically an online form that captures data from a prospective customer. A lead can consist of a simple web form that asks for a name and email address or it can contain multiple pages as is the case with mortgage and debt consolidation forms. |
| Life-time value (LTV) | The total amount that a customer will spend with a particular company during his or her lifetime. |
| Link | When clicked, a link refers a visitor to a brand's landing page or website. |
| Limited time creative | Ads that have a set start and end date. |
| Locking date | The action locking period determines the period in which an action can be modified or returned. It is important to set the appropriate action locking period to account for returns or cancellations. |
| Long sponsored listing | Long Sponsored Text ads are used for syndication and by certain social media companies. |
| Loyalty | A type of business model whereby the partner rewards consumers to shop through their portals/stores/links. |
| M | |
| Make good transfer | Make Good transfers are used to resolve issues associated with actions that did not track. |
| Media kit | Partners showcase their websites and mobile apps in their media kit. This helps brands evaluate the properties the partner will use to drive traffic. |
| Media type | This designates the channel. |
| Media source | A media source is any channel or marketing program a brand may wish to track within the platform. Examples include paid search like Google Adwords, retargeting like RocketFuel, internal email programs, affiliate networks like ShareASale, and more. |
| Media source tracking integration | Many media sources may request that a brand implement a conversion pixel/tag. Third party conversion tags and associated firing rules can be managed within media source tracking integration section. |
| Media source tracking methods | These are the methods available to identify traffic from a media source (e.g. channel). Options include tracking URL, unique domain, unique phone number, exclusive promo code, query string parameter, and referring domain. |
| Missing action inquiries | If a partner believes that an action did not track, they may submit an Action Inquiry to the brand for review. |
| Mobile ready | Ads that direct to landing pages optimized for mobile devices. |
| Modify terms | If updates or edits need to be made to the electronic Contracts, a brand is able to modify the terms of an existing contract. |
| Monthly active users (MAU) | The number of active users accessing an app, website, etc. on a monthly basis. |
| Monthly close | The monthly close is a report that shows action payouts, other costs, and tax (where applicable - usually the UK) by month based on either the locking date or payout date. |
| N | |
| Negotiating contracts | It is possible for partners and brands to negotiate the terms stipulated in a contract right within the platform. Negotiations are documented in the platform with a user and timestamp. |
| O | |
| OID lookup | A tool within the user interface that allows a brand to easily search for a specific order ID and review referral information. |
| Offline creative | Ad creative intended to be used in offline media, such as TV, radio, newspaper ads, etc. |
| Online creative | Ad creative intended to be used online. |
| Online lead | An event type that tracks when a lead is submitted online. |
| Online page visit | An event type that tracks when a consumer visits a particular page. |
| Online sale | An event type that tracks when a consumers completes a purchase. |
| Opt-in | An action a user can take to accept promotions, emails, or messages. |
| Opt-out | An action a user can take to have their name removed from mailing lists or targeted promotions. |
| Order | A purchase. |
| Order ID (OID) | A unique identifier supplied by a brand that serves as an order number, confirmation number, invoice ID, etc. |
| Order SKU info | Item details that show the SKU identifier of a particular item that was purchased by a consumer. |
| Organic search (SEO) | Organic search focuses on optimizing website content, architecture, meta tag development, linking strategies, directory listings and webpage submissions based on the algorithms search engines use to index and rank webpages. |
| Original sale amount | This is the sale amount that was reported when the conversion originally occurred. This can be helpful if there are rejections or modifications made to the order at a later date and the partner or brand wish to reference the original sale amount before rejections or modifications. |
| P | |
| Parent action | A parent action is a classification for an event type that is a chained action. It is the initial action, usually a lead or sign-up. A child action is then tied to the parent action. For example, a brand might want to chain together reservations and a completed stays. The reservation would be the parent action and the completed stay the child. |
| Partner | A company, or a person, that has the ability to promote ads on a performance basis. Also known as affiliates, and strategic partners. |
| Partner funds transfer | Partner Funds Transfers, also known as Make Good or Bonus Transfers, are used to compensate partners outside the course of regular payable actions. |
| Partner ID | A unique identifier assigned to the partner. |
| Partner invoice | The invoice details all payouts and bonuses due to a partner in a given month. |
| Partner tracking pixel | Partners will occasionally ask a brand to place their tracking pixel, so they are able to track action data in their own systems. The platform supports this by piggybacking the partner tracking pixel on the conversion tag. Everything is managed from within the user interface, eliminating the need to loop in developers. |
| Partner tracking settings | A brand is able to track direct traffic sent by partners (i.e. the partner does not send traffic through a tracking URL and instead links directly to the brand site). This is managed under partner tracking settings. Further, the brand is also able to assign custom values to partners and have those values dynamically appended to landing page URLs. |
| Past due action payouts | If a brand does not have sufficient funds to cover partner payouts, the payouts will become past due. |
| Pay per lead | A payout model whereby the payable action event is based on the collection of information that constitutes a lead for a brand. It can be as simple as providing an email address or more extensive, such as, the completion of a multi-page survey form. |
| Pay per call | A payout model whereby the payable action event is associated with a call taking place. The payout can be based on just the call happening, the length of the call, or the conversion event happening over the phone (i.e. a phone order). |
| Pay per call duration | A payout model whereby the brand pays for a call if it exceeds a defined period of time. |
| Pay per call conversion | A payout model whereby the brand pays if a call converts to a lead or a sale. |
| Pay per click | A payout model whereby the brand pays if a consumer clicks a partner link. |
| Pay per download | A download is typically associated with a free software trial or a digital product such as a video game or ebook. |
| Pay per install | A payout model whereby the brand pays if a consumer installs a mobile app. |
| Pay per ring | A payout model whereby the brand pays for a call as soon as the ring comes into the brands call center. |
| Pay per visit | A payout model where brands can pay partners for sending visitors to specific pages on their site. |
| Payment Request Form | The Payment Request Form is a helpful tool to forecast the funds required to pay your partners on time. |
| Payout | The commission rate for an action as stipulated in the contract. |
| Payment Scheduling | Payment Scheduling controls when payments for locked actions are released to your partners. The recommended option is to pay when actions lock. |
| Pending action | A pending action is an action that has not yet been locked. While an action is pending it can be reviewed, modified or rejected. |
| Performance bonus | An increase in payout offered by brands to partners for exceeding performance thresholds. |
| Phone wrapper code | JavaScript code that can be implemented on your site to encapsulate the phone number. The code will dynamically update the phone number displayed, so visitors that click through a tracking link will dial the unique phone number assigned to the partner. |
| Piggyback tracking pixel | A piggyback tracking pixel refers to a particular type of pixel implementation. A piggyback pixel is not directly placed on the brand confirmation page. Instead, a piggyback pixel is dependent on the impact.com tracking pixel and specific rules. The specific rules determine when to fire the piggyback pixel. |
| Placement fee | A flat fee awarded to a partner for premium placement on their site. |
| Product catalog | A product catalog is a file that details the full catalog of all products and information offered by a brand. |
| Program | A program defines the offer a brand would like partners to promote. Within the program, the brand will supply creative, provide marketing collateral, and define payout terms and policies. |
| Program marketplace | The program marketplace lists all publicly available programs. Partners can review the program marketplace to find new opportunities and offers. |
| Promo code | Also referred to as a coupon or voucher code. Promo Codes are partner specific and can be used to track call or online actions. |
| Promo code tracking | Proprietary technology developed by impact.com to award partners and media sources based on exclusive, assigned promo codes. |
| Proposal | A contract offer sent to partners to establish a partnership and contractual agreement with a brand. |
| Public contract | The default contract terms. |
| Publisher | A company, or a person, that has the ability to promote ads on a performance basis. Also known as partners, affiliates, and strategic partners. |
| Q | |
| Qualification script | Associated with tracking inbound calls, a qualification script can be used to qualify or vet callers. For example, if the caller must be 18 years of age or older, the qualification script can prompt the caller to verify they are over 18 prior to connecting the call. |
| Quality analysis report | Shows a list of partners that have raised red flags from a quality standpoint, e.g. high reversal rate, low click-to-sale time, multiple conversions from the same IP address, etc. |
| R | |
| Reach | The number of users exposed to an ad or offer. |
| Recruitment | The task of finding new partners to join a program and promote a product or service. |
| Recurring actions | A consumer might complete multiple purchases within the click referral period after clicking a partner tracking URL. A brand has the choice whether or not the partner is compensated for recurring actions within the same click and click referral period. |
| Referral date | The date of the referral. A referral is when a partner directs a customer to the brand's site. The referral is often a click on a tracking URL or an ad view (if view-through conversion tracking is enabled). |
| Referral type | This refers to the method used to tie the referral back to the partner or media source. Options include cookie, cookie view-through, fingerprint, fingerprint view-through, datapost, IP address, mobile, call, chained action, action inquiry, and promo code. |
| Referring URL | The URL a consumer came from to reach a website. |
| Relative URL | Partial URL that points to a file/directory in the same directory as the referring page. Example: <img src="/images/email.gif" width="120" height="60" /> |
| Replace contract | If a brand wishes to edit a partner's contract, the brand is able to replace the terms. The new terms will automatically take effect after the change notification period. |
| Return on Ad spend (ROAS) | The revenue returned for every dollar spent on a particular marketing program. It is calculated by taking the total revenue and dividing by the total spend. It is represented as a dollar amount. |
| Return policy | This is a term in the contracts. It stipulates the percentage of actions a brand is allowed to reject. Some partners may request that a brand is not able to process returns due to the partner's business model. For example, perhaps the partner incentivizes their consumers and they reward the consumer in real-time. Accounting for rejections or modifications does not fit in their business model. |
| Returns processing | Defines how adjustments to the actions will be processed in cases of returns or cancellations. Options include manually within the user interface, batch FTP upload, or web services API. |
| Rich media ad | This refers to ads that include animation or video, but also include a more complex user interaction. Rich media ads typically utilize flash. |
| S | |
| Saved and scheduled reports | If an account user frequently adjusts filters and settings for a particular report, it is possible to save the settings. The system will remember the saved settings, making it very easy for the account user to run the report. In addition, account users are able to schedule any report to be automatically delivered via email on a daily, weekly, or monthly basis. |
| Scheduled clearing date | The date payouts are set to be transferred from the brand account to the partner account. |
| Scrub download link | Relevant for email drops. The scrub download link provides access to a file of all email addresses that have opted-out of communications from a particular brand. The partner will need to scrub their target recipient list with the scrub file to be sure the message is not delivered to anyone who has previously opted-out. |
| Search engine marketing (SEM) | A form of internet marketing where a brand or partner bids on keywords with the goal of increasing visibility in the search engine result pages. |
| Search engine optimization (SEO) | A focus on improving results in the organic listings by optimizing content, inbound links, and other strategies. |
| Shared ID | An optional parameter appended by partners to their tracking URLs. It is often used by loyalty programs to track the member or by sub-affiliate networks to track at the sub-affiliate level. This value is visible in both partner and brand reporting. |
| Special Terms | Brands may wish to outline additional promotional policies and restrictions in the contracts. Special Terms can be used to direct, define, limit or restrict the activities related to how your products or services are promoted. |
| SSL support | Some Partners may have a secure site in which case they may change the tracking to be prefixed with https://. If a brand's site supports both http:// and https:// then we can prevent a warning message from happening by auto-redirecting the user to the secure version of a brand's site. |
| Sub ID | Optional parameters appended by partners to their tracking URLs. It is often used by loyalty programs to track the member or by partners to track things like ad placement or keywords. This value is only visible in partner reporting. |
| Sub-affiliate | A brand might work with a partner or network that has many partners of their own. The partner's partners are often referred to as "sub-affiliates" and those sub-affiliates get access to the brand offer through the partner or network. |
| T | |
| Tag | An HTML or XML element delimited by opening and closing angle brackets. |
| Text link | Simple text-based links (without graphics). |
| Time-decay model | Attribution model that credits events occurring closer to the sale with more credit than other previously recorded touch points. |
| Token | A pre-set value that, when added to a URL, will dynamically populate a variable. |
| Tracking code | JavaScript, iFrame, or a pixel that is placed on the brand's confirmation page to send conversion data back to the platform servers for action processing and reporting. |
| Tracking domain | The domain used in tracking links. |
| Tracking value | A dedicated phone number, URL, or promo code that is assigned to a specific partner for tracking purposes. |
| U | |
| Unique domain | A domain exclusively assigned to a partner for tracking purposes. When the partner sends traffic to the unique domain, the customer is then redirected through tracking servers and to the brand's site. |
| Universal Container Tag (UCT) | The UCT can be used to tie traffic back to a source by using a referring domain or query string parameter. For clients with our Tag Manager solution, the UCT can also be used to load any third party tags across a site, such as analytics tags, affiliate network conversion pixels, and chat tags. |
| Unsubscribe link | The link a user would click to set their communication preferences, such as opting out of an email list. |
| User activity report | Shows login and report usage history for each account user. |
| User agent | When a software agent operates in a network protocol, it often identifies itself, its application type, operating system, software vendor, or software revision, by submitting a characteristic identification string to its operating peer. |
| V | |
| Vesting period | The number of days between the action date and the locking date. Brands can modify or reject actions within the vesting period. Once the vesting period has elapsed the action is locked for partner payout. The vesting period is defined during the Contract creation process. |
| Visitor | Any user who goes to a particular website. |
| View-through tracking | With view-through tracking you can give credit to partners based on the viewing of an ad which resulted in a conversion within a certain period of time. If there is a click preceding the conversion, the credit will be given to the partner who drove the click. The maximum period of time between ad view and conversion is 30 days. |
| W | |
| Web Services | A set of services that revolve around the platform API. Brands and partners can utilize web services to gain access to the API to retrieve and post data. |
| Widget | An interactive and customizable application that consumers use to interact with a brand. |
| X | |
| XML Syndication | Also known as an RSS feed, XML syndication uses a family of standard web feed formats to publish frequently updated information |
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