Conversion and Attribution Methodology
Attribution is the process of determining whether a conversion was driven by exposure to an ad, and assigning credit to a given ad or ads.
Two common types of attribution include last click attribution and last view attribution. The last click method attributes a conversion to the last ad that user clicked on, and the last view method attributes a conversion to the last ad that user viewed.
AIDEM DSP uses a combination of last click and last view attribution.
AIDEM DSP Attribution
When a conversion event occurs:
- In a desktop environment, we capture the user_id on the conversion event via the AIDEM cookie ID found in the header of the http call to AIDEM. In mobile apps, we receive the auction_id in the postback call.
- We search through that advertiser’s impression logs to find a click with a matching user_id for desktop or auction_id for mobile app within the event’s lookback window.
- If matching clicks are found, the conversion is attributed to the most recent matching click within the event’s lookback window.
- If no matching click is found within the lookback window, but matching impressions exist, the conversion is attributed to the most recent matching impression within the event’s lookback window.
Lookback Windows
A lookback window is the length of time an impression is able to be used for attribution.
For example, if event’s lookback window is set to 30 days, a user must convert within 30 days after viewing/clicking on an ad for the conversion to appear in reporting. If they view/click on an ad, then convert 31 days later, this is considered outside the lookback window, and the conversion is not attributed to that impression.
FAQ
Do I need to associate a conversion event to a line item?
A: No—conversions are attributed at either the advertiser level--meaning that a conversion event may be attributed to a click or impression from any line item within that advertiser--the campaign level, or the line item level.
Where do attributed conversions appear?
A: Attributed conversions may be found in the performance report or the conversion report.