What is SmartCPA?
SmartCPA is a basic CPA with an automatic optimization algorithm available at the Self-Serve Platform that allows you to pay only for conversions. It automatically matches your CPA offers to 100% targeted users, helping you reach a more relevant audience.
An automatic optimization algorithm matches your CPA offer with users that are interested in such content. The traffic selection system needs a quick test before launching a working CPA campaign.
The test period will indicate whether your campaign is effective with the selected targetings. Test results and statistics will be recorded on the Dashboard page in the Campaign tab at the end of the testing period.
In simple terms:
-
You create a new SmartCPA campaign
-
The campaign is approved by our Policy Team
-
It starts running for a test period
-
After the test, you get a fully optimized campaign based on a CPA pricing model
How to launch a SmartCPA Campaign?
1) To start a SmartCPA campaign, you should set up conversion tracking first. Read here.
2) Now, when the tracking URL is ready for use, go to the "Campaigns" page.
3) Click the "Create Campaign" button.
You’ll see the menu with general information about your new campaign.
4) Name your campaign and choose SmartCPA (note that SmartCPA is available for all advertising formats) as the pricing model & fill in your Target URL.
This is the landing page (or URL provided by a third-party system like Voluum or AdsBridge) that the user will be directed to.
4) Choose Country & Conversion Cost
You can choose GEO by inputting the names of countries manually. For more accurate test results, one GEO per campaign is allowed.
Conversion Cost is the amount of money you are willing to pay us for getting one conversion.
Tip: the recommended conversion cost must be 70-80% of your CPA network’s payout. This will speed up the process of matching the most relevant traffic sources.
5) Fill in the details about your campaign's Budget.
These settings are very important, please read our recommendations thoroughly.
- Daily Campaign Budget
The amount of money you’re willing to spend per day on this campaign.
If your campaign runs out of its daily campaign budget, it stops. We DO NOT RECOMMEND setting a Daily Campaign Budget.
- Total Campaign Budget
The amount of money you are planning to spend on this campaign for the entire working period (not including the Test Budget). If your campaign runs out of its total campaign budget, it stops.
Please make sure you have enough funds in your balance to cover the Total Campaign Budget + Test Budget Limit. Otherwise, your campaign may be stopped due to a lack of funds, and testing will not be completed!
Note: The Daily Campaign Budget should be more than $30. The Total Campaign Budget should be more than $100.
6) Schedule your campaign
You can set the running period manually using the calendar or choose one of our presets: weekdays only or weekends only.
By default, the campaign has no End Date. If you want to set an End Date, check the "Set display period".
We DO NOT RECOMMEND setting the End Date for a SmartCPA campaign. If your campaign will be stopped by the scheduler during the test period you will need to create a new SmartCPA campaign to continue testing this offer.
7) Set your SmartCPA campaign targetings
You can target by:
-
OS device type
-
OS version
-
Mobile ISP
-
Browser
-
Browser’s language
-
Proxy/Not proxy
You can also include or exclude Ad Zones (if you have already collected some white/blacklists).
8) Test Period Settings
These settings are very important, please read our recommendations thoroughly
- Test Budget Limit
Amount of money you are willing to spend entirely on testing.
What is the appropriate sum of the Test Budget Limit?
The bigger budget you set, the more zones (ad placements) will be tested for the chosen targetings. Our optimization algorithms will take some time to gather enough data and find the most relevant traffic for your offer. In other words, the bigger your Test Budget Limit is, the more traffic you’ll get.
Note: The minimum Test Budget Limit should be more than $30.
- Slice Limits
The slice limit per zone is the maximum amount of ad impressions you’re willing to get from one traffic source test zone or one GEO.
It prevents you from spending your test budget on zones with a huge amount of traffic.
Once this limit of impressions is reached, the optimization system will automatically check whether the zone provides a good conversion rate or not.
In case the conversion rate is acceptable, your SmartCPA campaign will obtain more traffic from this zone over the limit.
Otherwise, your campaign will move to the next test zone with a new limit of impressions.
The default limit set is eligible for most of the test campaigns. Still, you can reduce the restrictions.
- Early Efficient Checker
This option allows the test to stop at the earliest period in case it doesn't go so well. Enable it to prevent your campaign from spending your budget.
9) After you’ve filled in the forms and set the targetings, click "Save and Start"
The campaign’s test will be launched immediately after the review of moderation.
How does the SmartCPA Campaign work during the test period?
After approval, your SmartCPA campaign will be active with the "Testing" status (a test tube icon). You can find it on the "Campaigns" page.
During the test period, the optimization algorithms pick out zones (websites) to find the most relevant traffic for your offer based on zones' (websites') CR level.
Zones with the appropriate CR level become whitelisted automatically whilst low CR zones are excluded from the campaign.
Keep in mind that our system needs time to test your offer, so the longer the test runs, the more effective it will be.
Please note: We DO NOT RECOMMEND stopping your SmartCPA campaign during the test period. Once our algorithms have started working with the settings and targetings you’ve applied, they should not be changed until the test has ended.
Even if you decide to continue with the same offer, you will need to create a new SmartCPA campaign!
My campaign’s test period is over. What’s next?
The test is considered complete when the campaign has received the volume of traffic worth the defined test budget. Now, the system should estimate the results according to the given metrics and assign the status to the test. The status of the test will determine how the campaign will work further.
Test statuses:
Failed - There are either absolutely no conversions or their cost forms the CPM insufficient for further work of the campaign. The campaign automatically stops after the test.
Possible reasons for the status:
- Low conversion cost (try increasing your conversion cost)
- Low CR (try using another creative/landing page)
Not so good - the campaign showed decent results during the test. But this campaign will only perform on certain zones (whitelist) that received conversions while testing. In this case, the campaign’s eCPM can quickly decrease, and then it will stop receiving traffic, simply because there will be a limited number of performing sources. With this status, the campaign will only work on the zones where the conversions were received.
Possible reasons for the status:
- Low conversion cost (try increasing your conversion cost)
- Low CR (try using another creative/landing page)
- Small test budget (a small number of zones have been tested/try increasing your test budget)
Succeeded - the campaign showed excellent results and will work on all zones (RON) and receive more traffic. This status is given to campaigns where the test was considered free. Also, this status can be given to campaigns with a compensated test, because the system relies on various metrics and can predict the further success of the campaign.
The duration of the test depends on the test budget and the volume of traffic on the selected GEO. The test can last from several minutes to several hours for GEOs with a high volume of traffic and from several hours to several days for GEOs with a low volume of traffic. Also, please note that the more specified the campaign targeting is, the longer the test will last.