CJ Account Manager: Top-Notch Tactical Tips

Here at CJ Affiliate, we’re passionate about a number of critical things: how we can move the affiliate industry forward, enable client success, and provide opportunities for increased efficiency. We want to provide you with some top-notch, tactical tips so you can make the most of our platform, the CJ Account Manager.

Unarchive/Reschedule Links

Sometimes you want to refresh an existing link which is now expired, as its original promotional dates have passed. You can do this! Here’s how:

• Go to the Links > Manage page, and use the filters to find your link(s) in question.

• Click a link’s result bar to open its options, and click Edit.

• Shed those old dates and unarchive it. To do this, flip the scheduling to “Unscheduled” and Save. Then, find your updated link on the refreshed page, open its options, and click Unarchive.

• Now your link’s live again! Follow the prompts in its Edit window to set up new dates, get it scheduled, and set just how you need it.

Remember, URLs and images refresh dynamically, so any changes you make will be effective immediately. That said, if coded in HTML (as most links are), ad copy and other aspects will require publisher action.

Create Manual Transactions

While we offer a myriad of options for getting your transactional data into our CJ Account Manager dashboard, sometimes things happen in a way that’s totally offline or unique. In those or similar instances, you may need to create a manual transaction. This is especially the case if it’s just one or a few transactions to add into the system, and if time is of the essence to do so. Here are the steps you’ll want to follow:

• Go to the Reports > Transaction page

• Scroll down to the Create Commission button, on the left side, below your filters. Fill out the fields, Save, and you’re done!

Now, time for some definitions! 

• Website ID: Unique tag parameter that is also called a PID (the identifier of the publisher’s website from which the action is referred). A publisher may have multiple PID's, one for each website in their account. You can find this by searching with the Publishers > Search page, and looking at their Websites details page.

• Order ID: Unique identifier supplied by an advertiser (you!), such as an Invoice # or Confirmation #, which populates dynamically. Include only alphanumeric characters within this field to avoid errors.

• SID: Tag parameter often used by publishers for internal tracking purposes. For example, this could be used to determine the page on a site on which tracking took place. This variable is optional for publishers to pass. If one was present when you captured the data internally, be sure to include it here, but if not, leave it blank.

• Reference Date: Becomes the transaction’s Event Date, so this date should be when customer took action to complete the transaction. Note, your date will dictate the locking status of the transaction, just as if the order was captured by your standard integration method (pixel, action batch file, etc.)

Use Groups for Segmentation

Marketing 101: know your audience! Segment your program into groups of publishers that you can approach uniquely. It will open new windows of insight into the same data you always look at. Here’s how to make this happen:

Make the Group: Go to the Publishers > Groups page and click Create a New Group.

• Pick a name that’s significant and sensible.

• Note, this field is visible to both yourself and the publisher(s) added to it.

Add Publishers to the Group: Use the Publishers > Manage by Status page to generate the list of publishers you’re interested in adding.

• When you click Additional Filter Options, you can be extra specific and targeted.

• Check the box at the left end of the headers to select all, and click Add to Group.

• Note, you can also enter a list of up to 1,000 CIDs into the Publishers > Search page.

Segment Links by Group: You can select a specific group for any link(s) to be visible to only (or All Groups, for no restriction). This can be helpful for segmenting promotions or creative.

Reporting by Group: Specify by group, as it adds a whole new analytical perspective to your reporting output. Enter the group’s name exactly in the filters to run these reports successfully.

Connect with CJ Support

Despite everyone’s best efforts, sometimes things go wrong or aren’t totally clear. That’s why we keep our Support Center up to date with helpful topics. To access the Support Center, click the button on the right side of your navigation bar. If you need other answers, or require hands-on assistance, click the Ask a Question button to send a message to our Client Support team.

We hope these tips are helpful and will provide you the guidance needed to set you on track for a successful year.