Post Click Tracking
The term Post Click Tracking (PCT) describes a tracking method that is used to measure and analyze the click path that users of a website follow after clicking on an ad banner or another form of advertising.
Content of Post Click Tracking
Post Click Tracking determines what the visitor does after they have clicked on a certain advertisement or banner. For online shops, it is important to see if a purchase is generated and which sales were made. If the goal of an advertising campaign is to gain newsletter subscribers, you can use post click tracking to find out how many visitors actually end up registering to the mailing list. A complete click path can be created through post click tracking. Every action and every click that the visitor makes on the landing page will be created and assigned to them, allowing for a detailed analysis of the visitor’s path on your website.
Session-Based Tracking and Cookie Tracking
There are two basic types of post click tracking. The data collected with session-based tracking only takes the user's current session into account. If they exit their browser or they are inactive for a period of time, the data will no longer be recorded or assigned. If, for example, the visitor makes an order a day later, this will not be included in the analysis.
Cookie tracking does the opposite. A cookie, which is a file on the user's computer, can save detailed information about activities on the website in question for several weeks. If a user clicks on an advertisement banner, reads about a product on the target page, but then buys it a week later, the purchase will still be assigned to the respective visitor. Usually, permanent cookies with a lifespan of up to 30 days are used. This is therefore referred to as a "delayed conversion“.
Objectives of Post Click Tracking
Post click tracking is a measure that ideally accompanies different types of advertising campaigns from the beginning. The goal is to find out if the target group is targeted in the best way possible, and if the right type of advertisement is being used. The analyzer finds out which information in a campaign brings them closer to the objective of gaining a conversion. Multiple campaigns can run parallel to each other through the analysis possibilities of post click tracking. By directly comparing the success and reactions from the visitors, it is easy to find out what type of advertising brings the best results.
The information obtained from the post click tracking may help to optimize search engine marketing and advertising campaigns. Even while the campaigns are running, they can still be adjusted to the recorded behavior of the user until the optimal result can finally be obtained from the marketing measures.
Cause research with Post Click Tracking
If an advertising campaign is not running as well as planned, the causes for this can be discovered with post click tracking. The data about the users can be used to analyze if the correct target group is being approached. If it turns out that a majority of the clicks on an advertising banner for a new men's shaver are coming from female users because it was run in a women's forum, the explanation for poor conversion is clear.
Other Areas of Use for Post Click Tracking
Post click tracking is first and foremost used for the analysis and optimization of advertising campaigns on the Internet. However, there are other areas of use:
- Determination of commissions for affiliates
- Analysis of sales potential of newsletter subscribers
- Analysis of sales from certain demographic or geographic groups (for example, according to age, gender or place of origin)
- Tracking offline advertising campaigns, for example, in magazines or on TV (use of QR codes)