Promo code
Also called Discount code, Vanity code.
A code unique to one placement, used to attribute sales where a click cannot be tracked.
The standard attribution method in podcast and video advertising, where the listener hears a URL or a code and acts later on a different device. A unique code per publisher is the only clean signal available in those formats.
It undercounts, always. People forget the code, find a better one, or buy without any discount at all — so treat redemptions as a floor on the campaign's effect rather than a measurement of it.
A code also has to be worth using. A code offering nothing is a tracking parameter the audience has no reason to type.
Terms it depends on
- CPA
- A price paid per completed action — a sale, a signup, a booked demo — rather than per click.
- Attribution window
- How long after a click or view a conversion still counts as caused by that ad.
- UTM parameters
- Tags appended to a destination URL so the advertiser's own analytics can attribute the visit.