The tracker audit I run before trusting a single number
A misconfigured tracker turns every decision into a guess with extra steps. Here's the audit I run on every new setup.
The setup
New tracker, new offer, new source. Everything connected "correctly" in theory.
The move
— Check 1: fire a real test conversion end to end. Click, convert, confirm it shows in the tracker with the right payout.
— Check 2: verify the postback passes the sub-IDs through, not just the conversion. No sub-IDs = blind optimization later.
— Check 3: confirm cost data is flowing (S2S or API), so ROI is automatic, not hand-typed.
— Check 4: test a duplicate-click, make sure it's not double-counting.
— Check 5: check timezone alignment between source, tracker, and network. Mismatched days wreck daily reports.
The numbers
Found a timezone mismatch once, my "today" and the network's "today" were 7 hours off. Made a profitable day look like a loss, almost killed a +25% campaign.
The lesson
You're not optimizing a campaign, you're optimizing what the tracker tells you about it. Garbage in, account dead out.
What I'd do differently
Keep a saved test-conversion checklist per source. Figures illustrative.
Arb Files
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