Introduction
AppsFlyer’s In-App Event recording is a powerful feature that can benefit advertisers and ad networks alike.
By recording events Advertisers can measure the overall quality of users from different sources and build their user acquisition strategy accordingly.
Ad networks can use information about in-app events to optimize their own advertising capabilities and run cost-per-action/event campaigns.
Ad networks receive data about in-app events through Postbacks — URLs that AppsFlyer sends out to the network after every successful or failed conversion. In this article, we focus on In-app Event postbacks and how to configure them on AppsFlyer dashboard.
For further information about in-app events and the full list of available events, click here.
In-app event postback window
For example, if you're charged only for events that happen within 15 days after a user installs your app, the window is configured as follows:
Postbacks after this period are not sent, and the network is not notified, but the events are still recorded in AppsFlyer and attributed to the network.
The postbacks are always sent based on the current window setting. See the following example:
| January 1 |
The window is 15 days. A user installs an app. |
| January 2 | The window is changed to 10 days. |
| January 14 |
The user makes a purchase. The postback is not sent to the ad network, |
| January 15 |
The window is changed to 20 days. |
| January 18 |
The user makes another purchase. The postback is sent, because the event falls within the current window (20 days). |
Default settings
If you started using in-app event postbacks with a specific partner before July 30, 2019, the default setting for the window is Lifetime. This means that in-app event postbacks are always sent.
If you just started to set up the postbacks, the default window is automatically set to 180 days.
Who can configure postback windows
The window can be configured by:
- Advertisers
- Agencies, if they are given the Allow to configure in-app event postbacks permission
Note: an advertiser and an agency working with the same ad network can configure postback windows separately from each other, based on their contract with the network. - Ad Networks, if they are given the Allow to configure in-app event postbacks permission
Event mapping
Different advertisers can give different names to the events of the same type in their code. The names of the events used by the advertisers may also differ from the names given to them by media sources. For example, when a user purchases something through an app, one advertiser can call it a purchase, another one purchase_event. The ad network can pick a less informative ID, e.g. event5.
Most ad networks want to make sure that purchase is the same event as event5. This is why the names must be mapped in the AppsFlyer dashboard for each media source you work with.
Sending revenue
A Send Revenue checkbox appears next to events.
- When unchecked - AppsFlyer only sends the event itself without the event value.
- When checked - AppsFlyer sends all the parameters including the revenue value (if exists in the event).
Mapping methods
There are three possible methods of mapping the events. Each ad network has its own preference and you should discuss this with them. You can also give permission to the network to map the events on its own. See the next section to learn how to do that.
Type event ID into text field
On the left side, pick an event from the list of your app events. On the right side, type the corresponding ID received from the partner.
Pick event ID from a list
An ad network predefines a list of events that it wants to receive. You pick your event from the list on the left and then select the most suitable event from the drop-down list of partner events on the right.
Send events as they are
Some networks prefer to receive the events as they are, i.e. it doesn't matter if the event is called purchase, acquisition or event5.
In this case, you can choose one of the three options:
- report all events, including monetary values
- report all events except their monetary values
- manually select the events you want to send from the list of the events you have in your app.
If you choose to report all events, the af_app_opened event is not reported.
If you choose to manually add events, click Add Event, and select the event you want to send. Repeat to add more events.
For more details on in-app event mapping, click here.
Custom events
The list of events available for mapping shows only the events already reported by the SDK to AppsFlyer. If the event you want to map doesn’t appear in the drop-down list, this can happen for the following reasons:
- No user has performed the event yet.
- The event has been performed for the last time more than 2 weeks ago.
- If you have a large list of active events.
In either of these cases, in order to map the event to the ad network ID, you can do the following:
- Type in the SDK name of the event.
- Click Create custom
- Map the event to the partner identifier.
- Click Save to make sure the mapping is recorded.
Note that when you add the event in this way under a certain partner, this event is also added to the list of events in all other partner integrations you have. Meaning, you can see this event in the drop-down list under any partner’s integration, and map it normally.
Event mapping by ad networks
Advertisers can also allow ad networks to map the events and disable postbacks on their own. To do so, an advertiser should give relevant permissions to the ad network:
- On the Integrated Partners page find the partner you want to give the permission to.
- Under the Permissions tab switch the Allow to configure in-app event postbacks toggle to ON.
Once the ad network has received the permissions, it can map the events following the instructions in the Type Event ID Into Text Field.
Agencies and ad networks cannot add custom events, and can only view and/or map such events if the advertiser added it and gave the agency or the ad network relevant permissions.