Dynamic retargeting based on mobile events

In addition to using basic information about user actions on the site, you can use data about events produced by users in its mobile applications (in-app events).

As part of the integration of VK Ads and the tracking system, you can set up the transfer of data about mobile events.

The tracking system automatically transmits information about events and parameters of these events to VK Ads in postbacks, in accordance with the settings of the VK Ads module in the client's personal account, set by the advertiser.

The following mobile trackers are currently supported:

• Adjust
• Appsflyer
• myTracker
• AppMetrica
• Branch

In order to successfully launch ad campaigns in the Product catalog objective for mobile apps, you need to perform several steps:

• On the advertiser's side: using the app tracker SDK configure the transmission of required inapp events of dynamic remarketing
• On the advertiser's side: make the necessary settings in the application tracker account
• Select the necessary categories for required events in the VK Ads account
• If necessary, manually specify the name of the parameter for product ID

In order for dynamic retargeting campaigns to work successfully, the following in-app events must be sent to the advertising system in the mobile app:

• viewProduct - product view event (product description screen), product ID and cost is transmitted in the event;
• addToCart - event of adding a product to cart, or viewing the cart screen (a screen with a list of selected products); product IDs, quantity and price are transmitted;
• purchase - the event of ordering, or viewing of the purchase confirmation screen (when the purchase is completed), IDs of products, their quantity and cost are transmitted.

• add_to_wishlist – event of adding to favorites, in the event passes the ID of the product and its cost.

To successfully write to the inapp events database from the application tracker, they must contain a required parameter that passes the identifier of the product with which the application user performed the action.

By default, the advertising system expects the product ID to be passed in one of the following parameters:

• af_content_id
• productid
• fb_content_id
• offerId
• content_id
• content
• product_id
• product
• offer_id
• offerid
• af_content_list
• item_id
• contentid

Selecting an event category in the app settings is necessary for correct matching of the names of dynamic retargeting events that VK Ads receives from trackers.

If the app is not already added to VK Ads, first add it to account, then select the desired event names in the app settings and specify one of the three categories for each of them: View product card, Purchase, and Add to Cart.

If the app is already added to VK Ads, select the necessary event names in the app settings similar and specify one of the three categories for each of them: View product card, Purchase, and Add to cart.

To specify the desired event category, in the list of events, in the Event Name column, find the event that is used when viewing a product card, adding to cart, or purchasing an item.

For example, an event named addToCart would correspond to the Add to cart category, and a viewProduct event would correspond to the View product card category.

By default, the advertising system tries to automatically find one of the possible parameters in the database within an inapp-event, in which the application tracker passes the product ID.

Such parameter can have the following names: af_content_id, productid, fb_content_id, offerId, content_id, content, product_id, product, offer_id, offerid,af_content_list

In case the advertising system fails to find one of the valid parameters in a specific inapp-event where a product identifier is passed, the user will be able to specify the desired parameter name in the text field himself.

The option to specify the parameter ID name manually is only available for ecomm-compatible events:

• View Content
• Add to cart
• Purchase
• Adding to wishlist

If the user tries to set the parameter name from some other category, not ecomm, the field will remain the value that was previously specified. To change it, the ecomm category must be selected.

If one of the valid parameters with the product ID from the list above is found in the inapp-event, that parameter is automatically substituted in the text field in the product ID column of the feed.

Use the addPartnerParameter method from the Adjust SDK to pass event parameters to be sent from Adjust to partners (select myTarget as the partner).

For a description of the addPartnerParameter method in the Adjust SDK, see the official Adjust SDK documentation for native and webview apps:

• Android — Event partner parameters
• iOS — Event partner parameters

If the event involves the transmission of multiple products, for example, when the application user adds more than one product to the cart, the event data should be divided into several events.

An example of using the addPartnerParameter method when viewing the cart screen (the addToCart event can be used both when adding an item to the cart and when viewing the cart contents), in which the user added two items in different quantities:

To send data from the mobile app to Adjust about events and parameters to be sent to partners to VK Ads:

1. Authorise in Adjust.

2. On the main page of the web application, on the "Campaign Lab" tile, click “New Partner”.

3. Select a VK Ads partner (ex. myTarget) and click "Next".

4. Next, select your application.

5. Set up data sharing.

1. Click the "Edit" button in the "Enable data sharing for VK Ads (ex. myTarget)" block.
2. Switch on the "Enabled" switch.
3. Insert in the APP ID field the code received when connecting the application in VK Ads.

6. Set up mapping of Adjust events to available events in VK Ads. Select those events in the app that match the events required for dynamic retargeting and name them accordingly.

7. Set up the parameter mapping in which the product ID will be passed. To do this, click on the "Map parameter" button and specify the name of the parameter in the SDK in the "SDK parameter" field, and in the "Partner parameter" field specify the name in which the product ID will be passed directly in the inapp postback.

8. Specify the name of the link and click on the "Next" button.

9. Next, select where to redirect advertisers depending on whether they have the app installed or not yet.

10. Familiarise yourself with the default attribution settings, change them if necessary depending on your tasks.

11. In the last step, click on the "Create Link" button.

12. Copy and save the Click URL - you will need it when creating an advertising campaign in VK Ads.

Use the trackEvent method from the AppsFlyer SDK to pass event parameters to be sent from AppsFlyer to partners (select myTarget as the partner).

For a description of the trackEvent method in the Appsflyer SDK, see the official Appsflyer SDK documentation:

• Android — Tracking In-App Events
• iOS — Tracking In-App Events

In order for the data on events and parameters, which are transferred from mobile app to AppsFlyer, sent to VK Ads, you need to enable postback sending and set the list of transferred events.

Do follow in your AppsFlyer account:

1. Go to Integrated Partners in the app settings.
2. Enter myTarget in the search field.
3. Click the Edit button next to the name of the myTarget (Mail.ru) module.
4. In the Integration tab enable the In-App Events Postback transfer.
5. Select the Add Manually option.
6. In the SDK event name drop-down list, select the desired event names to be passed to in-app event postbacks. Events can be selected from the drop-down list with the names that are used in the SDK: with the names of Appsflyer, or with the names of myTarget (VK Ads).
7. In the Sending Options dropdown list, select All media sources, including organic - you need Appsflyer to send in-app event postback from all visible traffic, not just myTarget (VK Ads) traffic.
8. In the Send Revenue dropdown list select Values & revenue - you need VK Ads to get in-app event postback values that Appsflyer sends.

Use the trackEvent method from the myTracker SDK to pass event parameters to be sent from myTracker to partners (select myTarget as the partner).

For a description of the trackEvent method in the myTracker SDK, see the official myTracker SDK documentation:

• Android — Event tracking
• iOS — Event tracking

To send dynamic retargeting events correctly, follow the order of actions:

1. Add inapp postbacks for dynamic remarketing events on the Postbacks tab: view product, add to wishlist, add to cart, and buy product.
2. Configure the sending of the postbacks created in the first step on the Events Sending tab.

1. Go to the Postbacks page.
2. Click the Add button.
3. In the form that appears, fill in all required fields.

In the URL Template field, use the URL from the example below:

Be careful: the name of the parameter with the mtep prefix must match the name of the parameter with the product ID in the application code

In order for the data on events and parameters, which are transferred from mobile app to MyTracker, sent to VK Ads, you need to do following in the MyTracker account:

1. In the common list, find the partner for which you want to set up postbacks. In our case, select VK Ads + myTarget.
2. On the Event Sending page, select the application. The form will be loaded with a list of events for which you can configure postbacks to be sent.
3. Select the sending mode for each event:
   • Attributed - to send postbacks only for those users who are attracted by the partner's advertising campaign;
   • All - to send postbacks to all users of the application.
4. Select In-app event name. 
5. Add all custom events that correspond to dynamic retargeting events: view item, add to cart and purchase
6. Click the Save button.

To send dynamic remarketing events in your AppMetrica account, you need to create a new tracker, separately for iOS and Android. To do this:

1. Select your app from the App drop-down list.
2. Select VK Ads (ex. myTarget) from the Partner drop-down list.
3. Select the platform you want: iOS or Android.
4. Go to the Ecommerce tab.
5. In the drop-down list, select one of the events: View product card, Add to cart or Complete purchase.
6. In the Postback URL field, specify the postback template for the events View Item Card, Add to Cart and Purchase:
   • the ViewProduct Ecom Postback template to view the product card,
   • the AddToCart Ecom Postback template to add to cart,
   • the Purchase Ecom Postback template to purchase an item.

Request method "GET".

You can find code examples for Android and for iOS for different e-comm events (purchase, add to cart and buy) in the AppMetrica help:

• Android
• iOS

In order for the data on events and settings that come from the mobile app to Branch come to VK Ads, you need to:

1. Add the necessary dynamic remarketing events: view product, add to cart, buy, and optionally add to favorites.
2. For each event add a custom partner_parameters parameter, inside of which the product ID will be passed using a certain macro.

To add dynamic remarketing events in Branch account:

1. Go to Partner Management and then to the POSTBACK CONFIG tab.
2. Click on the "Add New Postback" button and select the desired event from the drop-down list and click "Save".

To add a custom partner_parameters parameter, follow these steps:

1. Click on "..." and select the "Advanced Edit" option.
2. In the modal window, scroll down to the "Add Custom Macros" drop-down box. 
3. Enter the value "partner_parameters" in the "Key" text box and %7B%22content_id%22%3A%22${(content_items[0].$sku)!}%22%7D in the "Value" box.
4. Save your changes by clicking the "Save" button.