It is available to define so-called variables when setting up a traffic source template. These variables are used to write and store information passed from the traffic source when clicking on a link in an ad.
Technically speaking, variables can represent a URL parameter and store its value. The value of the parameter is written to the variable, so you can use this variable placeholder with special syntax throughout the system: inside the lander code or as a parameter value in your URLs.
You can define up to 20 custom variables in addition to the predefined variables: External ID, Cost, Group, Placement, Keyword.
Variables are configured in the traffic source template settings:
1 - Parameter
The Parameter field is used to specify the name of the variable to be substituted into the URL. Example: naming the variable Var1 as v1 - a parameter named &v1= will be substituted into the final link of the campaign.
Attention:
Despite the fact that you specify the parameter name directly, to use the substitution of the value stored in the variable anywhere in Zeustrack, you must use the so-called placeholders. For the example above, the placeholder will be looking exactly like {var1}.
Refer to this article to know more about Zeustrack placeholders.
2 - Name
In this field you can specify the name of the variable in a human-readable form. This name will be used in the detailed campaign report.
Attention:
Despite the fact that you can specify a value in the Name field for the predefined variables External ID, Cost, Group, Placement, Keyword in the Zeustrack interface, their name will not change!
3 - Placeholder
This field is intended for specifying the default value of the variable, or as a reminder of what value should be entered manually at the time of the formation of the final link of the campaign. Example: the variable Var1 for which the parameter name is v1 and the value of the placeholder field [v1] in the final link of the campaign will look like &v1=[v1].
4 - Predefined variables
This section provides predefined variables that are intended for specific purposes.
External ID - third-party service visit identifier. Some traffic sources have their own visit IDs. They can be written to this parameter using the appropriate placeholder (if provided by a third-party service). The value of this variable is written to Zeustrack in the {visit.externalid} placeholder;
Cost - if the traffic source has the technical ability to pass the value of the visit cost and has a placeholder for this, you can specify this data in the corresponding fields of this variable. At the same time, when setting up a campaign, in the Advanced section on the General tab, you specified Cost model - Auto, then the value of this parameter will be automatically placed in the campaign statistics.
Group, Placement, Keyword - predefined variables for grouping visits according to certain criteria. Visits with the same values of these parameters will be grouped in a detailed campaign report on separate tabs.
5 - User defined variables
You can add up to 20 custom variables to a traffic source template.
Traffic source template variables are a powerful tool for tracking your campaigns to optimize to get the maximum ROI. See this article as an example of using such variables.