Posting conversion details to Microsoft (Bing) Ads

  • Unlike most traffic sources that use a Postback URL (Server-2-Server pixel) to receive conversion details, Microsoft (Bing) Ads uses a JavaScript tracking pixel which cannot be fired unless placed directly in the Confirmation or Thank You page.

    • This will work if you run your own offers and have access to the page HTML code, but it won’t work if you run offers from Affiliate Networks.
  • In order to overcome this limitation and to be able to see your conversions in Microsoft (Bing) Ads even when using an Affiliate Network, we have introduced an automatic process of uploading conversion data to Microsoft (Bing) Ads, without using the Bing tracking pixel.

    • This method doesn’t use the Bing API either, so we will NOT ask for your Microsoft (Bing) Ads account credentials.
    • You only need to make a few configuration settings once, then the process will run automatically for you.
  • You need to have CPV Lab 8.0 or newer for this to work.

Process overview

The process works like this:

  • Microsoft (Bing) Ads sends a unique code (External ID) for each visitor to CPV Lab Pro in the msclkid parameter;

  • You have some new code in CPV Lab Pro that will return the unique codes for converting visitors in a format accepted by Microsoft (Bing) Ads;

  • Microsoft (Bing) Ads calls this code periodically and imports conversions into the Microsoft (Bing) Ads interface!

  • The process is fully automated, once you perform the initial configuration there is no need to do anything else and conversions will be sent from CPV Lab Pro to Microsoft (Bing) Ads.

Initial configuration

Here is what you need to do in order to install and make the initial configuration:

1. Use the Configuration Editor page from the Settings menu in CPV Lab Pro and define a Bing Conversion Key.

  • This should be a random string that you define (10-20 characters) which will be used to authenticate Bing requests and prevent un-authorized access to your data.
  • It can look like in the image below:

Configuration Editor

2. Enable auto-tagging in your Microsoft (Bing) Ads account.

  • This is a global setting and it will automatically append the 'msclkid' parameter with a unique code in the Final URL for each visitor.
  • This unique code is needed in order to identify the converting visitor.

In your Microsoft (Bing) Ads account from the main menu on the left, click All campaigns -> Settings -> then Account level options and look for Auto-tagging of Click ID.

  • Make sure that you check this checkbox in order to enable Auto-tagging.

Microsoft (Bing) Ads Autotagging

3. Create a conversion goal in your Microsoft (Bing) Ads account:

  • go to Tools -> Conversion goals, then click on the +Create button to add a new conversion goal

Microsoft (Bing) Ads add new conversion

Microsoft (Bing) Ads create 2

  • select Offline as the conversion goal

Microsoft (Bing) Ads create 3

  • then select 'Purchase' as the Goal Category and ‘Offline Conversion’ as the Goal Type

Microsoft (Bing) Ads create 4

  • name the conversion goal ‘ImportConversion’, choose ‘Conversion action value may vary’ as the Revenue, then SAVE the conversion goal.

    Microsoft (Bing) Ads create 5

  • you will receive a confirmation message for the Conversion goal creation.

    Microsoft (Bing) Ads create 6

4. Capture the 'msclkid' values

  • In your Bing campaigns from CPV Lab Pro, make sure that you have 'msclkid' defined as the Parameter for the External ID token and leave the Placeholder blank (see below).

  • This will make CPV Lab Pro capture the unique codes for visitors coming from Microsoft (Bing) Ads.

Microsoft (Bing) Ads external id

5. Test the integration

  • Now you can test the page that reports conversions by calling the following URL in a browser:

https://your-cpvlabpro-domain/api/bing-conversions/?key=bing-conversion-key&camp=bing (opens new window)

  • where bing-conversion-key should be replaced by the random key that you defined at Step 1 above.
  • and your-cpvlabpro-domain should be replaced with your actual CPV Lab instance domain.
  • The result should be a prompt to download a CSV file (results will not be displayed in the page).
  • When you download and edit the CSV file with a text editor, then it should look like:

Microsoft (Bing) Ads empty result page

TIP

  • If you get the above, it means that the new page works well (it doesn’t show any conversion data yet, but it will show data once you get some conversions).
  • If you get an error message, then please check that the Bing conversion key is the same in the Configuration Editor page (Step 1) and in the URL (Step 5).

6. Create the Upload Schedule in Microsoft (Bing) Ads

  • Go to your Microsoft (Bing) Ads account and navigate to Tools -> Offline Conversions:

Microsoft (Bing) Ads conversion upload

  • Now select Schedules from the top and then the +Schedule button to create a new scheduled conversion upload:

Microsoft (Bing) Ads conversion upload schedule

  • Here you need to:
    • enter the URL from Step 5 above for your new page as the Source URL
    • choose ‘Every 6 hours’ as the Frequency

Microsoft (Bing) Ads conversion create schedule

  • Save the current settings and you have created the Schedule that will import conversions periodically from CPV Lab Pro to Microsoft (Bing) Ads.
    • You will see a record each time the upload executes in the ‘Uploads’ section from the same page.
    • Once conversions are uploaded you will also see them appearing in your Microsoft (Bing) Ads reports.

Optional parameters

There are several optional parameters that you can use in the URL that you submit to Microsoft (Bing) Ads:

Parameter Default Value Details
name ImportConversion The name of the Conversion Action that you defined in Microsoft (Bing) Ads
currency USD The currency to use for revenues reported to Microsoft (Bing) Ads
cstrev If you prefer to hide the actual revenues and not pass them to Microsoft (Bing) Ads, then enter a custom value that will be reported for each conversion in this parameter. For example, if you add ‘&cstrev=0’ to the URL, then all conversions will be reported with 0 as revenue
days 7 The number of days to return conversion for. By default, conversions from the past 7 days are returned.
camp bing The campaigns to return data for. Possible values:
- bing – all your campaigns that use Bing as traffic source;
- a numeric Campaign ID – only the campaign with this ID;
- a list of numeric IDs separated by comma (,) – only the campaigns with the IDs specified

FAQ

1. What if I have multiple Microsoft (Bing) Ads accounts?

  • Then you need to perform the process described above in all you Microsoft (Bing) Ads accounts.
  • Define the Conversion Action and schedule the daily import from Microsoft (Bing) Ads for all your accounts.
  • Conversions belonging to other accounts will simply be skipped during the import by Bing.

2. How to hide the actual revenues of my conversions from Bing?

  • You can define a custom revenue to be reported to Bing instead of the real revenue if you want to hide those from Bing.
    • In order to do this, you need to include the ‘cstrev’ parameter followed by the desired revenue in the URL submitted to Bing.

Example:

3. I get an error message on the uploaded file in Microsoft (Bing) Ads saying “This conversion action was created too recently”

  • This error appears sometimes immediately after you create the Conversion Action.
  • The solution is to wait a few hours, then try to upload the file again and it will be processed correctly. No need to change anything else, just wait for a few hours.

4. I get an error message on the uploaded file in Microsoft (Bing) Ads saying “We cannot find an import conversion type with this name in the target account”

  • Make sure that you have created in the Conversion Action and that you named it ImportConversion as described at Step 3 above

5. I get an error message on the uploaded file in Microsoft (Bing) Ads saying “This msclkid belongs to an account that you are not authorized to access”

  • This error may appear when you have multiple Microsoft (Bing) Ads accounts since the CPV Lab Pro page will return the msclkid values (unique codes) for all conversions from all accounts.
  • There is no problem when this error is received and conversions associated to each Microsoft (Bing) Ads account will be imported correctly, while conversions from other accounts will simply be ignored.
Last Updated: 10/11/2023, 10:35:00 AM