Written by Krisztián Stark
Key takeaways
- One offer can pay for up to 15 steps, so you pay a little for the install and more for the goals that really matter.
- Every step has its own price, and you can change that price for every country separately.
- Your own tracker confirms each step with a postback, so results are counted automatically and can be reversed for 30 days.
Most pay-per-result advertising works with one action and one price. You pay for an install, or for a sign-up, and everything the user does afterwards is invisible to the deal. A Sharklio offer campaign works differently. You split the result into steps, for example install, reach level 10, and make a first purchase, and you set a separate price for every step. Users are rewarded for each step they reach, and you pay only for the steps that really happened.
Very few advertising platforms let you shape a campaign this precisely. You decide how many steps there are, what each one is called, what it is worth in every country, and which event of your own tracker confirms it. This guide shows how it works and how to price it.
What an offer campaign is
Sharklio has three campaign types. A click campaign pays for a visit that lasts as long as you set. A task campaign pays for an action that the user proves with a screenshot or text, and you approve each one in your dashboard. An offer campaign pays for goals that your own systems can measure, and your server confirms them automatically with a postback.
An offer can have up to 15 steps. Each step has:
- A name that users see on the offerwall, for example “Reach level 10”.
- An event ID, the name your tracker uses for that event, for example
install,level_10, orpurchase. - A default price, the amount you pay when a user reaches the step.
- Optional prices per country, which replace the default in the countries you choose.
Users see every step and its reward before they start, which tells them exactly what to do and keeps them going from one step to the next.
Pay for the goals that matter, not just the first click
An install that is opened once is worth little. A player who reaches level 25 or makes a purchase is worth a lot. With steps you pay for both, each at its own price. Create a free account and build your first offer.
How a step gets counted
- A user opens your offer on an offerwall. We create a unique click and send the user to your tracking link, with our
{click_id}filled in. You can also receive the country, the device, and a source number for every click. - Your tracker or your server stores the click ID together with the user.
- When the user reaches a step, your server calls our postback URL with the same click ID and the event ID of the step.
- We charge the price of that step for the country of the user, and the user gets the reward right away.
Every step can be counted once per click. If your server sends the same step twice, the second call is recognised as a duplicate and nothing is charged again. The technical details, with examples in several languages, are in the offer postbacks documentation.
Everything you can customise
The offer editor was built so that the campaign fits your funnel, not the other way around.
- Number of steps: from a single goal up to 15 steps in one offer.
- Price of every step: a cheap first step lowers the barrier, and a higher price on a late step pays for real value.
- Price per country: every step can have a different price in every country. A purchase in one market can be worth several times more than in another, and your bids can reflect that. See Set bids by country.
- Your own event names: use the event IDs your tracker already sends, so one postback URL with the event macro covers every step.
- One URL for all offers: your account also has its own postback key. Set it up once in your tracker, and it works for every offer you create.
- Your own conversion ID: you can send your own ID with every postback, and we store it with the conversion for your records.
While you type, the editor shows the ready postback URL of every step, and the offer page in your dashboard lists every event ID with a URL you can copy.
A worked example
The numbers below are an example, not a quote. A mobile game wants players who stay, not just installs. It builds an offer with four steps and sets a default price for each, with a higher price for the United States.
| Step | Event ID | Default price | Price in the US |
|---|---|---|---|
| Install and open the game | install | $0.20 | $0.40 |
| Reach level 10 | level_10 | $0.60 | $1.20 |
| Reach level 25 | level_25 | $1.20 | $2.50 |
| First purchase | purchase | $3 | $6 |
Say 1,000 US players install the game. 300 of them reach level 10, 120 reach level 25, and 30 make a purchase. The game pays 1,000 × $0.40 + 300 × $1.20 + 120 × $2.50 + 30 × $6, which is $400 + $360 + $300 + $180 = $1,240.
Almost 70% of that budget went to players who got past the first session, and the price of the later steps rewards the users who make that effort. With a single install price, the game would have paid the same amount for the 700 players who stopped at the start. If you want to judge how many players usually stay, app install retention benchmarks give a good starting point.
A simple rule for pricing steps
Work out what a user who reaches each step is worth to you, then keep the price of that step below it. The first step should be cheap and easy, and the last step should carry most of the value. CPM vs CPC vs CPA shows how to find the maximum you can pay per result.
Staying in control
- Staff review: our team checks every offer before it goes live, like every other campaign.
- Reversals: if a conversion turns out to be invalid, for example a refunded purchase or a duplicate user, you can reverse it for up to 30 days, from your server or from your dashboard with a reason. The charge goes back to your balance.
- Balance protection: an offer is only shown while your balance covers all of its steps. If your balance runs out, new steps wait and are charged as soon as you top up.
- Visibility: the offer page shows a funnel with how many users reached each step, and the latest postbacks you sent, so you see problems at once.
- Testing: postbacks sent with a test click ID are checked like real ones, but nothing is charged, so you can test your tracker safely.
Keep the key on your server
Every offer has a secret postback key. Anyone who has it can report conversions, so never put it in an app, a web page, or a public repository. If a key leaks, replace it with one click on the offer page, and the old key stops working right away.
When to choose an offer over a task
Choose an offer when your own systems can see the goal: an install, a registration, a level, a subscription, or a purchase, and you have a tracker or a server that can send a postback. Choose a task when the result is something a person has to show, such as a screenshot of a follow or a review, and you prefer to check each one yourself. If you only need visitors, a click campaign is the simplest option.
Frequently asked questions
How many steps can one offer have?
Up to 15. A single-step offer works too, and then you do not even need to send the step in the postback.
Do I pay for all steps when a user starts the offer?
No. You pay only for the steps a user actually reaches, at the price of the country of that user. A user who installs and stops costs only the first step.
Can I use my existing tracker?
Yes. Add our {click_id} to your tracking link and send it back in the postback with the event ID of the step. Most trackers can fill both in with their own macros, so one postback URL covers every step.
What happens if a purchase is refunded?
You can reverse that conversion for up to 30 days, either with a postback or from your dashboard, and the amount goes back to your balance.
Can I change the prices later?
Yes. You can change the price of any step and any country at any time. Changing the names of the steps sends the offer back to review, because users see those names.
