Routy

Plan B ā€” dead-click recovery

Some clicks can never earn anything. A visitor from a country your brand doesn't accept, on a link to an offer that isn't open to them ā€” that click is dead the moment it lands. Normally it's just gone.

Plan B catches those clicks and offers the visitor a compliant alternative instead: another brand that does accept traffic from where they are. If the visitor takes it, you recover a click that would otherwise have earned nothing.

The pieces, and where each one lives

Plan B is deliberately spread across the screens that own each decision, rather than gathered into one giant settings page. Five things have to line up before a dead click can be recovered.

The question Who answers it Where
Am I in Plan B at all, and how am I paid? You, the publisher Plan B ā†’ Enrollment
Which countries does this brand accept? Whoever manages the catalog Geo policy, on the brand (and optionally per program)
May this account be offered to other people's dead clicks? The network operator Networks ā†’ Plan B inventory
What does the alternative look like to the visitor? You, per brand link or offer Edit creative
Did any of it work? ā€” Plan B ā†’ Overview

Two sides of the same feature

It helps to keep these apart, because most confusion about Plan B comes from mixing them up.

  • Your clicks going out. When one of your clicks dies, Plan B looks for an alternative to show the visitor. This is controlled by your enrollment and your opt-outs.
  • Your accounts coming in. When somebody else's click dies, one of your accounts might be the alternative that gets offered. This is controlled by Plan B inventory on the network, and by each brand's geo policy.

The two are independent. Withholding an account from Plan B inventory stops it being offered to other people ā€” it does not stop clicks on your own links being diverted. Turning your own enrollment off stops your clicks being diverted ā€” it does not withdraw your accounts from other people's Plan B.

The vocabulary

  • Dead click ā€” a click that cannot be honoured, usually because the visitor's country isn't accepted by the destination brand.
  • Divert ā€” Plan B caught a dead click and showed the visitor an alternative.
  • Recovery ā€” the visitor took one of the alternatives.
  • Continued ā€” the visitor carried on to the original destination anyway.
  • Bounced ā€” the visitor left without clicking anything.
  • Alternative ā€” the brand being offered in place of the dead destination.
  • Inventory ā€” the pool of accounts that may be offered as alternatives.

Getting access

Plan B requires the Partners feature on your plan. Without it the Plan B screens show an upgrade prompt instead of the controls. Speak to your account manager if you want it enabled.