Frequently Asked Questions

Where can I find the status of the service?

https://status.optickssecurity.com/

The Offer page does not open when I click on the Opticks tracking link.

Here is a list of reasons, in order of most likely to least likely, that the Offer page is not loading.

1. You are being blocked for security reasons. Please check your campaign security settings (IP blocking?) and consider adding your corporate IP address to the IP whitelist to ease testing.
2. You are being blocked for targeting reasons. Please check your offer targeting rules (Country, OS?) and consider adding your company IP address to the IP whitelist.
3. The Offer's conversion capping does not allow more visits. Check Offer settings.
4. The Campaign's conversion capping does not allow more visits. Check Campaign settings.
5. The Offer's scheduling rules do not allow visits. Check the Offer scheduling.
6. Error in the Offer URL. Please check for invisible and disallowed characters. Here is an example. Although it looks like your browser is stuck at Opticks, it's actually the Offer URL that is broken.
7. Error with the Offer itself. It appears that Opticks is the problem but actually the Offer URL is wrong. Please try opening the Offer URL directly.
8. You are trying to open an app promotion URL in Google Chrome. Chrome will not open the App Store or a specific App (an "intent") after a redirect. Try testing with Firefox.
9. And the least likely reason is: Opticks is broken. Please consider all of the possibilities above before arriving to this conclusion.

At what time do Daily Campaign and Offer Capping reset?

The resets take places at the beginning of the day, according to your account Timezone.

What is Suspicious Acquisition?

In practice, Suspicious Acquisition means that the visits came from an APK that is not in the Google Play Store. 

Why do I see more triggers than visits in the dashboard?

Each visit can contain multiple Incidences. For example, a visit might come from a proxy address which has also been flagged as an abusive IP.

How do I get an API key?

1. Log in to Opticks.
2. Open the account dropdown by clicking on your email in the top right corner of the Opticks Dashboard.
3. Click in the Developers section.
4. Enter a name for your API key and click Create Key.

How do I save common filters?

On your Opticks Back Office, you can save common filters as follows:

1. First apply the filters you apply regularly to your Dashboard or Analytics section.
2. Bookmark the page with a relevant name.
3. Each time you open the bookmark, Opticks will display your Dashboard or Analytics sections with the filters you applied in step 1.

Why do my conversions arrive late?

Opticks processes conversions as soon as it receives the notification, however your account is configured to display information according to the timezone in your settings, which can be different to the timezone of the publisher. It may then appear as if there is a large time difference between the time of the visit (click) and the time of the conversion. Changing your timezone to that of your publisher will illustrate this. You can change the timezone in the Settings section of your dashboard.

Can I blacklist an APK?

Yes, please do so from the APK blacklist option of the left menu. Opticks will block all visits from your APK blacklist irrespective of your filtering rules.

Can I blacklist a domain?

Yes, please do so from the Domain Blacklist option of the left menu.  Opticks will block all visits from your domain blacklist irrespective of your filtering rules.

Can I whitelist an IP?

Yes, please do so from the IP Whitelist option of the left menu. Opticks will always allow visits from IP addresses in this list regardless of campaign security settings or offer targeting settings.

What can I do with traffic that is out of my target?

We have released targeting rules (country, device type, etc.) which you can use to filter the traffic arriving to the landing page. If you would like to try to take advantage of this traffic, you can send it to a Discarded Traffic Fallback URL.

Which rule is executed first, security filtering or capping/targeting?

We execute the security filtering first. If the traffic does not pass the security filters, it is discarded or sent to the Blocked Traffic Fallback URL. Secondly, paused, capped or out-of-target traffic is discarded or sent to the Discarded Traffic Fallback URL.

Can you send me alerts?

Yes, we will be releasing this feature soon.

Should I block Opera and Google Data Saver?

Probably not. Although strictly speaking these two services fall under the Proxy category, they are not typically used to hide a user's identity or perform suspicious activities. Opticks gives you the option of blocking proxies but allowing Opera and Google Data Saver traffic.

Which integration method should I use?

We typically recommend the OpticksJS javascript integration because it requires fewer redirects, but you can only use this integration if you have control of the landing page. The OpticksJS integration requires developer resources to modify the landing page's HTML.

The  Opticks Firewall integration does not require developer resources or control of a landing page. An account manager can do the necessary work to configure Opticks and give a new tracking link to traffic sources.

Use the Opticks Bouncer integration when you don't want to/can't change the landing pages and you don't want to give new URLs to your partners. This option requires a developer to redirect traffic to Opticks for analysis, and only accept traffic which has been analyzed.

Do I need to send conversion postbacks through Opticks?

No, you don't. However, we do recommend it for two reasons: a) you get further useful analysis from Opticks when we have conversion data, and b) you get better fraud protection when Opticks is responsible for delivering conversion postbacks to your traffic sources as it prevents some types of postback fraud.

Do you have an API?

Yes, please contact our team at support@optickssecurity.com for more information.

Where can I find my invoices?

Please log into https://billing.optickssecurity.com using your Opticks credentials.

Can I work with my publishers in a revenue share model?

Yes, you can send multiple event postbacks to your publishers. See the Post Conversion Events section of the documentation.

Why can't I open my Offer?

When testing campaign tracking links, it is possible your own security settings are blocking your visit, common instances are trying to test campaigns while using a desktop computer, or a proxy. This issue can be fixed by whitelisting your IP, allowing you through Opticks without being blocked. 

What are some of Opticks best practices?

Secure the Opticks conversion postback

In order to avoid postback fraud, you should whitelist the IPs that send Opticks conversion postbacks. Or, use a postback password. These options are configured in the Postback Security section of your settings.

Whitelist the domains allowed to use the OpticksJS Javascript snippet

Prevent fraudsters from copying your Javascript snippet and using it in their own pages while charging the usage to your account. Do this in the JavaScript Settings area of Settings section.

Confirm that a visit has been analyzed by Opticks

Fraudsters are clever; they will try to reach your landing pages while avoiding Opticks. They do this by skipping Opticks completely when you are integrated via the redirect. When using the Javascript snippet, fraudsters program their malware apps to block the Opticks servers.

In order to protect yourselves against these scenarios, you must ensure that the visit you are receiving has in fact been analyzed by Opticks. You can do that by using the Server lookup as an extra layer of protection.

Use Opticks to send your publishers the conversion postback

Opticks can notify publishers when a conversion has been made by configuring the conversion postback URL in the traffic source editing page.