What is the difference between campaigns and payloads?

by Ralitsa Petkova

Last updated: 03-Jun-2026

Campaigns and payloads are both used to help affiliates track and analyse their traffic, but they serve different purposes.

Campaigns
A campaign is a numeric identifier added to a tracking URL that allows affiliates to categorise and report on different traffic sources.

Affiliates can assign their own meaning to campaign numbers, such as:

• Campaign 1 = Email traffic
• Campaign 2 = Website traffic
• Campaign 3 = Social media traffic

For example:
http://record.myprogram.com/_sdjhsfjshdfjsdhfjsdsjd/1/
http://record.myprogram.com/_sdjhsfjshdfjsdhfjsdsjd/2/
…             
http://record.myprogram.com/_sdjhsfjshdfjsdhfjsdsjd/999/

Reports in the affiliate front end can be filtered or broken down by campaign, allowing affiliates to compare the performance of different traffic sources.

Payloads
A payload is a dynamic value passed through a tracking URL alongside a campaign.

Payloads allow affiliates to record additional information about a click, such as:

• Search keywords
• Advertising identifiers
• External tracking IDs
• Custom reference values

When a customer registers, the original payload value can be viewed and reported on within the system.
Note: If a click is recorded without a payload value, the payload field will appear as blank or unknown in reports.

Key Difference

• Campaigns are used to categorise and report on groups of traffic.
• Payloads are used to store additional information about individual clicks or visitors.
• A single campaign can be associated with many different payload values.