By default, Polar Analytics provides you with marketing spend data from the tools natively connected to our platform (Facebook Ads, Google Ads, TikTok Ads, etc). However, we understand that your marketing strategy extends beyond these out of the box channels. If you'd like to comprehensively track marketing performance, spend, and attribution metrics for all marketing channels (including influencer and affiliate channels, or any other offline channels) and to attribute your revenue metrics to all marketing channels, you can import marketing spend for any channels that aren't natively connected to Polar Analytics using our Google Sheet integration. By leveraging this integration in combination with the Polar Pixel attribution tool, you'll be able to track both spend and accurate attribution of your orders and revenue data for each of your channels and campaigns.
Note: In order to use this method, you'll need to ensure that your influencers / affiliates use links that contain UTM parameters. For example, for influencers, the UTM link should contain the following parameters:
utm_source=youtube
utm_medium=influencer
utm_campaign=johndoe
How-To: Import Influencer and Affiliate Data to Polar
Step 1. Import data using the Google Sheets template
The first step is to download your influencer or affiliates' spend data, and to populate the data in this Google Sheet template.
Make a copy of this template.
Download your raw data from the influencer or affiliate tracking platforms. You'll want to ensure the raw data report includes the influencer / affiliate name, cost, and the redirect URL containing the UTM parameters for each. See above for guidance on how to configure your UTM parameters.
Navigate to the "raw_spend" tab here, and remove the example data (but keep the title row). From there, paste your actual raw data into the tab using the same column formatting as you see below:
Navigate to the "spend_report" tab here. Important: This tab contains reference formulas to automatically populate the data for channel, campaign, and spend from your raw data tab. Simply add in your correct store name for the whole column, and if you'd like, you can also import device, conversions, and conversion value data, which is optional (remember that the Polar pixel will track order sources and allow you to attribute revenue directly in the Polar app). If the data doesn't automatically populate once you've imported it to the "raw_spend" tab, contact our Support Team.
Once the above is complete, connect your Google Sheet to Polar via the Connectors tab using these steps. The Ad Spend from the Google Sheet will be automatically summed into the blended Ad Spend metric from Polar once you connect this template to Polar.
Step 2. Create your Attribution Report
Once your Influencer and Affiliate data from the Google Sheet has loaded into Polar (which can take up to 24 hours for the initial sync), you'll need to ensure that you've installed the Polar Pixel attribution tool and configured your UTM parameters according to our setup guide. If you'd like to check if the Polar Pixel add-on is included in your plan, contact your Customer Success Manager.
From there, you can create an attribution report with all of the data for your paid channels as well as the influencer and affiliate channels. See an example below. In this report, the Ad Spend is coming from both ad platforms connected to Polar (see the "Google Ads" and "Facebook Ads" channels, the Google Sheet data (see the "Youtube" channels, or any additional channels you've imported via G Sheets), and the conversion data from the Polar Pixel.
Note: Any data coming from a paid channel will read with "Ads" after it (Google Ads, Facebook Ads, TikTok Ads, etc). Any data coming from your Google Sheet will match exactly with what you have added to your Google Sheet under channel, and will not have the platform's logo. To make this easier to read, we'll create a custom channel grouping as our final step.
Step 3. Create a Custom Channel Grouping with Custom Dimensions
In order to simplify and internally clarify how the marketing channels are grouped now that you have all of your ad platform and affiliate data in Polar, you'll need to create a Custom Channel Grouping using a Custom Dimension. This article details that process end to end.
For example, if you'd like to group together all Influencer / Affiliate data into one cohesive channel, you could use the following When Block setup where you name each of the channels (ensuring to select the channels without "Ads" at the end) as additional "Or" statements.
From there, you can use your Custom Channel Grouping breakdown by selecting it from the Breakdowns list in Custom Reports to see the adjusted data segments.
With these simple steps, you're well on your way to transforming your data into actionable insights. Importing influencer and affiliate data through our Google Sheets integration is your ticket to understanding the full spectrum of your marketing efforts.
If you have any questions regarding this process, our support team is here to assist you every step of the way. Feel free to reach out to your Customer Success Manager (or via the in-app live chat) for additional assistance.