Digital ad spending is set to grow to $389 billion in 2021 luring fraudsters worldwide to this fresh mobile fraud breeding ground. In fact, it is estimated that $100 billion could be stolen by fraudsters through ad fraud by 2023. Digital merchants that advertise on publisher websites need to clean out their traffic sources from fraud if they want to have a clear view of what they are dealing with and where to invest their precious resources.
We spoke to Chief Customer Officer at Evina Farid Taha, to find out more about Evina’s new cybersecurity feature TrafficScreener, the new generation of anti-fraud solutions for smarter business growth.
TrafficScreener leverages the same cutting-edge technology that powers DCBprotect, Evina’s core anti-fraud solution, to detect bots as soon as they arrive on a merchant’s webpage.
How does this new product enhance Evina’s existing anti-fraud solutions?
Evina’s DCBprotect anti-fraud solution blocks fraudulent purchase attempts in real time. By blocking these attempts, the solution strongly benefits brands that have chosen a Cost per Acquisition (CPA) pricing model – meaning that they pay for every user that buys their product or subscribes to their service through the advertisement. When fraudulent attempts are blocked, the fraudulent advertiser doesn’t receive the commission for the successful purchase/subscription.
TrafficScreener allows us to check in real-time if the visits to the merchant’s page are genuine or fraudulent. Customers that use a Cost per Click (CPC) pricing model are now also spared from fraud. The CPC pricing model pays the publisher and the merchant for every click generated on the merchant’s ad. For fraudsters, this would mean that they would simply have to generate a click and a visit on the merchant’s page to earn a commission. TrafficScreener waits for the user to click on the ad, and as the merchant’s page is loading, Evina detects if the visit is fraudulent or not.
TrafficScreener specifically targets click fraud, operated by malicious bots that are programmed to impersonate humans and carry out ad clicks. This new extension is in line with our mission to protect the entire mobile ecosystem, by staying one step ahead of fraudsters.
How can merchants better master traffic monetization with TrafficScreener?
When dealing with a CPC pricing model, merchants’ desire is to know what type of click (fraudulent or authentic) each ad click is that leads to their webpage. This has long been their blind spot when dealing with ad traffic, which is why Evina created a tool that gives visibility on all visits following these ad clicks.
With access to the real traffic overview, merchants can know the true value of their conversion rates, their CPA and their cost-effectiveness. They can select better-performing traffic sources and cut off the fraudulent ones to protect their ad investments.
TrafficScreener doesn’t block fraudulent visits. The anti-fraud solution identifies and records them so as to give the possibility to merchants to ask for reimbursement to the publishers or their ad networks. With proof of the fraudulent visit, merchants can confidently ask for cleaner traffic.
In addition, by gaining access to the true click-through rates, some merchants will discover that their real issue is the fraud on their traffic and not their faulty marketing. This allows for a smart refocusing of strategy on the real issues.
Few anti-fraud solutions incorporate data analytics to fight fraud, yet without access to precious data, merchants can’t make better media buying decisions. I can’t stress enough that in a world where traffic monetization is critical, a player with better and more accurate data can leverage that information to increase their revenue. When you really know what your acquisition cost is, a whole new realm of possibilities opens up.
How does Evina have visibility on the types of clicks?
While the merchant’s page loads following the ad click, Evina’s technology collects the metrics of the click and assesses if we are dealing with an authentic click or a fraudulent one. If the click is fraudulent, we delve deeper into the type of fraudulent attempt (ex. a classic bot, spoofing, clickjacking, etc.) by comparing the fraudulent signatures. All of this is done quicker than the blink of an eye. This gives merchants an overview of the visits that their page collects and the different traffic sources. It’s up to the merchant to decide to block specific traffic sources once he has access to the data analytics.
How does it benefit the entire mobile ecosystem?
All fraudulent visit attempts on the merchant’s page can be reported to publishers and advertising partners, who consequently block the fraudulent traffic sources and make way for cleaner mobile traffic, starting from the ad network level. Clean traffic leads to faster decision making, as fraudulent ad placements are excluded and your media buying process is optimized.
The extension allows partners to evaluate the performance of their sources (bots, banners advertisements, etc.), to act more quickly in the event of fraud, and raises awareness on the sources that need to be monitored.
Contact us at evina.com/contact-us/ to learn more about how TrafficScreener can benefit your advertising paying model and experience sustainable growth with healthy traffic.
Sources:
https://www.statista.com/statistics/237974/online-advertising-spending-worldwide/
https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2020/09/02/A-marketers-checklist-on-mitigating-ad-fraud