How to set up the Trade Desk Conversions API?
As privacy regulations evolve and traditional tracking methods become unreliable, marketers struggle to accurately measure conversions and confidently attribute ad performance. The Trade Desk's Conversions API solves this challenge by enabling server-side delivery of conversion data directly to The Trade Desk, giving you complete ownership over your data pipeline and significantly improving event deliverability. In this guide, we'll show you how to set up The Trade Desk Conversions API so you can send conversions directly to The Trade Desk, optimize your campaigns, and increase your return on ad spend.
How to set up Trade Desk conversion API?
1. Connect to your data source
Start by creating a Hightouch account. Once you're logged in:
- Navigate to the Integrations, then Sources.
- Select the data source that contains your event and customer data. This could be a data warehouse like Snowflake, BigQuery, Redshift, or a database like Postgres or MySQL.
- Enter your configuration details, such as credentials and hostnames, to authenticate your data source.
Hightouch will validate your connection and give you access to the schema for building your data model.
2. Define your data model
Next, define the event data you want to send to Trade Desk. You can do this in three ways:
- SQL Editor: Write custom SQL to join and transform data for precise control.
- Table Selector: Choose pre-built tables and columns directly without needing SQL.
- Visual Audience Builder: Use a no-code interface to filter and segment your data based on behavior, properties, or timestamps.
This data model is the source of truth for what gets sent to Trade Desk. Typical fields include user identifiers (email, phone), event names (purchase, signup), and metadata (value, currency, timestamp).
3. Create a Trade Desk conversion destination
Now it’s time to connect Hightouch to Trade Desk:
- Go to the Integrations, then Destinations.
- Click Add Destination and select Trade Desk.
- Enter your Trade Desk credentials.
4. Send conversions to Trade Desk
Finally, you’ll configure your sync:
- Got to Activation, then Syncs.
- Click Add sync.
- Choose the model you created and your Trade Desk destination.
- Map the data fields in your model to Trade Desk expected parameters
- Run your sync.
What is the Trade Desk conversion API?
The Trade Desk Conversions API is an alternative to traditional web pixels and JavaScript tags and a more accurate way to send conversion data back to The Trade Desk. This direct, server-side approach allows you to leverage your 1st-party data and control exactly what user-completed events and associated values you send to The Trade Desk so you can optimize your campaigns toward the outcomes that matter most to your business and avoid the deliverability issues caused by adblockers and browser restrictions.
Benefits of using Trade Desk conversion API
The Trade Desk Conversions API offers advertisers a more resilient and precise way to send event data to The Trade Desk, enabling better campaign performance and measurement. Unlike browser-based tracking (e.g., traditional pixels), the Conversions API operates server-side,
- Lower your Cost Per Result (CPR) by up to 13%: The Conversions API helps improve ad delivery optimization by reducing signal loss and giving The Trade Desk a more complete view of user behavior. It enables more accurate event matching and supplies better training signals to The Trade Desk's algorithm, resulting in smarter bidding and targeting. Altogether, this leads to lower CPRs and allows your budget to go further.
- Increase attributed purchase events by up to 19%: When tracking breaks due to ad blockers, iOS restrictions, or cookie limitations, The Trade Desk may undercount conversions. The Conversions API solves this by sending events directly from your server, making them less likely to be blocked. You can also use deduplication to send both browser and server-side events. This ensures more conversions are accurately attributed to your campaigns and improves The Trade Desk's optimization engine.
- Boost your Return on Ad Spend (ROAS): More complete and reliable conversion data enables The Trade Desk to make better optimization decisions. This translates into sharper audience targeting and more efficient budget allocation toward high-performing segments and placements. As a result, your campaigns deliver stronger performance, especially when optimizing for key actions like purchases, signups, or leads.
- Unlock better measurement and attribution: With server-side tracking, you gain more control over what data you send to The Trade Desk and how it is structured. You can include offline events like in-store purchases or phone sales, enrich conversion events with custom fields such as customer lifetime value (LTV), product SKU, or funnel stage, and apply deduplication logic to avoid counting the same event twice. This flexibility improves your analytics and helps align The Trade Desk optimization with real business outcomes.
- Future-proof campaigns against privacy changes: As browser vendors and operating systems roll out stricter privacy features like third-party cookie blocking and App Tracking Transparency, traditional pixel-based tracking becomes less reliable. The Conversions API lets you maintain robust conversion tracking using first-party data delivered from your server, which is more resilient to these restrictions. That means you can continue measuring and optimizing campaigns even in a privacy-first digital landscape.
What's the difference between a pixel & the Trade Desk conversions API?
A traditional pixel runs on the user's browser or web application and sends conversion events back to The Trade Desk automatically. Unlike a traditional pixel, The Trade Desk Conversions API allows you to send conversion data directly from your server to The Trade Desk. Pixels are easy to implement but less reliable; conversion APIs are slightly harder to implement but much more reliable because they give you full control over the conversion signals you send back to The Trade Desk.
Here's a quick table highlighting the difference between a traditional web pixel and The Trade Desk Conversions API:
| Feature | Traditional Pixel | The Trade Desk Conversions API |
|---|---|---|
| Tracking Method | Track events using web script or mobile SDK | Track and store events in your data warehouse or another internal system (e.g., CRM or CDP) |
| Delivery Method | Events sent client-side via web script or mobile SDK | Events sent server-side via API from your server to The Trade Desk |
| Reliability | Frequently blocked by ad blockers, cookie restrictions, & network interruptions | No interference from ad blockers, browsers, or operating systems |
| Supported Properties | Typically only supports website conversions | Supports both online & offline conversions |
| Privacy & Compliance | Limited control over what data you share with The Trade Desk | Maintain complete control over exactly what data you share with The Trade Desk to manage opt-out compliance |
| Benefits | Easy to implement | Better spend efficacy, more accurate attribution, & better consent management |
Why are companies switching to conversion APIs?
Ad blockers, browser restrictions, and operating system policies, such as Intelligent Tracking Prevention (ITP) and App Tracking Transparency (ATT) from Apple, are making client-side tracking through traditional pixels increasingly unreliable. To combat this, nearly every major ad network is introducing new conversion APIs to support server-side events so advertisers can more reliably send their data to The Trade Desk to optimize their campaigns.
- Offline conversion tracking: Track and upload offline conversions not captured through client-side tracking, such as in-store purchases (for B2C) or sales stage changes in a CRM (for B2B). This is especially valuable for retailers with physical locations and B2B companies that track sales progression outside the website, enabling you to connect online advertising to offline business outcomes.
- Advanced matching: Increase your event-match quality by enriching conversion events with first-party customer attributes and additional third-party identifiers. Improve The Trade Desk's ability to match conversion events to users by including data like email, phone number, and zip code, as well as system identifiers like IP address or user-agent. This boosts your match rates and ensures more conversions are correctly attributed to your programmatic campaigns.
- Value-based bidding: Send conversion values to The Trade Desk to unlock value-based bidding so the algorithm can bid more on high-value conversions and less on low-value ones. By including monetary values tied to each conversion, The Trade Desk can optimize for quantity and value, improving your return on ad spend by bidding more aggressively for high-value actions across the open internet.
Trade Desk conversion API use cases
With The Trade Desk Conversions API, you can tailor your setup and bidding strategy to align with your business objectives. Whether you're focused on driving more conversions, increasing revenue, or maximizing profit, The Trade Desk Conversions API gives you the flexibility to send the data The Trade Desk needs to optimize campaigns accordingly across the programmatic ecosystem.
Optimize for conversion volume
To optimize for conversion volume, configure your setup to send conversion events without attaching revenue or monetary values. These events represent actions like purchases, signups, or applications, which aim to increase quantity. Use The Trade Desk's volume-based bidding strategies to drive the highest conversions at the lowest cost per action across premium inventory.
| Industry | Optimization Goal |
|---|---|
| Retail & E-commerce | Maximize the volume of purchase events on the website, in-app, and in-store |
| Media & Entertainment | Maximize the volume of subscription sign-ups |
| Financial Services | Maximize the volume of loan applications submitted |
| B2B SaaS | Maximize the volume of demo requests or product signups |
| Travel | Maximize the number of flights or rooms booked |
| Healthcare | Maximize the volume of health service signups |
| Education | Maximize the volume of enrollments for a course or event |
Optimize for conversion value
To optimize for conversion value, send the gross revenue associated with each conversion event, such as the order or subscription amount. The Trade Desk's value-based optimization will then aim to increase total revenue from your programmatic campaigns rather than just the number of actions.
| Industry | Optimization Goal |
|---|---|
| Retail & E-commerce | Maximize the gross revenue value of each purchase |
| Media & Entertainment | Maximize the gross revenue from the first subscription payment (e.g., bid more for premium subscription signups) |
| Financial Services | Maximize the potential value of loan applications submitted (e.g., bid more on users with a higher likelihood of applying for large loan value) |
| B2B SaaS | Maximize the volume of qualified demo requests or product signups |
| Travel | Maximize the gross revenue value of flights or rooms booked |
| Healthcare | Maximize the gross revenue value of health service signups |
| Education | Maximize the gross revenue value of enrollments for a course or event signup (e.g., bid more for premium courses or packages to increase LTV) |
Optimize for financial outcome
Calculate and send the predicted financial value of each conversion to optimize for financial outcomes like profit or customer lifetime value. This could be estimated profit margins, post-cost revenue, or LTV. Then use The Trade Desk's advanced optimization algorithms to align programmatic ad spend with real business performance across the open internet.
| Industry | Optimization Goal |
|---|---|
| Retail & E-commerce | Maximize the estimated profit of purchases by subtracting the estimated cost of goods sold, taxes, and fees (e.g., shipping) |
| Media & Entertainment | Maximize the estimated lifetime value of subscription purchases (e.g., bid more to convert users with a higher likelihood of retaining) |
| Financial Services | Maximize the predicted value of loan applications submitted (e.g., bid based on likelihood of loan approval and estimated interest value) |
| B2B SaaS | Maximize the predicted revenue value of demo requests or product signups (e.g., bid using intent data, lead scoring, and predicted ACV) |
| Travel | Maximize the estimated profit from flights or rooms booked by subtracting the cost of goods sold, taxes, and fees |
| Healthcare | Maximize the gross profit value or estimated lifetime value of health service signups |
| Education | Maximize the gross profit value or estimated lifetime value (if recurring) of a course or event signup (e.g., bid based on estimated profit margins from offering or likelihood to retain subscriber) |
What events does the Trade Desk conversions API support?
The Trade Desk supports two types of events: standard events and custom events.
Standard events are predefined actions that The Trade Desk provides by default for basic use cases across industries.
Custom events are not predefined by The Trade Desk but can be configured to track user-completed events that are not covered underneath the standard events. Not every ad platform will support the same events or have the same naming convention. Additionally, it's always best to map your events back to standard events because the AI algorithms are trained on standard events and not custom ones.
Here's a table breakdown of the most common standard events and custom events that The Trade Desk supports:
| Category | Event Type | Goal |
|---|---|---|
| Purchase Events | Purchase, Complete Registration, Donate, Place an Order | Track & optimize toward purchases |
| Checkout Flow Events | Add to Cart, Initiate Checkout, Add Payment Info | Track and optimize toward steps that lead to purchases |
| Engagement Events | Customize Product, Add to Wishlist, View Content, Search, Find Location, Click Button | Track and optimize engagement with key actions on your site or in your app |
| Lead Capture Events | Subscribe, Submit Application, Start Trial, Contact Captured, Lead Captured, Scheduled, Download, Submit Form | Track and optimize toward lead capture |
| Custom Events | Business- or industry-specific actions (e.g., Event Attended, Video Watched) | Track and optimize toward custom conversion events |
FAQS
Where can I access The Trade Desk conversions API?
You can read more about The Trade Desk Conversions API in The Trade Desk's documentation. Depending on your use case and implementation, you may need to reach out to The Trade Desk directly.
How do I check if The Trade Desk conversions API is working?
Check for successful API responses and verify that The Trade Desk has successfully received your events. Then, run a campaign to see if your ads are being attributed to conversions. (Note: If you don't see any attributed conversions, there's a chance that the ad just isn't converting.)
What match rate should I expect from The Trade Desk conversion API?
Your match rates can vary widely depending on the quality and coverage of unmatchable attributes that you collect and/or enrich for each event and send to The Trade Desk. Sending additional identifiers like system attributes (e.g., IP address and user-agent), customer attributes (e.g., email and phone), and pseudonymous attributes (e.g., Click ID and Mobile Ad ID) can improve your match rates.
How often should I upload conversions?
Every ad platform has different recommendations, but the best practice is to upload your conversion events to The Trade Desk daily to ensure you're providing the targeting algorithms with immediate feedback.
What data should I include when uploading conversion events?
Each conversion event you send should include consented attributes about your users to achieve the highest match rates and accuracy for maximum campaign effectiveness, attribution, and measurement. Here's a quick list of the most important data to upload with your conversion events:
- System Event Parameters: Required attributes that tell the system what happened (e.g., event name and ID) and when it happened (e.g., event date and time).
- Consent Parameters: Attributes that tell The Trade Desk how to use the data and how the data should be processed to comply with regional requirements and customer data-sharing preferences.
- Customer Information Parameters: Additional customer attributes used to help the system match a conversion event back to their users and devices (e.g., email, phone, mobile ad IDs, and click IDs).
- Conversion Value Parameters: Monetary values (e.g., revenue, profit, LTV, etc.) assigned to conversion events that help The Trade Desk bid more on high-value conversions and less on low-value ones.
How long does it take your conversion data to be available in The Trade Desk?
The Trade Desk Conversions API will receive data instantly, but it may take at least 24 hours to process it and make it available in campaign performance reports.
Does The Trade Desk conversion API have rate limits?
Rate limits always vary by ad platform, so you'll need to look through The Trade Desk's documentation to understand the platform's intricacies.
