This article will cover the following:
When to Use Bulk Conversion Upload
Bulk conversion upload lets you import or adjust large numbers of conversions at once without using the API or editing individual records. The most common use cases are:
| Use Case | Description |
|---|---|
| Offline conversion import | You collected conversions outside of CAKE (e.g. in-store purchases, phone orders) and need to import them with the correct affiliate attribution. |
| Reconciliation adjustment | An advertiser has disputed or reversed a batch of conversions. You need to update the status of many records at once. |
| Missed postback recovery | Postback failures caused a window of missing conversions. You have the original click IDs and need to recreate the records. |
| Bulk status update | You want to approve, reject, or reverse a large group of conversions that are currently in Pending status. |
| Payout correction | An error in payout configuration means many conversions were recorded with the wrong payout amount. |
Bulk uploads are permanent write operations. Always validate your CSV on a small test batch before uploading your full file. Reversed or incorrectly created conversions require manual correction or API intervention to fix.
CSV File Format and Required Fields
CAKE accepts bulk conversion data as a .csv file (comma-separated values). The file must have a header row with the exact column names shown below. Column order does not matter, but column names must match exactly.
| Column Name | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| click_id | Yes | The unique click ID generated when the user clicked the affiliate tracking link. This is the primary key that links the conversion back to the right affiliate and campaign. |
| offer_id | Yes | The numeric CAKE offer ID associated with this conversion. |
| conversion_date | Yes | Date and time of the conversion in ISO 8601 format: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS |
| payout | No | Affiliate payout amount for this conversion. Overrides the offer default if provided. |
| revenue | No | Advertiser revenue for this conversion. Overrides the offer default if provided. |
| unique_id | No | Your system's unique transaction reference. Prevents duplicate conversion creation if the same file is uploaded twice. |
| order_id | No | Order or lead ID from the advertiser's system. Useful for cross-referencing. |
| status | No | Conversion status: approved, pending, or rejected. Defaults to approved if omitted. |
| adv1 | No | Custom sub ID field 1. |
| adv2 | No | Custom sub ID field 2. |
| adv3 | No | Custom sub ID field 3. |
| adv4 | No | Custom sub ID field 4. |
| adv5 | No | Custom sub ID field 5. |
Sample CSV
click_id,offer_id,conversion_date,payout,revenue,unique_id,order_id,status
abc123xyz,12345,2024-06-01 09:22:00,5.00,12.00,TXN-001,ORD-8801,approved
def456uvw,12345,2024-06-01 10:05:00,5.00,12.00,TXN-002,ORD-8802,approved
ghi789rst,12345,2024-06-01 10:47:00,5.00,12.00,TXN-003,ORD-8803,pendingDo not include a BOM (byte order mark) at the start of your CSV file. Some Excel exports include a BOM automatically — use a plain text editor or export tool that produces standard UTF-8 without BOM. BOM characters cause the header row to fail validation.
How to Upload a Conversion File
unique_id column, CAKE will use that for deduplication automatically.Keep your import files under 5,000 rows per upload. Larger files take longer to process and are harder to troubleshoot if something goes wrong. Split large datasets into multiple smaller files and upload sequentially.
Mass Conversion Adjustments
In addition to importing new conversions, CAKE's bulk tools let you update the status or payout of existing conversion records in bulk. This is most commonly used for:
- Approving a batch of Pending conversions after an advertiser review period.
- Rejecting a batch of conversions flagged as fraudulent or non-compliant.
- Reversing approved conversions after a return or chargeback window.
Steps for Mass Status Update
Mass status updates that change conversions from Approved to Rejected or Reversed will reduce affiliate payout totals and may affect invoices that have already been generated. Coordinate with your billing team before running large reversals.
Mass Payout Adjustment via API
For precise payout corrections at scale, use the CAKE API's update_conversion endpoint rather than the bulk UI. See API Access & System Settings in CAKE to generate your API key, then call:
POST https://yourdomain.cakemarketing.com/api/2/update_conversion.json
{
"api_key": "YOUR_API_KEY",
"conversion_id": 4456789,
"payout": 7.50,
"status": "approved"
}Handling Upload Errors
| Error Message | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Invalid click_id | The click ID in the row does not match any recorded click in CAKE. | Verify the click ID is correct and has not been modified. If the original click occurred more than your data retention window allows, the record may no longer exist. |
| Offer not found | The offer_id does not match any offer in your CAKE account. | Double-check the offer ID. Use the Offers list to confirm the numeric ID, not the offer name. |
| Duplicate conversion | A conversion with this click_id or unique_id has already been recorded. | If the duplicate is intentional, remove the unique_id from the row to bypass deduplication. If it is not intentional, remove the row from your file. |
| Invalid date format | The conversion_date is not in YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS format. | Reformat the date column. Common causes: Excel auto-formatting dates as MM/DD/YYYY or omitting the time component. |
| Session expired | The conversion date is outside the offer's session window relative to the click. | Increase the offer's session hours setting before re-uploading, or contact your account manager if the session window adjustment is not possible. |
| Invalid status value | The status column contains a value other than approved, pending, or rejected. | Correct the value. Common mistake: using Approved (capital A) instead of approved (lowercase). |
FAQ
No. A click ID is required for every conversion record — it is the key that CAKE uses to attribute the conversion to the correct affiliate and campaign. If you have offline conversions without click IDs, you will need to first create click records via the API or work with your account manager to configure a clickless postback tracking setup.
If your rows include a unique_id column, CAKE will skip any rows whose unique_id already exists in the system — preventing duplicate records. If no unique_id is provided, CAKE may create duplicate conversions. Always include a unique_id column in your import files.
Payout amounts on paid conversions cannot be changed through the standard UI. For corrections to already-paid conversions, contact your CAKE account manager. Corrections of this nature typically require a manual billing adjustment.
CAKE does not publish a hard row limit, but best practice is to keep files under 5,000 rows. Files above this size may time out during processing. For very large datasets, use the CAKE API's batch conversion endpoints instead.
Check Admin → Conversions → Import History (or the equivalent in your CAKE version). Each upload job shows its status, start time, rows processed, and error count.
If you have any questions, please reach out to your dedicated CAKE Client Success Manager/Account Manager or contact the CAKE Support Team at support@getCAKE.com.