Cint Exchange Match implementation guide

V 2.1

Please note: This article has been updated to reflect our latest pricing model, replacing cost per interview (CPI) with revenue per interview (RPI) metrics. We will be working closely with our Supply Partners to transition them to the RPI model. If you have not yet migrated to RPI and require access to documentation containing CPI details, please contact your Account Team, who can provide the relevant materials.

Introduction to the Cint Exchange

The Cint Exchange (formerly known as Marketplace) offers a wealth of survey opportunities for sample suppliers to monetize respondents. Our Cint Exchange Match solution, formerly known as 'Supply Link', handles the respondent-to-survey matching process, allowing you to monetize respondents quickly and efficiently.

How Cint Exchange Match Works

You will use a unique entry link to send respondents into the Cint Exchange. You can dynamically append parameters to these links to customize the respondent experience. When a respondent enters the Cint Exchange, our Match product uses the supplied parameters and any information stored on the respondent to match that respondent to the highest-performing survey available.

If a survey has qualifications that have not been passed in on the entry link, the Cint Exchange will display prescreener questions to qualify the respondent before sending them into the survey. Information collected from these questions will be stored and reused for 30 days.

When the respondent achieves a complete, they will be immediately returned on your Complete redirect link. Cint appends parameters to the Complete redirect link to communicate Complete details back to you. On average, respondents will find success by their third survey attempt. After an unsuccessful survey attempt, the respondent sees a prompt asking whether to continue the session or quit. If the respondent does not achieve a complete, they are returned on the Terminate redirect link at the end of the session.

How To Implement Cint Exchange Match

Getting Started

You should provide the Cint account team with the following:

• Supplier Name

• Supplier Redirects

  • Complete Redirect Base URL

  • Termination Redirect Base URL

Your account team will then provide your:

• Supplier Match SID to be included on all entry links

• SHA-1 Secret Key for hashing the entry link

What's Involved

In this article we'll explain the main development required to launch your Match integration with Cint, covering;

• Profiling your users

• Setting up your entry links and redirects

• Securing your platform 

• Testing your integration

• Meeting our soft and full launch requirements

Also, check out the best practice section for additional ways to optimize the integration.

Development

Profiling

We highly recommend profiling your respondents on the Critical Standard Qualifications and passing this demographic information in on the entry link to improve the ability for Cint Exchange to match a respondent to an appropriate survey.

Please see the Standard Qualification Tiers  download for a list of the critical qualifications used by buyers in each country-language, and the Standard Qualifications download for a full list of the QuestionIDs and precode values for each qualification and by country-language.

Important Details:

• For Standard Qualifications that have a question type of dummy e.g. STATE (Question ID 96), you are not required to profile, nor append these qualifications to the respondent's entry link URLs.

• For any multi-punch questions that you profile, you'll need to ensure each multi-punch option that applies to the respondent is appended as a separate parameter on the entry link. Example including question ID 639 (STANDARD_PETS): &639=1&639=3

Example Entry Link With Profiling Information

Demographic data provided: a 45-year-old female in US zip code 70130, with pet cat(s) and bird(s) present in their household

https://www.samplicio.us/s/default.aspx?sid=ac0da46e-ae93-474a-adb1-e19cd686623c&pid=TestUser001&clid=9&mid=testUserMID&maid=20018c3d-40e9-4f50-8693-45a31ef196d4&cint_email=b435e894ba365216b40b06eb7ad8270f4efd33067b5d087a1b685cc0aa4801bf&42=45&43=2&45=70130&639=1&639=3&hash=VCgA4nbH-13SF-y11kT67-677ZA

Cint Exchange Profiler

Within the Cint Exchange prescreener is a profiler, designed to ask a series of standard qualification questions to help collect demographic data on a respondent.  This data is then used to match your respondents to appropriate survey opportunities, improving the integration performance and respondent experience.

Within a survey session, a respondent can be asked up to 3 profiler questions ahead of any survey qualifications, if both of the following statements are true:

• The respondent enters on an entry link that does not contain parameters passing the responses to all profiler questions.

• Cint does not have a response for the profiler questions stored for the respondent.

If you would like your respondents to bypass the Profiler questions, you should append the profiler questions to all entry links.  As a reminder, the character limit for entry links is 1999.  

For any profiler questions you do not profile, you can configure your redirects to have this data returned.

Profiling Methods

Profiling questions embedded into the user registration process.

This can be an effective way to ensure your system is collecting critical information about your users prior to offering them survey opportunities. If your registration process is already extensive, we recommend that you try to limit the number of qualification questions asked during the registration process to the critical qualifications per country. The goal of this method is to collect the most relevant information without exhausting the user during the registration process.

Create a profiler survey that every new user must complete.

This is the most fundamental way to profile your users. Create a survey that contains the critical qualifications  for the country-language pairing of surveys that your users will be taking. Ensure that every new user or any user that has not previously completed it, completes the profiler survey. One way to improve the respondent experience of this process is to offer a small incentive for completing the survey. We have found this method to be effective as there are two primary benefits. One, it creates a positive first experience for the user, especially if they are new to survey taking. Two, it allows you to perform a preliminary assessment of the quality of the user. 

Utilize redirects to collect and store profiling data.

We recommend that you set up your redirects to include as many profiling data points as possible, without exceeding the URL character limit of 2,999. During any given user’s session, they may encounter one or more pre-screener questions. Cint stores the responses to these questions in our system for up to 30 days or if the user clears their cookie. This data can be passed back to your application on the redirects that your users encounter after finishing a session. This can be an alternative way to collect profiling data on your users over time. This should only be used as a temporary alternative to creating your own native profiling experience.

Entry Links

Each respondent’s session begins with an entry link unique to that respondent. Entry links may not be shared among multiple respondents.  Cookie information is used to ensure that respondents cannot attempt a survey more than once. This decreases the chance that respondents can complete surveys using multiple accounts, including accounts with different suppliers.

Entry links are generated by the supplier using the following elements:

• Base URL

• Required Parameters

• Optional Parameters

Please ensure the following:

• Please keep the entry link character limit under 1999. If exceeded the session will result in an error and the respondent will not be returned to your platform.

• Parameter names should be lower case.​ Following the base URL, the available parameters can be applied to the URL string in any given order, but the hash signature must be appended to the end of the URL string.

• Do not share entry links among multiple respondents.  Each link is tied to a specific individual, and cookie data is used to prevent duplicate survey attempts. This helps minimize the risk of respondents completing the survey multiple times, including through different suppliers.

• Respondents should be informed not to open multiple sessions concurrently. If they try to open more than one session within the same browser, our system may prompt them to close all but one before proceeding. You can find more information on this in the respondent experience article.

Base URL

All Match entry links begin with: https://www.samplicio.us/s/default.aspx

Parameters to include

The below table outlines the required and optional parameters to be included on the entry link.  Some of the optional parameters allow suppliers to limit survey length and set a minimum revenue per interview (rev) for surveys available to their respondents. By setting limits using the max LOI variable or the minimum rev variable, the integration will eliminate survey opportunities that fall outside the specified limits. Suppliers should use caution when setting these variables, as they limit the number of opportunities available for respondents.

 
Example Entry Link With Required Parameters
https://www.samplicio.us/s/default.aspx?sid=ac0da46e-ae93-474a-adb1-e19cd686623c&pid=TestUser001&mid=testUserMID&clid=9&maid=20018c3d-40e9-4f50-8693-45a31ef196d4&cint_email=b435e894ba365216b40b06eb7ad8270f4efd33067b5d087a1b685cc0aa4801bf&hash=VCgA4nbH-13SF-y11kT67-677ZA

Example Entry Link With Required and Optional Parameters
https://www.samplicio.us/s/default.aspx?sid=ac0da46e-ae93-474a-adb1-e19cd686623c&pid=TestUser001&clid=9&maid=20018c3d-40e9-4f50-8693-45a31ef196d4&cint_email=b435e894ba365216b40b06eb7ad8270f4efd33067b5d087a1b685cc0aa4801bf&42=45&43=2&45=70130&mid=testUserMID&loi=15&rev=0.50&hash=5zpxlhmiHB0UhFFuLTiO0-h9Jmc

Supplier Redirects

Respondents will be returned to the supplier on one of the following redirects based on the end outcome of their session. 

• Complete: A complete successfully ends a session. The respondent will be redirected back on the complete redirect link immediately after completing a survey opportunity

• Termination: If a respondent is disqualified from a survey, the Cint Exchange prompts the respondent with a choice to continue the session or quit. If the respondent chooses to quit, the session ends immediately and the respondent is returned on the Termination redirect link. If the respondent does not qualify for any surveys based on the entry link parameters, the respondent will be returned on the Termination redirect link.

If the respondent abandons the session, Cint is unable to return the respondent and no redirect happens. 

Redirect Requirements

• The redirect protocol must be https://

• In addition to redirecting parameters automatically appended by Cint, a Partner can specify variables to be included as part of the URL path or query string. Variables specified by the Partner supplier variable(s) must be static and not dynamic. 

The below table outlines the variables appended to suppliers redirect. It is necessary for you to parse the information returned on redirects to measure the success of your users’ outcomes.

Redirect Variables

Demographic Parameters

Demographic data stored for a respondent is returned on both the Complete and Terminate redirects. Demographic information is returned using the Cint QuestionID and precode values. The Cint Standard Question Library varies by Country-Language. QuestionIDs return values only if a data point has been collected within the last 30 days. Only QuestionIDs included in the Standard Question Library for the Country-Language applicable to a respondent will return a value. Upon account set-up, Cint will by default append the ten most commonly used demographic questions for each country-language supported by the supplier.
 
Multi-punch question responses will be returned within a single parameter. A "1" in the string represents a selected option, while a "0" represents an unselected option. The placement of the numbers in the string corresponds to the order in which the precodes are listed in the standard qualifications document.

For more information on demographic parameters, please consult your Cint account team. 

Complete Redirect Example
The following link would be used to return a 53-year-old female respondent in zip code 70130 who has cat(s) and fish pets, completed survey #1234567 with 10-minute LOI for 1.50 USD.
 
https://www.suppliername.com/success?pid=xyz&sur=1234567&l=10&rpi=1.50&mid=abc&42=53&43=2&45=70130&639=10010000000&hash=RiNPoR2Bu4ZqhGXQrcK6IL2BcRElctks

Termination Redirect Example
The following link would be used to return a 19-year-old male student respondent who was terminated due to failing a quality check.
 
https://www.suppliername.com/failure?pid=xyz&mid=abc&42=19&43=1&2189=10&hash=AkcqWn69FGzQQNL750FAC8ZAiLs0

Security

You are responsible for ensuring respondent quality prior to sending them into Cint. We require our suppliers to have a certain level of security in place before launching any Cint integration.  These requirements, along with guidance on how to implement the measures, can be found within the security documentation section of our Supplier Portal under the following articles:

• Respondent Quality Standards: this outlines the security measures required to be in place before launching your Match integration.  

• Partner Security and Quality guide: this provides more context on how you can apply the required measures 

Part of the security requirements includes being able to track and address security terminations and reconciliations.  To help you monitor these sessions, your Cint Account Team will set you up with a subscription to receive a specific data report to a designated email address of your choice.  Tracking this data is crucial in maintaining good quality users.

Please click on the link below to find out more information on this report, including how to avoid, identify and handle the outcomes.

• Security Termination and Reconciliation Report

Testing and Launch

Initial Testing

Before sending your respondents into live surveys, we’ve provided you with the necessary steps to test a complete and termination. These tests are important, as it allows you to validate that your system correctly receives and parses the parameters appended on the redirect links, including the hash signature.

Steps to Test

1. Please contact your Account Team before testing and specify the country where you will be conducting the test. Your Account Team will need to add your Supplier Name to the allocation group for our test surveys to grant you access.

2. Select the appropriate test surveys from the table below and target this survey by including the tar parameter on the entry link, the example URL below shows how this should be formatted. Make sure to include the corresponding country language ID (clid). Set rev=999 and loi=0 to avoid being routed into live surveys when testing.                                                                      

Example URL:
https://www.samplicio.us/s/default.aspx?sid=ac0da46e-ae93-474a-adb1-e19cd686623c&pid=TestUser001&clid=9&tar=1584274&mid=testUserMID&rev=999&loi=0&42=45&43=2&45=70130&hash=yESPcX92n5TiYZbPud89uFYhvkM

Test survey parameters
If you would like to test a different language than listed, please contact your Partner Success Manager for assistance.

3. Upon clicking the entry link, if presented with the consent form, you'll need to agree to the Cint General Terms to continue through to our prescreener questions. For our test surveys, you can select any answer(s) for the questions presented.
   

   If clicking the entry link immediately leads to our generic error page ("Oh no! Something's gone wrong"), it likely indicates an issue with the entry link's hashing. When a respondent fails our entry link hashing validation, a user session isn't created, and this generic error page is displayed. To confirm this, run the Supplier breakdown report. If the session is missing from the report, it strongly suggests that hashing hasn't been correctly implemented. 
   
   Please consult our hashing guide for instructions on how to correctly create the hash signature. If you continue to receive this error message, please contact your Account Team for troubleshooting assistance.

4. Once the pre-screener stage is complete, you'll be presented with our test survey (example below) where you can select to simulate either a Complete or Term. When choosing 'complete' you will be returned to your complete redirect web page. When selecting a 'term' you will be redirected to a page where it will ask if you'd like to try another survey. Click 'No Thanks' to return to your termination redirect web page.

Ahead of a soft launch, be sure to remove the tar parameter and adjust the rev and loi values accordingly. 

Test Survey

Soft Launch

Ahead of a soft launch, please review our Cint Exchange Match soft launch checklist to ensure you have the fundamental development in place to execute a successful launch. Detailed within this article is a set of requirements you'll need to achieve in order to launch.  Once you are approved for go-live by your Account Team, we'll work closely with you to agree on a suitable date for launch.

Full Launch

Once your integration is tracking above the required performance metrics you are ready to fully launch! If you have users in multiple countries, we do ask you limit country roll-out to three countries every two weeks.  After Full Launch your Account Team will continue to work closely with you, providing tangible recommendations on how you can further optimize your Cint integration.

Best Practices

Phased Development

Some suppliers prefer to initially implement the Match product with only the required entry link parameters during the Soft Launch phase. This allows you to quickly test integration functionality and establishes baseline metrics. Once they verify that the integration functions as expected, they add additional functionality such as appending demographic information on entry links and optionally specifying maximum LOI or minimum rev (revenue per interview).

Improve Respondent Experience

Providing demographic information on entry links will improve the ability to match the respondent with the best available surveys. It also improves the user experience by allowing the respondent to bypass pre-screening qualification questions in many cases. Including demographic qualification parameters on respondent entry links are the best way for you to improve your conversion rate. If you have not yet fully profiled your respondents on the standard qualifications, your Customer Success Manager can provide guidance on which qualifications to profile.

Control Respondent Experience

In some cases, you may want to limit the length of surveys available or set a minimum revenue per interview for surveys your respondents complete. By setting limits using the max LOI variable or the minimum rev variable, survey opportunities that fall outside the specified limits will be eliminated. You should use caution when setting these variables, as you may limit the number of opportunities available for respondents, reducing the efficiency of your integration.

Intermediary Page

While it’s possible to email an entry link directly to your respondents, we strongly advise that you build a landing (or intermediary) page for respondents instead. This will allow you to analyze traffic, monitor the frequency of respondent visits, and limit users when necessary.

Preventing Concurrent Sessions

Respondents who open multiple concurrent sessions may encounter redirect errors due to conflicting browser cookies. You should develop your integration so that respondents are not able to open multiple sessions simultaneously. For example, prevent users from opening entry links in multiple browser tabs by disabling the entry link button for 15 seconds after a user clicks on it.

Daily Attempts Per Respondent

We recommend limiting the number of times users can attempt Match on a daily basis, especially for newly registered users, recently reconciled users, and users who have already been terminated that day.

If a respondent returns to your platform from their Match session as a "Complete", resend the respondent until either, they return as a "terminated", or they reach the maximum # of completes that you allow for them to achieve in a day. If a respondent returns to you as a termination, wait a period of time before allowing the respondent to re-enter.

The waiting period observed following a termination may be a static amount of time if a simple approach is needed. A more optimized approach would be for the period of time to be a function of the time of day, day of week and the country-language the respondent is entering as these factors all impact the speed with which new inventory is added.  A/B testing different time frames may help find the optimal period to pause on any given day for a particular respondent.

Monitoring Respondent Outcomes and Quality

Each time you send a respondent into the Cint Exchange, we recommend that you track whether the respondent returns to you on the Complete redirect link, Terminate redirect link, or does not return at all. You should review these results over time, on a per respondent basis. If you are an affiliate supplier or recruit users from multiple sources, we recommend that you also track outcomes back to the source of each respondent. This will allow you to determine which respondents and sources are most successful.

Reconciliations should also be tracked and monitored over time. Often, suppliers find that sudden increases in reconciliations can be attributed to a specific source or group of respondents. Should reconciliations become a problematic trend for your integration, you should take action against the offending respondents or respondent sources by limiting or blocking their access.

Getting Support

Cint is dedicated to helping you achieve a healthy and successful integration. Please keep us updated during your development so that we can be a resource to you and your team.

Please use our Cint Exchange Match integration FAQ resource to help answer any questions you have about the integration.  If you are unable to locate the answer you are welcome to reach out to your Cint account team with any questions or concerns.

For billing and business-related account inquiries, please contact your customer success manager.