Overview of Youzan DSP Advertising Platform and Its Testing Challenges

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Author: Feng Teng

Department: Business Technology / Testing

1.1 What is DSP?

DSP (Demand Side Platform) is an advertising demand‑side platform focused on precise marketing, helping advertisers place ads.

Current Youzan DSP advertising channels include:

Tencent Moments (mainly mini‑program redirects)

Toutiao, Baidu, Kuaishou apps (mainly H5 redirects)

1.2 Advertising Placement Methods

The core logic of ad placement is to compete for high‑quality audiences; higher bids are required for better inventory.

1.2.1 Common Placement Methods

(Images illustrating placement methods are omitted for brevity.)

1.2.2 Bidding Strategies

o – optimized, bid by conversion goal; CPM – cost per thousand impressions.

oCPC – Optimized Cost per Click; oCPA – Optimized Cost per Action (e.g., download, form submit, phone call, coupon claim, add‑to‑cart); oCPM – Optimized Cost per Mille, a dynamic version of CPM suitable for brand‑focused advertisers.

Ad quality score formula: eCPM = target conversion bid × eCTR × eCVR × 1000 eCTR – estimated click‑through rate eCVR – estimated conversion rate eCPM – revenue per thousand impressions for the media.

The ultimate advertising goal is repeat purchase.

1.3 Advertising Information Storage

1.3.1 Tracking and Query

The tracking system records user clicks on ads, click time, and is used for order attribution. Data is stored in both HBase and Zankv; queries first check HBase, then Zankv.

When querying tracking data, the priority is: yzUid (user logged in with Youzan account) → SDK‑generated UUID → mockID generated from large accounts (WeChat, Alipay, Weibo) with mapping in the Youzan account system.

1.4 Advertising Order Attribution

1.4.1 Direct‑Purchase Order Attribution (similar for add‑to‑cart)

Tencent (gdt_vid/qz_gdt), Baidu (bd_vid), Kuaishou (ks_callback) attribute based on clickId. Toutiao attributes based on UA, using the latest valid click; if not found, it falls back to delayed or offline attribution.

1.4.2 Follow‑Based Order Attribution

When a user follows a WeChat public account, DSP receives a callback. If the user later places an order, the follow record is used for attribution; otherwise attribution fails.

1.5 Advertising Feedback

1.5.1 Multi‑Channel Feedback

Youzan DSP supports the following feedback types:

Direct‑purchase feedback (order placement, payment)

Follow‑based feedback (public‑account follow) and add‑to‑cart feedback

Tencent supports click‑to‑conversion feedback.

2. Advertising Business Testing

2.1 Testing Difficulties

Tracking generation depends on Kafka middleware and Flink jobs; currently simulated via mock Kafka messages or direct API calls to write into HBase.

Full‑chain testing is long; real feedback requires a live ad campaign approved by operations, then whitelist‑enabled click tracking and verification of feedback data.

Generation of placement links (e.g., micro‑mall links to Tencent) passes through multiple systems; key parameters (e.g., gdt_vid) may be lost, causing tracking failures.

UUID generation differs across environments (WeChat mini‑program, app, browser), leading to mismatched attribution when no phone number is bound.

2.2 Third‑Party Channel Stability

DSP relies on third‑party APIs, field changes, version upgrades, etc., requiring real‑time monitoring of external interface dynamics.

Current measures to ensure stability:

Scheduled tasks that call third‑party feedback APIs with failure alerts.

Robot monitoring.

Timely review of third‑party technical documentation updates.

Notifications from third‑party technical, product, and operations teams.

Multi‑threaded API calls with careful rate‑limiting to avoid overloading third‑party systems.

Youzan advertising is continuously iterated, and quality assurance methods will evolve with business and quality systems, planning more automated detection and alert mechanisms.