Seven questions to ask a post-purchase ad network before you sign

Questions to ask a post-purchase ad network fall into seven areas: how your revenue share is calculated, which advertisers serve your category, the contract term and exit clause, what stores like yours earn, how much control you keep, what launch and removal cost, and whether anything returns to your store.

Ankita Verma walks through the questions in a five-minute video.

Pier39 AI runs one of these networks, so read what follows accordingly. Every question below is one a merchant should be able to put to us and get a specific answer to, and on several of them different vendors are stronger in different categories.

Your thank-you page carries the highest-intent moment a customer will ever have with your store. They have paid, they are still on your site, and they are still reading. If you have decided to monetize that moment, the vendor you pick owns the last screen your customer sees, which makes the contract worth more scrutiny than most merchants give it.

How is my revenue share actually calculated?

Ask whether your share is calculated on gross or net revenue, and if the answer is net, ask exactly what comes out before the number reaches you.

Then ask a second question that most merchants skip: how and when do you see raw click and conversion data by advertiser? If what you receive is a monthly summary PDF, you have no way to audit what you are being paid. You are taking the vendor's arithmetic on trust for the length of the contract.

A good answer names the deductions specifically, and gives you per-advertiser click and conversion data you can pull yourself, on an ongoing basis and ideally in real time.

A hedge answer describes the share as "net of standard costs" without listing them, and offers reporting on a monthly cycle in a format you cannot query.

Which advertisers would actually run on my thank-you page?

Ask for the roster that would serve in your vertical, at your order volume. Every network has a logo wall, and the logo wall is company-wide inventory rather than what your customers will see.

Advertiser demand is category-specific. A network with deep financial services demand and thin beauty demand will show you the same logos either way, and your earnings will not resemble the earnings of the case study they sent you. The number that predicts your outcome is how many advertisers are actively bidding for inventory like yours. You can see the current roster for Pier39 AI Post-Purchase Offers and ask for the category breakdown behind it.

A good answer is a category-specific list with active spend attached, plus a count of advertisers competing for your placement.

A hedge answer returns to the logo wall, or describes demand as strong across all categories without breaking it out.

What is the contract term and how do I get out of it?

Ask the length, ask whether it is exclusive, and ask what triggers an exit.

Assume a multi-year exclusive is on the table until the vendor tells you otherwise, and treat the term as one of the most expensive things in the agreement. Test it with a specific scenario: what happens if earnings drop 40% in month four? A contract with no performance-based exit gives the vendor no structural reason to sustain month-one earnings into month twelve. Protect against that in the paperwork rather than trusting it will not happen.

A good answer is a performance-based exit clause with a defined earnings threshold, a measurement window, and a notice period you can actually use.

A hedge answer is that no merchant has ever wanted to leave, offered in place of a clause.

What do stores like mine actually earn?

Ask for a range from stores in your category at your order volume, and ask which denominator the figure uses.

Earnings per transaction is the headline number in this category, and a blended average across every partner tells you nothing about your store. A Shopify store in beauty and a custom storefront in ticketing do not earn the same amount from the same page. Vendors also quote revenue per completed order, revenue per thank-you page view, and revenue per session interchangeably, and those three are not comparable to each other. Ask which one you are being shown before you compare two vendors' numbers.

A good answer is a range with the denominator named, the sample size stated, and the period it covers, drawn from stores in your category.

A hedge answer is a single blended average, quoted without a denominator, sample, or period.

How much control do I keep over the experience?

Ask what you can block and what you can change, one control at a time. Can you block a specific advertiser, block an entire category, block a direct competitor, cap how often one customer sees an offer, and control the design so the placement matches your storefront? If the network owns the design, the network owns your confirmation page.

Then ask how many merchant complaints they receive about offers being spammy or off-brand, and what happens when one arrives. Any network at scale receives them. An answer of zero means either the number is not tracked or it is not being shared, and both are worth knowing before you sign.

A good answer is self-serve advertiser and category blocklists, frequency caps, design control on your side, a real complaint number, and a described process for handling one.

A hedge answer is that brand safety is handled on the vendor's end, paired with a complaint count of zero.

What does it cost to get live, and what does it cost to leave?

Ask about both costs, because merchants price the first one and almost never price the second.

On getting live: how long does the integration take, and who does the work? If your engineering team is building it, that is roadmap time you fought for, spent on someone else's product. Ask whether a developer on their side does the install, whether someone is on a call with your team while it happens, and whether you get a named person who knows your account after launch or a shared support inbox.

On leaving: do you keep your data, and how long does removal take? A network that needs four weeks to remove itself is describing how deeply it is installed.

A good answer is that they install it, the timeline is measured in days, you have a named contact after launch, your data stays yours, and removal takes days.

A hedge answer is documentation, a support inbox, and a removal window measured in weeks.

Does this bring customers back to my store, or just sell the impression?

Ask what the customer receives for engaging, and whether anything returns to your store.

For an ad network, the impression is the product. Your customer just spent money with you, and what you show them is a credit card offer. They click or they scroll past, you collect a few cents, and the interaction ends. You have rented the highest-intent screen you own to someone else, and your customer paid for it in attention.

On Pier39 AI Post-Purchase Offers, a customer who claims an offer and completes the advertiser's purchase receives store credit redeemable at your store. Pier39 AI funds the credit rather than deducting it from your revenue share, and the advertiser still pays for the impression, so your ad revenue is unchanged. According to Pier39 AI network data, 55% to 60% of those customers place another order with you within 90 days using that credit. That figure describes an association rather than a cause, since shoppers who complete an advertiser purchase are already high-engagement buyers.

A good answer describes specifically what the customer receives and how it routes back to your store.

A hedge answer is that customers get access to great offers.

What does a good answer look like for each question?

Frequently asked questions

See Pier39 AI Post-Purchase Offers for merchants to run the container on your confirmation page.

Pier39 AI builds post-purchase monetization infrastructure for ecommerce brands. Pier39 AI Post-Purchase Offers runs advertiser-funded offers on order confirmation pages across 1,500+ stores with 150+ advertisers, returning store credit that shoppers spend back at the merchant.