Tracking quality check list

Quality and accuracy of conversion tracking depend on a variety of measures. The more measures you take and combine, the higher usually the accuracy of the conversions numbers that are tracked.

How to find out about your quality (accuracy) of conversion tracking

If you are not sure, how well your conversion tracking works, there is a good way to find out:

• Define a representative time frame (often 7 or 14 days are a good time)

• Export the conversions from your data warehouse/ shop system (please limit it to essential conversion information like order id, time, amount etc, personal customer data must not be shared)

• Now compare to conversions, that were attributed and not attributed in your Ingenious platform. Contact us, we are happy to assist if you need support to access this data.

Improving conversion tracking accuracy for your advertiser should be done by focusing on four areas

1. the tracking domain

2. the conversion tag

3. the onpage tag

4. consent management

Tracking Domain of your Advertiser(s)

Consider using a first party tracking domain

The tracking should be running on a sub domain of the shop. The name of the sub domain ideally should be a random string. Example: https://xcx23123.yourdomain.com
read more here: https://ingenioustechnologies.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/1423049172

Try to avoid that your tracking domain is listed in ad and private blocking lists

You may check here:

The Conversion Tag

Execute the conversion tag on the server side

We do not recommend to execute the conversion tag in the browser, independent if you use a tag management system or not. We would expect a significant loss of data (15-25%) using a browser-side setup, and even more if you use a tag manger, since they are well known to ad-blocking software and browsers and can be easily blocked.

Execute the conversion tag server-side (and hence bypassing the browser). You may use a server-side tagging solution (like server-side Google Tag Manager) if you execute the JavaScript part (ga.js) on a first-party domain (recommended by Google).

Read more: https://ingenioustechnologies.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/KB/pages/1429734422

Track cookieless using click IDs (iclid)

With every redirect click, Ingenious transmits a click id as parameter iclid (Ingenious Click Id). This iclid(s) should be stored on the advertiser-side in the user-session (in a first party cookie, or attached to the sale/order) and transmitted in the conversion tag. Note that an order might have multiple click IDs assigned, because the user might have several independent interactions before the conversion.

Manage cookies server side

Also, writing cookies from the server side can bypass certain client-side restrictions, thereby ensuring more reliable tracking of user sessions and activities​

Track cookieless using external click IDs (i.e. gclid, fbclid)

If you use a system which generates it’s own click IDs, or use advertising system which generate their own click IDs (like Google Ads), you can use these IDs in the conversion tag.

Use Session IDs

The session id should be transmitted in the conversion tag as well as in the onpage tag to increase tracking accuracy. What the session ID is relies on your specific system. Typically it’s a value which is consistent over several page-loads of the same user, sometimes even across browser-sessions.

Read more:

Attach the Customer ID

Whenever a customer is logged in, the customer id (may be hashed) should be transmitted in the on-page and conversion tag to increase tracking accuracy as well as enable cross device tracking.

Read more:

Onpage tag

Implement the onpage tag on all publicly accessible pages

The onpage tag (using a first party domain) should be implemented on all public pages to detect incoming traffic.

Read more:

Send extended data for attribution in the onpage tag

Extend your onpage tag data with Customer id (may be hashed) and Session IDs to improve tracking accuracy.

Avoid Traditional 3rd Party Tag Managers

Traditional third-party tag managers, like the standard Google Tag Manager (GTM) using googletagmanager.com, can be blocked by ad blockers or restricted by browser privacy settings. Instead, consider using GTM and Server-Side GTM (sGTM) with a first-party domain to circumvent these challenges.

Consent Management

Ensure Tag Loading Post-Consent

It's important to load tracking tags only and directly after the user has given consent, without waiting for the next page load. This approach respects user privacy and complies with data protection regulations while ensuring that you don't miss out on valuable tracking data from the moment consent is given​.

It is important, that the onpage tag can detect parameters that are relevant for attribution of incoming traffic (like the iclid, amc, others). If only loaded with the next page view this information is lost.