Implementation 4 – Review of Data Collection

This training chapter shows ways for reviewing the data transmitted to Mapp Intelligence and how the integration should be tested.

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Find more information in the course Mapp Intelligence - Reviewing Browser-based Tracking Data.

1. Onsite Tests

With onsite tests you can directly check on your website which data is passed to Mapp Intelligence.

1.1 Tools

Checking the source code of a page does often not suffice to know which data is passed to Mapp Intelligence.
There are various tools available to analyze the data traffic. Mapp recommends the following solutions:

• Browser extensions:

  • Firefox Web Developer Tools

  • Chrome Developer Tools

  • Webtrekk Tracker

• Browser-independent Software:

  • Fiddler

1.1.1 Mapp Cloud Debugger

The „Mapp Cloud Debugger“ Plugin is available as extension for Chrome, Firefox and Edge.

• It shows each request and it‘s corresponding type (incl. „webtrekk_ignore“ as a separate type). The single types (e.g. page requests, event requests) can be shown and hidden.

• For each request, you can take a detailed look at the parameters and values that are passed.

• Further information can be found here.

1.1.2 Firefox Developer Tools

Firefox provides the possibility to examine requests with the help of an internal tool.

• Open Firefox and Click on  > Web Developer > Network or use the shortcut Ctrl+Shift+E.

• Open the website you want to analyze and filter the data traffic on your individual track domain

• Choose a request. The parameters passed to Mapp are shown at „Params“.

Here you can find a video that explains the usage of the Developer Tools in Firefox.

1.1.3 Chrome Developer Tools

Google Chrome provides the possibility to examine requests with the help of an internal tool.

• Open Google Chrome and press „F12“ to open the Developer Tools. Choose the tab „Network“.

• Open the website you want to analyze and filter on your track domain.

• Choose a request.
  The parameters passed to Mapp are shown at Headers > Query String Parameters.

1.1.4 Fiddler

Fiddler is an HTTP debugging proxy server application. It allows for browser independent testing.

When inspecting https connections, „Decrypt HTTPS traffic“ has to be activated in the options.

1.2 Status Codes

The „Status“ or „Result“ codes provide information whether the data was transmitted correctly.

Example statuses:

• „200“ = successfully tracked

• „Cache“ = successfully tracked

• „404“ = data transmission was not successful. TrackID or track domain do not exist.

• „(Aborted)“ = in most cases the request was measured.
  It usually occurs with event requests.
  Technical background: The browser establishes a connection to the server (track request) in order to load the picture requested from there. As soon as the query reaches the server, the request is measured. But the server then has to return the picture, which in part is then no longer possible due to leaving the page.

1.3 Parameter Overview

There are several parameters that pass different information.

A description of all parameters can be found here.

Example: Information passed in the parameter „p“

1.4 Requests

Mapp Intelligence tracks the following requests:

• Page Requests

• Event Requests

• Form Requests

• Media Requests

1.4.1 Page Request

In a page request, information on a page view is passed. Thus, a page impression is counted.
With further parameters, other information can be passed.

The following information is tracked in the example:

• The page “manieren_per_mausklick”.

• Content group 1 with the value “home”.
  Attention: A page is assigned to a content group only when it is viewed for the first time!

• The page parameter 5 includes the ID “7654”.

1.4.2 Event Request

In an event request, information on an page view is passed; thus, a click is counted.
With further parameters, other information can be passed.

Event requests can be identified by the parameter “ct” (Click Tracking).

• The following information is tracked in the example:

• The event “themen/bei-tisch-202.htm”.
  The event is automatically assigned to the page that was tracked last within the visit (i.e., not necessarily to the page “themen” that you see in the request).

1.4.3 Form Request

In a form request, information on an form and the included form fields is passed;
thus, “Qty Form Started” is counted.

Form requests can be identified by the parameter „fn“.

The following information is tracked in the example:

• The form “manieren_per_mausklick” with submit status “0” (not send).

• The form field “catchword.text” with form field value “empty”.

1.4.4 Media Request

In a media request, information on a medium is passed. Thus, a media view is counted.

Media requests can be identified by the parameter „mi“.

The following information is tracked in the example:

• The medium “arbeiten_in_reports”.

• The medium is paused at second 40 and has a total duration of 1159 seconds.

1.5 Checking Tag Integration

Is Mapp Tag Integration loaded?

• The check is done based on the request.

• When using the default setup filter on „responder.wt-safetag.com“.
  Alternatively, use the Tag Integration ID.

• Status Codes

  • 200
    If the script is not in cache (e.g., at the first request of a user or after again publishing a container): Successfully loaded and container is delivered.
    If the script is in cache: Account ID not found.

  • 204

    No container was found for the current domain.

  • 304

    Successfully loaded and container is delivered (only from the second request on).

2 Testing

In this chapter, we describe how it can be checked whether tracking data is submitted correctly. This way, you can check whether the implementation concept is realized properly.

2.1 Crawlers

Is the Webtrekk tracking pixel integrated on all websites?

• Automated audit using a crawler is advisable to check for pixel integration.
  E.g. Screaming Frog SEO Spider, Tagalyzer

2.2 Checking Requests

Use one of the tools presented in section 1.1 and check whether the corresponding requests are created when, e.g., a page is viewed or a link is clicked.

2.3 Basic Tests in Mapp Intelligence

The following tests are performed directly in Mapp Intelligence.

Generally, there’s a 60 minutes update interval of the system. The exact point of time of the last data update can be found in the lower right of the analysis window.

When using Live analytics, you can see the values of the chosen dimensions and metrics a few seconds after opening the analysis in Mapp Intelligence.

If the test is performed in the live environment and several persons are using the test environment, you have to filter on your test data out of all data that was tracked. To do this, you have several options:

Restrict on:

• End device Visitor Ids

• Order ID

• Campaign

• End device Visitor Ids: Filtering using the End device Visitor Id. It can be read out by the parameter „eid“ (only available if first-party cookies are used).

  
  The analysis is not restricted to a single visit, but to a visitor. Use the calendar to restrict your analysis on test sessions of a single day.
  Example:  Filtering on End device Visitor Id

  

• Order ID: Filtering on the basis of an order ID generated in the test.
  Using the scope in the filter engine, you can define whether you want to restrict your analysis on a single page, on a visit or on a visitor.

  Example:  Filter with an order ID.

  

• Campaign: Filtering on the basis of a campaign used in the test (e.g. media code).
  The campaign can be configured in Mapp.
  Using the scope in the filter engine, you can define whether you want to restrict your analysis on a single page, on a visit or on a visitor.

  Example:  Filtering an advertising media “wt_mc = newsletter.test”

  

Are Visits and Page Impressions tracked correctly?

• View some pages and check whether the number of pages that you viewed is the same as the number of Page Impressions.

  Analysis:  Visitors > Traffic

  

  If there are more than 30 minutes between two page views, another browser is used or differing login information is sent, a new visit is generated.

Are pages tracked correctly?

• Is the number of viewed pages the same as the number of page impressions?

• Is the naming of the pages the same as defined in the implementation concept?

  Analysis: Navigation > Pages > Pages

  

Are events tracked correctly?

• Click the links on your website and check whether the number of clicks is the same as shown in Mapp Intelligence.

• Is the naming of the pages the same as defined in the implementation concept?

  Analysis: Navigation > Events

  

  Events with the name „webtrekk_ignore“ are not shown in the analysis.

2.4 Extended Tests in Mapp Intelligence

The following analyses are suitable for in-depth data review: 

Entry pages

For which pages are entries measured?

Possible causes for error: session interruption
When using First-Party cookies different domains lead to several visits and accordingly several entry pages.
Please note: After a Session timeout (no action for longer than 30 minutes) the next page is also counted as an entry page.

Path analysis

Are pages etc. called in the expected order?

Possible causes for error: missing or multiple measurement

Browser Tests

Does the tracking work (e.g. pages, actions, orders) in all browsers?

Possible causes for error: Tracking does not work in particular browsers

Events per page

Are events measured on the correct page?

Possible causes for error:

• Measurement of the events does not occur on all pages.

• Events are assigned to the wrong page (Multitab browsing is not activated)

Parameters per dimension

• On which pages are page parameters tracked?

• During what actions are event parameters tracked?

• For what products/orders are e-commerce parameters tracked?

• For what sessions/visits are session parameters tracked?

• For what advertising media are campaign parameters tracked?
  Example: On what pages is the page parameter "Error Message" recorded?

  
  Possible causes for error: Parameters are not set for all defined objects

Category per dimension

• To what pages are content groups assigned?

• To what products are product categories assigned?

• To what media are media categories assigned?

• To what Customer-IDs are URM categories assigned?

• To what advertising media are campaign categories assigned?

• To what times are time categories assigned?

  
  All dimensions not assigned to a category appear under "-".

  Possible causes for error: No assignment

• Categories (e.g. content groups) are only assigned once, on the first track request (e.g. page).
  If the category was not configured during the first request or not transferred in pixels, it is shown as "-" (not assigned). To assign these objects, you can carry out an import (Excel, JSON interface…) or activate a renewed categorization (reset function). The latter function can be activated optionally by your supervising consultant.

  Function for renewed reading of categories (Mapp Q3 > Configuration > Categories > Import-Export)

  

3 Data comparison

Data Comparison is another important building block to check validity of the data.

Web analysis will never measure 100 percent of all accesses. A key factor for meaningful analysis is that deviations remain consistent.

Reasons for missing data in Mapp Intelligence:

• Page not completely loaded or interrupted before the pixel was sent.
  Occurs frequently in the case of large websites or slow Internet connections (e.g. mobile access).

• IP address or domain excluded from measurement in system configuration.

• Tracking blocker active and no custom track domain in use.

• User has excluded himself from measurement by opt-out.

• Access occurs without activated JavaScript and no NoScript is integrated.

• Technical Errors

  • No pixel integrated, wrong track domain / TrackID, JS file not linked correctly, missing function call, …

You could compare the data from Mapp Intelligence with internal data, other Web Analytics tools or Marketing tools.

• Comparison with internal data (e.g. DWH/CRM)

  • number of online orders VS. orders in Mapp Intelligence

  • newsletter registrations according to newsletter tool VS. newsletter registrations in Mapp Intelligence

  • recorded logins VS. Customer-IDs in Mapp Intelligence

Import key figures (e.g., number of online orders) on a daily basis and use the alert function in Mapp Intelligence in order to have insights into data validity at all times.

• Comparison with other web analytics tools
  In general, other web analysis systems should provide similar data. Deviations of up to 5 percent are to be regarded as normal.
  For an initial comparison, an individual page should be considered for a limited period and the metric page impressions should be used.
  Are the deviations between the tools per day consistent? In the next step the comparison can also be extended to other pages/content groups.

• Comparison with marketing tools

  Two methods that measure at different places of the site using different techniques will, in general, never show the exact same numbers. It is important that the deviation is consistent and within reasonable limits.

  Usually different tools measure at different “spots”. While – for example – your marketing tool measures clicks on an advertisement, Mapp Intelligence measures users who viewed or loaded the landing page completely (until the pixel was sent). Users who click back and forth very fast cannot be tracked by Mapp.

  If the marketing tool aggregates clicks done quickly after each other, use the metric “Visits” or alternatively “Campaign Clicks” in Mapp Intelligence.