Core Metrics Implementation Guide - Phase I

8/2/2019 Core Metrics Implementation Guide - Phase I

1/25

IBM Software Support for

Enterprise Marketing Management

Coremetrics Implementation

http://[email protected]

Implementation Guide

Phase I

June 2011


2/25

IBM Corporation 2

Copyright IBM Corporation 2011

Introduction .............................................................................................................................................................. 3About this Guide ..................................................................................................................................................... 3The Implementation ................................................................................................................................................ 3

How Coremetrics Tagging Works .......................................................................................................................... 4Implementation Design Phase I ........................................................................................................................... 5

Page IDs ................................................................................................................................................................. 5URL Based Page IDs .......................................................................................................................................... 5Dynamically Generated Page IDs ....................................................................................................................... 6

Order ID .................................................................................................................................................................. 6Customer ID ........................................................................................................................................................... 6Implementation Checklist Phase I ....................................................................................................................... 7

Development Phase I ............................................................................................................................................ 8The TagBar ............................................................................................................................................................. 8

Installing the TagBar ........................................................................................................................................... 8How to use it ....................................................................................................................................................... 8Tag Audit Mode ................................................................................................................................................... 9

Adding the JavaScript libraries ............................................................................................................................... 9Setting Global Data Collection Parameters .......................................................................................................... 10Tag creation code Phase I................................................................................................................................. 11

Test and Production Systems ........................................................................................................................... 12All Pages ........................................................................................................................................................... 13Product Detail Pages ........................................................................................................................................ 13Order Confirmation Page .................................................................................................................................. 13

Tags Phase I ..................................................................................................................................................... 13Page View Tag .................................................................................................................................................. 13Order Tag .......................................................................................................................................................... 14Technical Properties Tags ................................................................................................................................ 15

Implementation Checklist ..................................................................................................................................... 15Testing Phase I .................................................................................................................................................... 16

The TagBar ........................................................................................................................................................... 16The Implementation Test Tool (ITT) ..................................................................................................................... 16

Description ........................................................................................................................................................ 16Where to find it .................................................................................................................................................. 16How to use it ..................................................................................................................................................... 16

Test Reports ......................................................................................................................................................... 17Description ........................................................................................................................................................ 17Where to find them ............................................................................................................................................ 17How to use them ............................................................................................................................................... 17

Implementation Checklist ..................................................................................................................................... 17Go Live Phase I ................................................................................................................................................ 18

Test vs. Production Environments ........................................................................................................................ 18Deploy to Production ............................................................................................................................................ 18Check with TagBar ............................................................................................................................................... 18Implementation Checklist ..................................................................................................................................... 18

Appendix A - Tagging Framed Pages .................................................................................................................. 19 Appendix B Link Tracking .................................................................................................................................. 20Appendix C External Page Tagging .................................................................................................................. 21Appendix D Coremetrics Reports - Tag Matrix ................................................................................................ 22Appendix E Parameters and Tags ..................................................................................................................... 24Appendix F Phase I Implementation Checklist ................................................................................................ 25


3/25

IBM Corporation 3


Introduction

About this GuideThis document is intended to provide both an introduction to Coremetrics Implementation and a step-by-step guide to tagging

web site pages according to Coremetrics best practices.

The ImplementationTagging is the process of adding JavaScript Pageview and Order tag calls to web pages so that information can be passed toCoremetrics to generate Phase I client reports.

Coremetrics Implementation is divided into two phases: Phase I and Phase II.

Phase I requires implementation of the pageview and order data collection tags only. These two tagssupport a substantial range of Coremetrics reporting including valuable high-ROI reports such as Top Line,Marketing, On Site Search, Content and LIVEview. Training and report access are provided immediately atthe conclusion of Phase I.

Phase II Implementation incorporates item-level Product tracking, Registration tracking and any additionaltags required to support your specific implementation and contracted features.

The Implementation process consists of four parts, executed initially for Phase I and again in Phase II:

Designing the implementationIn order for the information passed to Coremetrics to mean anything, the clients implementation must be carefully designed sothat page names, product IDs, categories and other labels are consistent and coherent across the enterprise.

Creating the code that will add the appropriate JavaScript function calls to site pagesThe JavaScript calls must be either hard coded in the body of each HTM page or else the server side scripts used to generatepages (using ASP, PHP, JSP, etc) must be edited to include code that will create the code for both the JavaScript functionsand the parameters they contain.

Testing code and Coremetrics reportingVarious tools are available for verification of data collection and reporting. These tools allow in-page validation as well asvalidation of collected test report data prior to production launch.

Promoting code to the Production server

When the code has been completed and tested on the development server, it can then be switched to the Production server.Additional production level validation is recommended by comparing the sales metrics to client backend server order data.


4/25

IBM Corporation 4


How Coremetrics Tagging Works

Coremetrics collects data at the client browser level. Data is captured when a tagged site page is rendered by the visitorsbrowser. JavaScript function calls, or tags, are executed as the requested page renders in the visitor browser, creatingstandard http GET image requests appended with query string parameter name=value pairs obtained from the tag

parameter data strings. The requests are sent to Coremetrics data collection servers where the appended name=value pairsare extracted and loaded into your analytics data warehouse for subsequent reporting as actionable metrics.

The data parameters in the tag function calls communicate information about pages, products and visitor activities, such as carting or selecting specific products, completing purchases, registering or logging on, interacting with specific page elements,etc.

JavaScript tags function call format example:

cmTagName(,,, etc);

The image request received by Coremetrics data acquisition servers is parsed to extract the visitor data from the name=valuequery string parameter pairs, loaded into the analytics data warehouse, and a 1 x 1 pixel GIF file is returned to the requesting

browser. The data collection image request are made in memory, rather than written directly onto the page, preventingresponse images from visibly rendering on the page. The image request is asynchronous with the page load and cannotinterrupt page load or visitor experience. In the unlikely event that the request cannot reach the Coremetrics data collectionservers or the request response pixel is not received by the requesting browser, the page continues to render: sitefunctionality and visitor experience are unaffected.


5/25

IBM Corporation 5


Implementation Design Phase IPhase I Implementation design includes determination of Page IDs, Order ID, Customer ID and identification of necessaryserver-side and/or client-side code required to obtain these values and send them as part of the Pageview and Order function tag calls.

Only through carefully planned naming conventions and hierarchical structures can the massive amount of data produced bycustomers visiting a clients website be collected and converted into comprehensive and coherent reports. Names need to beconsistent, easy to read, unique and meaningful.

The following values are automatically removed from Coremetrics tag parameter data and cannot be collected or reported:

1. single quote (')2. double quote (")3. carriage return (hex 0D; regular expression \r)4. line feed (hex 0A; regular expression \n)5. comma (,): replaced with a space character prior to data loading and reporting

Page IDs

Page IDs (or names) are used in many reports and as such should be unique and represent the content the user sees on thepage. They should also be uncomplicated and meaningful without reference to the page itself. For example, in this Top EntryPages report, the page IDs are easy to comprehend without any knowledge of the clients business.

A Page ID can be any alphanumeric string built and passed into the corresponding Coremetrics tag function. In order toensure consistent page-related reports and tagging, you will need to decide upon a set of page-naming conventions that canbe easily maintained and adhered to. Coremetrics recommends the following conventions.

URL Based Page IDs

For static pages, it is possible to use the path and filename as a basis for the Page ID. For example, if a page URL is:

http://www.clientsite.com/resources/white_papers.html?test=123

The collected and reported Page ID will be resources/white_papers.html. Calling the Page View tag with no Page ID valuewill also generate this default Page ID value: cmCreatePageviewTag();.


6/25

IBM Corporation 6


Dynamically Generated Page IDs

Dynamically generated pages are rendered by server-side scripts and do not have unique filenames. Example:http://mysite.com/pages.asp. This means the above convention would not be meaningful. This is particularly true whenproduct pages are generated from the same template and all have the same name.

For such pages Coremetrics recommends the following naming conventions for the page names.

General

A short, unique name, preferable less than 40 characters in length as longer names will be truncated in the Page column asshown above.For example:

Home

Help

Step 1 - Billing

Step 5 Confirmation

Category Pages

Category Page IDs are not automatically created. Some clients choose to use the category name prefixed with CATEGORY:or CAT: so that categories are easy to discern and sort upon in reports but this is not obligatory For example:

CATEGORY:PRINTERS

Search Results Pages

For a search results page generated as the result of an onsite search, the following convention should be applied. If one ormore result is found, the page ID should be:

SEARCH SUCCESSFUL pg

For example:

SEARCH SUCCESSFUL pg 122

If no results are returned, the page ID should be:

SEARCH UNSUCCESSFUL

Order IDOrder ID values are collected with the Order tag sent from ecommerce order confirmation, application completion, andbooking completion pages. The Order ID is a unique alphanumeric value up to 64 bytes in length representing that uniqueorder, application or booking.

cmCreateOrderTag(,,,,,,)

Customer IDCustomer ID values are collected with the Order tag sent from ecommerce order confirmation, application completion, and

booking completion pages. The Customer ID is a unique alphanumeric value up to 256 bytes in length representing a uniquepurchasing visitor. This value is typically the customers email address, or an internal GUID generated for each uniqueregistered customer. The GUID can be based on email, account logon, or other unique repeatable identifier.

http://mysite.com/pages.asphttp://mysite.com/pages.asphttp://mysite.com/pages.asp


7/25

IBM Corporation 7


Implementation Checklist Phase I

1 Received assigned Client IDs

2 Choose data collection subdomain and send SSL Cert information to Coremetrics (forCoremetrics-managed first party data collection only)

3 Create conventions for PageIDs, OrderID and CustomerID


8/25

IBM Corporation 8


Development Phase I

Once Page naming, Order ID and Customer ID conventions have been agreed on, tagging can begin. But first it isrecommended that you take a look at the pages of some existing Coremetrics clients pages to see how they have gone aboutdoing it.

The TagBar

The Coremetrics TagBar is an Internet Explorer plug-in that allows you to view all the tags being sent to Coremetrics from aCoremetrics tagged page. This is used to ensure the tags on a page being developed are sending the appropriate values inthe appropriate fields. If a tag does not showing up in the TagBar this could indicate a problem with the code or a JavaScripterror that is preventing the tag from being rendered.

The TagBar can be downloaded as part of cmTools or is available as a standalone tool.Further information can be found in the Coremetrics TagBar Users Guide, whichcan be obtained from your Coremetricsrepresentative.

Installing the TagBar

TagBar can be installed as part of the Coremetrics Tools plugin downloadable directly from the Reports / Content /LIVEview Click Overlay section ofhttp://welcome.coremetrics.comproduction reporting. The Tools version of tagbarcan be installed to IE or Firefox browsers. A stand-alone version of the TagBar for IE only can be downloaded fromhttps://support.coremetrics.comusing your assigned production report logon credentials.

Please contact your assigned Implementation Engineer, Customer Support, or your internal Coremetrics reportadministrator to obtain production report logon credentials.

How to use it

Once installed on the computer, the TagBar can be activated by clicking on the Coremetrics icon in the Internet Explorertoolbar. This will open the TagBar in a side panel of the browser. Within the TagBar frame, all Coremetrics tags on thecurrent page will be shown, including all the values set within the tag.

An example is shown below.

This information was produced by the following tag sending data to Coremetrics:

cmCreatePageviewTag("Search Successful","epson","30006","41");
http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/https://support.coremetrics.com/https://support.coremetrics.com/https://support.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/


9/25

IBM Corporation 9


The TagBar also indicates whether those tags are pointed to the test environment (test.coremetrics.com) or the productionenvironment (data.coremetrics.com) in parenthesis next to the name of the tag.

The Action menu in the upper right corner provides a list of actions that can used with the TagBar.

Refresh TagDisplay Updates the tags displayed in the TagBar

Copy SelectedText

Copies any text that is selected within theTagBar to the clipboard.

Note: Ctrl-C will not work within the TagBar

application for copying text to the clipboard.

Show/Copy PageID

Displays the Page ID for the current page andcopies the value to the clipboard.

Open Tag Monitor Opens a new window to display the Tag Monitor,which records all tags sent to Coremetrics in alist form, separated by lines to indicate tags sentfrom the same page.

Tag Audit Mode

When the Tag Audit Mode box is checked, the Audit Mode is activated and the TagBar tool performs a routine series ofvalidations on every page. When a tag sends an image request to the Coremetrics server, the TagBar verifies if dataacquisition passes a specific set of standards. If the tag(s) do not pass a certain set of criteria, the tool indicates an error hasoccurred and displays a message referencing the issue that occurred and a resolution. The error messages displayed can befound in the appendix to the Coremetrics Tag Bar Users Guide, which is available on the Coremetrics Support site.

Adding the JavaScript librariesCoremetrics provides a single library file to support the tagging of your site: eluminate.js. This Coremetrics-hosted fileprovides JavaScript code defining a set of functions which can be called with appropriate parameter data to send datacollection image requests to Coremetrics. This file must be included in all pages implementing Coremetrics.

Legacy Note: Coremetrics began offering a single combined Coremetrics-hosted library file in April 2010. Implementations

Completed prior to this date may be using separate and locally hosted eluminate.js and cmdatatagutils.js library files.Please consult Coremetrics Support to upgrade to Coremetrics-hosted library files.

eluminate.js

The eluminate.js file is a standard library file that defines the core functionality of the Coremetrics tagging technology. This fileis minified and obfuscated. This file should be included on all pages that require Coremetrics tracking.

cmSetClientID();

Your specific implementation may include customizations which override the default data collection functions or introduce newfunctions. This custom file, cmcustom.js, is delivered by Coremetrics Support and is locally hosted by your organization.Please see the contents of this file for details on your specific customizations:

cmcustom.js

This file is included in all pages immediately after the Coremetrics-hosted eluminate.js library include:


10/25

IBM Corporation 10


cmSetClientID();

Setting Global Data Collection Parameters

Coremetrics provides several functions allowing control of various aspects of the Coremetrics implementation.

cmSetClientID() - this function is required for all implementations.

cmSetupOther() - optional function allowing control of various optional implementation parameters. If thisfunction is not called default settings will be used for the implementation. Coremetrics Support will advise you if thisfunction is required for your implementation and what settings to use.

cmSetupNormalization() - optional function allow control of Coremetrics automatic Link Click data collection.Coremetrics Support will advise you if this function is required for your implementation and what settings to use.

Legacy Note: These functions may not be available in libraries supporting implementations completed prior to April 2010and/or may not be applicable to your implementation. Please contact Coremetrics Support to upgrade.

This function is required and sets values for Client ID, 1stParty method (Client Managed or Coremetrics Managed), Data

Collection Domain and Cookie Domain.

// Client Managed First Party

cmSetClientID("99999999",true,"data.coremetrics.com","thesite.com");

// Coremetrics Managed First Party

cmSetClientID("99999999",false,".thesite.com","thesite.com");

This function must be called on every page sending data to Coremetrics.

Parameter Required DescriptionClient ID Required Unique 8-digit Coremetrics-assigned

account code associated with a singleanalytics data warehouse and reportinginstance.

ClientManaged Required Boolean true or false: true indicatesClient Managed 1st Party. false

indicates Coremetrics Managed 1st

Party.DataCollectionDomain

Required The target domain for Coremetrics datacollection requests.

If Client Managed = false: DataCollection Domain should be set to theCoremetrics Managed 1

stParty data

collection domain. Example:(.thesite.com).

If Client Managed = true: DataCollection Domain should be set to


11/25

IBM Corporation 11


data.coremetrics.com.

CookieDomain

Required The domain for Client ManagedCoremetrics cookies.

Cookie Domain should be set to the 2ndlevel site domain (thesite.com) of thedomain serving the tagged page(s). Incases of extra domain levels prior to the

uniquely identifying site domain value,this may be a 3rd or higher level.Example: thesite.co.uk.

If Client Managed = false:Coremetrics Visitor and Sessioncookies will be set under theCoremetrics Managed Data CollectionDomain (.thesite.com).Other Coremetrics cookies will be set inthe Cookie Domain.

If Client Managed = true: ALLCoremetrics cookies are set in theCookie Domain.

Tag creation code

Phase I

As a best practice, all Coremetrics-related code should be modularized so it is easy to maintain and deactivate if necessary. Inorder to do this, Coremetrics recommends creating a single Coremetrics server-side includefile that can be used on alldynamic pages within your site. This includefile will contain logic to determine what type of page is being rendered, and basedon that type, write the appropriate Coremetrics JavaScript code into the page.

The includefile should also have a flag that will allow you to switch off the Coremetrics JavaScript code from rendering, incase you ever need to turn off the Coremetrics code for any reason, as well as an automated way of determining whether topoint the tags to the Coremetrics test or production servers.

The Coremetrics includefile should be contained in a global header, global footer, or other global includefile used in the site.This will enable the code to be immediately propagated to all pages that make use of this include. Having access to theseglobal includeswill allow you to avoid having to touch a large number of pages in the implementation process.

The logic to determine what type of page is being rendered and write the appropriate Coremetrics JavaScript code based onthat type should be done in the form of a case statement. The case statementshould have a number of checks for each typeof page that will need tags other than the default Page View tag. Each of these checks would then render in the appropriatetagging functions needed on that page type. The default case for pages that do not fall into any special cases would be tothrow a Page View tag with the default naming convention.

The following is an example of a case statement in pseudocode:

if(coremetricsIsProduction)

cmSetClientID("99999999",true,"data.coremetrics.com","thesite.com");

else // send data to test system

cmSetClientID("69999999",false,"testdata.coremetrics.com","thesite.com");

...

if(coremetricsOnFlag) {

if(pageType is homepage) {

pageID is "HOME PAGE"


12/25

IBM Corporation 12


render cmCreatePageviewTag()

}

else if (pageType is product details page) {

pageID is "PRODUCT: " +


}

else if (pageType is shopping cart page) {pageID is "SHOPPING CART"


}

else if (pageType is order confirmation page) {

pageID is "SHOPPING CART"

orderID is

customerID is

render

cmCreatPageviewTag(),

cmCreateOrderTag() with appropriate parameters

}

else ...

...Do other page type checks here...}

render cmCreatePageviewTag() with appropriate parameters

else {

default case, render cmCreatePageviewTag() with default naming convention

}

}

Tags should be located in the of the page being tagged as some functionality may not work correctly if they are placedin the or elsewhere out side the . They should be as near as possible to the top of the page to minimize thechance of a visitor clicking off the page before the information in the tag can be sent to the server.

Notes

1.The entire code is wrapped in an if(coremetricsOnFlag) case statement that checks to see if a server-side

Coremetrics flag has been set. This enables the client to be able to turn off Coremetrics tracking if required.2. The design and coding of server-side scripts, template files, etc is beyond the scope of this guide.

Test and Production Systems

Coremetrics provides two environments: test and production. The test environment should be used while tags are indevelopment (your development and staging environments). The production environment should be used once the tags aremoved to the live production site.

Coremetrics Test System:

1. Data Collection Domain: testdata.coremetrics.com

2. Client ID: your 8-digit production Client ID, with first digit replaced by 6. Example: 12345678 productionID has a test ID equivalent of 62345678

3. Reporting URL: http://welcome.coremetrics.com

In order to send data collection to the 6-series Client ID and Data Collection Domain, the cmSetClientID() function call onnon-production pages should be modified as follows.

The following page is pointed to the test system. Note the first digit of the Client ID parameter is changed to 6 andClient Managed parameter is always set to false when sending data to test.


13/25

IBM Corporation 13


cmSetClientID("69999999",false,"testdata.coremetrics.com","thesite.com);

The following page is pointed to the production environment.

cmSetClientID ("99999999",true,"data.coremetrics.com","thesite.com");

All Pages

Each distinct page visited by the visitor needs to throw a single Page View tag.For example:

cmCreatePageviewTag("HOME PAGE");

Product Detail Pages

Each product page needs to throw the Page View tag. In Phase II, an additional product view tag may be added to supportenhanced reporting.For example:

cmCreatePageviewTag("PRODUCT: " + "")

Order Confirmation Page

The order confirmation page needs to throw the following:

1 Page View tag

1 Create Order tag

For example:

cmCreatePageviewTag("Confirm Order","90999", null);

cmCreateOrderTag("ord-934343","212.85","9.99", "cust-09096","Austin","TX","78759");

Tags Phase IThis section covers the format and parameters of each Phase I tag and the reports in which information from the tag is used.

Page View Tag

Key Reports Populated: Dashboards; Site Metrics; Marketing; Content (Page Categories, * Pages, On-Site Search); Paths;Demographics (Geography, Languages, Profile Segments); Report SegmentsThe Page View tag should be rendered on all pages.

The format of the tag is:

cmCreatePageviewTag(,null,,);


14/25

IBM Corporation 14


NOTE: The 2nd

parameter should be null until such time as Phase II implementation is undertaken. This is the placeholderfor a future category ID parameter supporting multi-level hierarchical categorization of pageview and merchandising activity.

Parameter Required DescriptionPage ID Required All page IDs must be unique for all pages

tracked in Coremetrics and representative of

the content displayed.Category ID Required An alphanumeric string identifying the

immediate parent node to which this pagebelongs. This must match the category IDdesignated within the CDF file.

Note that category IDs can be dynamicallyassigned to add addition value to reports.

OnsiteSearch Term Optional If this page was displayed due to an onsitesearch, this field will show the search term

used.SearchResults Optional The number of results returned if this pagewas displayed due to an onsite search. If no

results are returned, 0 should be passed. AttributeString

Optional Up to 15 -_- delimited attribute valuesaccessible in Explore reporting. SeeAppendix 8.4 for more details.

Extra Fields Optional Up to 15 -_- delimited extrafield valuesaccessible through optional Standard DataExport. If desired, these values can beautomatically copied from the Attribute Stringby calling cmSetupOther({"cmAutoCopyAttributesToExtraFields":true});on the page prior to tag function calls.

Order Tag

Key Reports Populated:All aggregate Sales and Order metrics outside of the Products Reporting; Demographics (Profile

Segments).

Itshouldbegeneratedonpageswhereanorderisconfirmed.

The format of the tag is:


Parameter Required DescriptionOrder ID Required Auniqueorderidentifier.OrderSubtotal Required Complete order subtotal not including anyshipping and handling or taxes.OrderShippingAmount

Required Shipping and handling for this order

Customer ID Required Uniquecustomeridentifier.CustomerCity Optional Customers City.CustomerState orProvince

Optional Customers State or Province.


15/25

IBM Corporation 15


CustomerPostal Code Optional Customer Postal Code.AttributeString

Optional Up to 15 -_- delimited attribute valuesaccessible in Explore reporting. SeeAppendix 8.4 for more details.

Extra Fields Optional Up to 15 -_- delimited extrafield values

accessible through optional Standard DataExport. If desired, these values can beautomatically copied from the Attribute Stringby calling cmSetupOther({"cmAutoCopyAttributesToExtraFields":true});on the page prior to tag function calls.

Technical Properties TagsThe Technical Properties tag is automatically executed on the firstpageofthevisitorssession. Thereforethereisnoneedtomanually execute the Technical Properties tag. The Technical Properties tag gathers technical information about the visitorssystem. This includes browser type, operating system, monitor resolution and depth, and JavaScript version among othervalues.

Implementation Checklist1 Create NS records in DNS (for Coremetrics-Managed first party data collection only)2 Place Javascript library file src= include and tagging code on pages

3 Perform unit testing on each tag type and major site section using Tagbar, ITT, and Test Reports


16/25

IBM Corporation 16


Testing Phase I

Testing for Phase I involves checking testing tool data output for the following things:

1. Correct Page View tags on all pages

a. Correct and expected Page ID values

2. Correct Order tag on all order completion pages (typically a single receipt page per site sending data).

a. Correct Order ID, Order Total, Order Shipping, Customer ID, and demographic City/State or Province/PostalCode data

The TagBar

The TagBar is described in Page 9 above. It should be used to test each page as it is created and rendered to ensure all tagswithin the page are working and passing the required values to Coremetrics.

The Implementation Test Tool (ITT)Description

The Implementation Test Tool is a web-based interface that allows a client to see what data has reached thetest.coremetrics.com environment. Data is sent to Test and ITT system by calling the cmSetClientID() function using the 6-series test ID. During development of Coremetrics tags, the Implementation Test Tool should be used periodically to verifythat the data sent in the tags is reaching the Coremetrics test environment in the appropriate format.Data received through tags will usually be displayed in the Implementation Test Tool within minutes of being sent. Only datafor the current day will be available, as the data gets rolled off at the end of each day at 10:00pm CDT.

Where to find it

The Implementation Test Tool can be accessed at http://itt.coremetrics.com. You will be asked to provide a user name and

password to access the site. Please contact the Implementation Support Team for assistance with ITT login credentials.

How to use it

ITT requires the user to fill in certain information and choose which set of data is to be accessed. The fields that must beentered are:

Client ID The client specific id assigned by Coremetrics forthe particular site.

Cookie ID Select one of the three options:All Cookies will show data for all activity.

Other Cookie will show data for the specific cookieid entered in the field.

Date range The date/time of the data to be accessed. If leftblank this will retrieve all data available.Note: Only data for the current day is available,since the data gets rolled off every day

Data Type Specifies the type of data the user is interested inseeing from ITT. Most of these types correspondwith specific Coremetrics tags.

Please direct any questions you may have about these input values to your Implementation Engineer.


17/25

IBM Corporation 17


Test Reports

Description

Coremetrics test reports are available upon request from Coremetrics Support. This subset of production reports is used toevaluate test site data collection and reporting prior to production launch. Activation or re-activation of test reporting can be

requested [email protected]. Test report data retention period is limited to five weeks. Only data up to fiveweeks in the past can be accessed in the test reporting. Test reports are automatically deactivated and all test data deleted ifeither of the following conditions are met for 30 consecutive days: 1) no logon to the associated 6-series test ID has occured;2) no data has been sent to the 6-series test ID.

Where to find them

Coremetrics test reports can be accessed at: http://welcome.coremetrics.com

Use your 6-series test ID to log on. Please contact Coremetrics Support in order to get access to these reports.

How to use them

In order to access the test reports, you must enter the Client id, username, and password. Once logged in, you will be takento the reporting interface. The reports that will be most useful during the tagging phase will be the Topline Summary, ContentAnalysis and On Site Search reports.

Implementation Checklist

1 Request test tag validation from Coremetrics

2 Correct issues identified by test tag validation

3 Client business users sign off on test report data

4 Complete internal QA process to approve code for push to production

5 Confirm correct data collection domain setup (for Coremetrics-Managed first party data collectiononly)
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]:[email protected]


18/25

IBM Corporation 18


Go Live Phase I

Test vs. Production EnvironmentsCoremetrics provides two environments for clients to use test and production. The test environment,testdata.coremetrics.com, should be used while tags on the site are in development, i.e. in your development or stagingenvironments. The production environment, data.coremetrics.com or your assigned Coremetrics-Managed 1st PartySubdomain, should be used once the tags are moved to the live production site.

Deploy to ProductionThe following page is pointed to the production environment.

cmSetClientID ("99999999",true,"data.coremetrics.com","thesite.com");

Check with TagBarOnce the code had been deployed to the production environment the TagBar tool should be used again to ensure the r ight

data is being sent.

Implementation Checklist

1 Push tagging code to live environment and confirm that live site data is going to correct datacollection domain and Client ID.

2 Request production tag validation

3 Correct any tagging issues identified in production tag validation

4 Evaluate Commerce Metrics in http://welcome.coremetrics.com test reporting - Reports / SiteMetrics / Top Line Metrics: Sales and Order metrics. The number of Orders and the Salesamount reported should correspond to the orders and sales as seperately reported by yourecommerce site or other available financial reporting.

5 Evaluate LIVEview reporting and correct normalization as necessary

6 Request Report Walkthrough from Coremetrics

7 Request data deletion as necessary (please provide at least 48 hours notice)

8 Send acknowledgement of Phase I project completion to Implementation Engineer andImplementation Manager

9 Implementation Engineer will provide administrator logon access to production reports andrequest scheduling of Phase I Implementation Training
http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/


19/25

IBM Corporation 19


Appendix A - Tagging Framed Pages

Pages that are going to be part of a frameset require requires special considerations. An additional Coremetrics includefile isrequired in the parent frameset of the framed page. This includefile, cmframeset.js, contains code to set the referral URL andpass on important query string parameters from the parent frameset to the first Page View of its children.

Referral URL

Because of the way browsers work, all children pages within a frameset appear to have the same referral URL of the parentframeset. Since one of the standard Coremetrics conventions of tagging uses the referral URL provided by the browser for thetags, the cmframeset.jsfile has been created to properly get the referral URL within framed pages to be the URL for the tags.

Query String Parameters

Certain query string parameters for parent framesets must be captured within Coremetrics Page View tags. However thesequery string parameters are never passed because the parent frameset does not have a tag in it. In order to capture theseparameters, they must be passed into the first Page View tag sent by any of its children. An example of query stringparameters that need to be captured by Coremetrics are Marketing Management Center (MMC) parameters (see Appendix B).

External campaigns that point to a framed page will need to contain MMC parameters within their query string in order toattribute clickthroughs and activity to the campaign. These parameters must be captured by the first Page View in the visitors

session. Because the parent frameset contains the MMC parameters in its destination URL but does not send a tag, the MMCparameters must be passed on to one of the children pages that does throw a tag. The cmframeset.jsfile contains code toparse out the MMC parameters and attach them to the URL of the first Page View tag thrown by its children. This enablesMMC tracking to occur correctly.

Other query string parameters can be passed on to the children Page Views in the same manner. In order to do this, a simplechange must be made to the cmframeset.jsfile. Please consult your Implementation Engineer to make this change ifnecessary.

Examples

The following is an example of a frameset that includes the cmframeset.js file.


20/25

IBM Corporation 20


Appendix B Link Tracking

This section describes how to track links through Coremetrics. Link tracking takes place through the use of URL query stringparameters that indicate particular links that you want to track. Coremetrics sets aside a set of specific query string parametersto be used. The type of link that will need to be tracked will dictate which type of query string parameter to use.

Typically, the link tracking described in this section is handled post-implementation. This information is included here so thatyou can start planning for how to add the appropriate URL parameters into links that you want to track. The CoremetricsAccount Team is available to provide guidance on these subjects in more detail during your training and other post-implementation activities.

External Marketing Campaigns

In order to track clickthroughs from links in external marketing campaigns like banner ads, paid search, or promotional emails,you should take advantage of the Marketing Programs report. By appending a Marketing Programs parameter to the querystring of the links you want to track, called the MMC parameter, the system will automatically identify and attribute the activityof that visitor to the appropriate link.

The MMC parameter must be in the destination URL of the first Coremetrics tagged page that the visitor lands on in order tobe tracked. No special JavaScript tagging is needed on the page, however, so long as the Coremetrics libraries and a PageView tag are present on the page.

For the format of the URL parameter and instructions on its use, please see the Coremetrics Link Generator spreadsheet.Your Implementation Engineer or Account Analyst can provide this tool if you do not have it.

Onsite Links

Tracking onsite links through Coremetrics can be done using the Real Estate or Site Promotions reports. The type of link thatyou want to track will dictate which report to use. Both will involve using URL parameters similar to the MMC parameter.

The Real Estate Analysis report is used to track links within the same page to see how certain areas of a given page performwith relation to each other. Links are tracked by adding a new parameter to the URL query string.

The Site Promotions report can be used to track the performance of a link across multiple pages. This can be useful if youwant to track promotions that you have running on your site across multiple pages. Site Promotions will capture impressionsas well as clickthroughs of the promotions.

For more information on the specific URL parameters required for Real Estate and Site Promotions analysis, please see theCoremetrics Link Generator spreadsheet.


21/25

IBM Corporation 21


Appendix C External Page TaggingIntroduction

Coremetrics tracks data at the browser level. Data is captured when a page on your site is rendered within the end usersbrowser. As the page is rendered, JavaScript code function calls, or Tags, placed in the page will gather data andencapsulate it in an image request that is sent to the Coremetrics servers. These tags are sent in two ways. Either theappropriate tag is called from within the web page (as covered in the previous sections of this document) or the eluminatelibrary sends a tag as the result of a web page event such as a link click or a form submit.

These methods cannot be used to track external site pages, pdf files, and other pages that cannot call the Coremetricsjavascript libraries or where the HTML content cannot be changed to add the Coremetrics Pageview Tag. Because it is notpossible to send tags from within the target, a tag must be sent using the onClick event of the object that calls the target page.

As described earlier, Coremetrics tracks pages using the Pageview tag. Any page that is tracked by Coremetrics needs to calla Pageview tag or one of the tags that implicitly call a Pageview tag. The Pageview tag has a minimum of two parameters, theunique PageID and the optional CategoryID. Other parameters may be supplied depending upon the page being a searchpage or depending on other customizations specific to the client. The Pageview tag also collects the Destination URL and theReferring URL from the page it is called from.

However, as the Pageview tag cannot be in the external page, these values cannot be collected. The Manual Pageview

tagallows these additional values to be supplied as parameters. The Manual Pageview parameters all refer to the external page.

The pageIDshould be a unique identifier for the external page.

The categoryIDshould be the category for the external page.

The ReferringURL should be the url for the page on which the link to the external page resides.

The DestinationURL should be the url including arguments for the external page.

If the external page is a search landing page, the searchTerm can pass the search term being sent to the external page.

Some Client IDs may be configured with a Client Domain List. This is a list of approved domains for the Coremetrics servers.Tags for that Client ID will be rejected unless the domain in the destination url value is on the Client Domain List. If a ClientDomain List is enabled, rejection of tags may be avoided by adding the external domain to the white list. It is not always

possible to add the domain of the external page to the Client Domain List as the domains for external pages may vary withtime and keeping the Client Domain List current is problematic. The number of external domains is also a factor. Using adestination url parameter with a domain that is on the Client Domain List and a dummy folder allows the tag to be accepted.The existence of these dummy folders in the Coremetrics reports will indicate that this was an external page.

The syntax for this tag is:

cmCreateManualPageviewTag(pageID, categoryID,DestinationURL,ReferringURL,searchTerm);

where:pageIdis the unique identifier for the external pagecategoryIDis the reporting category of the pageDestinationURL is the URL address of the external pageReferringURL is the URL address of the page that contains the link to theexternal page that calls the tag

If the external page is a search landing page, the searchTerm is the search string being sent to that page.

Example

This example sets an onClick handler to a link that calls an Adobe Acrobat file:

cmCreateManualPageviewTag(pageID,categoryID,DestinationURL, ReferringURL)

FAQ Document

Note that you must use single quotes in the tag and double quotes inside the cmCreatePageviewTag function.


22/25

IBM Corporation 22


Appendix D Coremetrics Reports - Tag Matrix Blue columns indicate tag data collected with Phase I tagging Reports not populated by Phase I tagging will not be

available until Phase II tagging is deployed

Yellow columns indicate tag data collected with Phase II tagging

PageView

Order TechProps

LinkClick

LinkImpn

FormAction

ProductView

ShopAction

Reg. ElementTag

EventTag

Top LineMetrics

X X X X X

Monitor X X X X X X X

VisitorPurchaseFunnel

X X X X X

SessionPurchaseFunnel

X X X X

Session Event

Funnel

X X

Geography X X

TechnicalProperties

X

MarketingChannels

X X

MarketingPrograms

X X

MarketingZoom

X

Natural Search X X

Referring

Sites

X X

Multi-SourceMarketing

X X

ProductCategories

X X

Product Zoom X X

Top BrowsedItems

X X

TopAbandonedItems

X X

Cross SoldItems

X

Onsite Search X X X

PageCategories

X X X


23/25

IBM Corporation 23


PageView

Order TechProps

LinkClick

LinkImpn

FormAction

ProductView

ShopAction

Reg. ElementTag

EventTag

Page Zoom X X

Top VisitedPages

X

Top EntryPages

X

TopDeparturePages

X

Real Estate X X X X X

SitePromotions

X X X X X

Elements X

ClickStream

X X

True Path X X X

FormAnalysis

X

FormAnalysis

Zoom

X

LIVEview X X X X X

InboundLinkAnalysis

X X X

On-SiteLinkAnalysis

X X

ReportSegments

X X X X X X

Segmentation -OverviewTab

X X X X

Segmentation - Top

Pages Tab

X X

Segmentation - TopItems Tab

X

Segmentation - EmailExtract

X

Segmentation - VisitorTab

X X X X

Segmentation - BuyerTab

X X X X


24/25

IBM Corporation 24


Appendix E Parameters and TagsThis table shows the parameters passed to Coremetrics and the tags that pass them.R = RequiredO = OptionalBlue Rows and fields indicate tags and tag parameters applicable to Phase I. All other tags and parameters are implemented

as part of Phase II.PageView

Order Prod.View

ShopAction

5

ShopAction

9

Reg. Error Element Event

ActionType

R

CategoryID

R R R R O

CustomerCity

O O

CustomerEmail

O

CustomerID

R R R

CustomerState

O O

CustomerZip

O O

ElementCategory

R

Element ID R

EventCategoryID

R

Event ID R

Event

Points

O

Order ID R R

OrderShipping

R

OrderSubtotal

R R

Page ID R R

Product ID R R R

ProductName

R R R

Quantity R R

SearchResults

O

SearchTerm

O

Unit Price R R


25/25

Appendix F Phase I Implementation ChecklistDesign

1 Received assigned Client IDs

2 Choose data collection subdomain and send SSL Cert information to Coremetrics (for

Coremetrics-Managed first party data collection only)3 Create convention for PageIDs, OrderID and CustomerID

Development

4 Create NS records in DNS (for Coremetrics-Managed first party data collection only)

5 Place Javascript library src= includes and tagging code on pages

6 Perform unit testing on each tag type and major site section using Tagbar, ITT, and Test Reports

Testing

7 Request test tag validation from Coremetrics

8 Correct issues identified by test tag validation

9 Client business users sign off on test report data

10 Complete internal QA process to approve code for push to productionGo-Live

11 Push tagging code to live environment and confirm that live site data is going to correct datacollection domain and Client ID.

12 Request production tag validation

13 Correct any tagging issues identified in production tag validation

14 Evaluate Commerce Metrics in http://welcome.coremetrics.com test reporting - Reports / SiteMetrics / Top Line Metrics: Sales and Order metrics. The number of Orders and the Salesamount reported should correspond to the orders and sales as seperately reported by yourecommerce site or other available financial reporting.

15 Evaluate LIVEview reporting and correct normalization as necessary

16 Request Report Walkthrough from Coremetrics

17 Request data deletion as necessary (please provide at least 48 hours notice)

18 Send acknowledgement of Phase I project completion to Implementation Engineer andImplementation Manager

19 Implementation Engineer will provide administrator logon access to production reports andrequest scheduling of Phase I Implementation Training
http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/http://welcome.coremetrics.com/

Core Metrics Implementation Guide - Phase I

Documents

Transcript of Core Metrics Implementation Guide - Phase I