The subject of today's article is "things we do, well, because, and which we should stop doing." https://media.giphy.com/media/3oKIPj8bJ9ky9ubKGQ/source.gif Below, you can find a list of things that I, personally, would a) not do anymore, and b) like to eradicate from any deployments I have ever participated in. I'd also like to erase them from my … Continue reading Out with the Old!
Tag: prop
Don’t track New/Repeat Visitors!
In a rare case of development on my part, I am today going to tell you to not follow the advice in an article I wrote some time ago. I'm talking about Plugins: New/Repeat vs VisitNum. At the time I told you to do your friendly marketer a favour, track visit number for her instead … Continue reading Don’t track New/Repeat Visitors!
SPAs, DTM, and clearVars
For some reason, I see a lot of SPAs right now, some of them actually embedded into otherwise harmless and perfectly likable web sites. I guess they're not going to go away anytime soon. This article is part of my "don't fight it" exercise. It is a follow-up to the article on tracking single-page applications. … Continue reading SPAs, DTM, and clearVars
DTM – How to Amend an Existing Analytics Setup
(Let me state right here at the beginning that judging by the feedback I got from my beta testers editors, this article may not be for the faint of heart. If you think Javascript should be treated with respect, you might want to stop reading.) Have you ever seen the '[x] Page code is already … Continue reading DTM – How to Amend an Existing Analytics Setup
Quick Tip: Delayed Tracking with DTM
Sometimes you find yourself in a situation where you need to track something outside the normal way. Examples can be when you want to track data that is not available directly on page load, such as product availability. Easy: use DTM In theory, this should be easy: Just make a Page Load Rule, set "Trigger … Continue reading Quick Tip: Delayed Tracking with DTM
With DTM you don’t need Data Elements
Slight deviation this week, but we're still on the path to glory a setup of Adobe Analytics and Dynamic Tag Manager (DTM) that is as close to perfection as possible. The deviation today has to do with a question I was asked about a month ago: how can I track an attribute of a clicked … Continue reading With DTM you don’t need Data Elements
Tagging Forms (w/o Losing Money)
Our post today will touch on two separate subjects (tagging of forms and limiting server calls (and therefore cost) in certain situations). Those two work together very well, so I decided to mix them together. Two subjects in one posting. Surely that's a good deal! Forms A lot of web sites live entirely to provide visitors … Continue reading Tagging Forms (w/o Losing Money)
Using Data Feeds for Debugging
When I wrote about debugging mobile apps some time ago I mentioned that one way to get data out of SiteCatalyst Adobe Analytics for troubleshooting is the so-called "Data Feeds" — flat files of raw data delivered by FTP, containing one line per every hit sent. BIG data When you looked at the URL of … Continue reading Using Data Feeds for Debugging
Quick Tip: Save Variables
In the post about "Variables" I neglected to mention one important characteristic of Adobe Analytics: with each Report Suite, you get 75 props (traffic variables), 75 eVars (conversion variables) and 100 events. Now everyone who has ever worked in the field will tell you that 75/75/100 is ample for everyone. And it really is. But … Continue reading Quick Tip: Save Variables
2 Good Reasons to use Context Data
My colleague Carl Sandquist recently wrote "Although you may get a bit teary-eyed bidding farewell to expounding on the differences of eVars and props to your developers, we’re sure you’ll eventually get over it." He's obviously right about this: developers will shed no tears if they never have to see props or eVars ever again. … Continue reading 2 Good Reasons to use Context Data
Web Analytics for Developers 
