Pixel URL Tracking
In addition to other tracking techniques, one of the most flexible and trusted solutions is Pixel Tracking. It is flexible in a way that merchants who use this method have full control of the information collected by scripts which can be specific to their needs.
Click on ‘Reports’ on the upper-right corner.
Next, click on the ‘API’s & Tracking’ button.
The following screen will show:
Figure 17: Tracking Settings
Notice the third option: Display a Tracking Pixel on Confirmation Page.
By enabling this option, Upclick will automatically “fire” a pixel for every Confirmation Page of any product on this account. The source URL for this pixel will be the URL you specify in the text box on the right.
Writing a real pixel page could sometimes be tricky for the non-technical merchants. Common problems include p3p policies compatibility when calling resources from other domains on modern browsers. In this case the tracking page should return back an image. To make it easier for merchants to bypass this problem technically, Upclick generates an IFRAME for the “pixel” instead of an image, having as source the URL specified as pixel URL:
<!--tracking iframe--> <iframe src="https://tracking.mydomain.com/pixel.gif" width="1px" height="1px" style="border-width: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px; border-style:hidden;" ></iframe> |
This approach technically allows the merchant to run any kind of scripting in the Iframe. The IFrame itself can contain multiple tracking scripts that the merchant wants to fire (Google, Yahoo, etc...)
The URL for the “Pixel URL” should be always hosted on a secure location (https), in order to avoid browser prompts for the users displayed upon un-secure requests.
In most cases, the merchant would want to collect more information about the order, besides the ad-hoc information that browsers can provide (IP address, browser type, etc).
Upclick supports a set of parameters, called “Tags for Dynamic Pixel Tracking“, which can be passed in the Pixel URL. In the Confirmation Page, when we create the Iframe and Iframe source, tags will be replaced by their real values.
A URL such as the following:
https://tracking.mydomain.com/track.asp?ord=[GlobalOrderID]&sku=[ProductID]
Will end up being called with the real order details
https://tracking.mydomain.com/track.asp?ord=U446XFXC&sku=P005608
You can find the list of dynamic tags supported by UpClick’s checkout in the table below:
GlobalOrderID |
Order ID of the transaction |
CurrencyISO
|
Currency in ISO format. Example: 1. USD = US Dollars 2. GBP = British Pounds 3. EUR = Euros 4. AUD = Australian Dollars 5. CAD = Canadian Dollars |
FirstName |
Customer’s First Name. |
LastName |
Customer’s Last Name. |
|
Customer’s Email Address. |
CountryISO |
Country Name. |
ProductID
|
Product ID that is visible in the list view in the merchant account. If the product is sold as a main product, the ID will be the same as the one found on this location: http://www.upclick. com/Members/ProductList.aspx If it is sold as a cross-sell with another main product, the ID will be the same as the one found on this location: http://www.upclick.com/Members/ OfferList.aspx |
ProductLevel |
Determines if the product is sold as Main Product or Cross Sell. For main product, the value will be "MainProduct" and for cross-sell, it will be "NetWorkXSell". |
Quantity |
The quantity sold. |
ProductPrice |
The main product price in the original currency. |
CartTotal |
The cart total amount in the original currency. |
Custom1 |
Custom Tracking Parameter 1 specified by the merchant. |
Custom2 |
Custom Tracking Parameter 2 specified by the merchant. |
MSKU |
Merchant product SKU as defined in Product Definition section |
The details for the supported tags could be also accessed in the merchant account.
Click on ‘Reports’ on the upper-right corner.
Next, click on the ‘API’s & Tracking’ button.
The following screen will appear:
Figure 18: Tracking Settings
Under the third option ‘Display a Tracking Pixel on Confirmation Page’ click the link for Setup instructions.
Here are two examples for correct usage of pixel URL with Tags:
Example 1 Your provider requires you to write a Pixel URL in the following format: https://www.yourpixelprovider.com/Your_Account_ID/Order_ID/Product_SKU/Quantity Solution: Use Tags in "square brackets" [ ] and put them in the Pixel Tracking URL field as follows: https://www.yourpixelprovider.com/Your_Account_ID/[GlobalOrderID]/[ProductID]/[Quantity] |
Example 2 Your provider requires you to write a Pixel URL in the following format: Solution: Use Tags in "square brackets" [ ] when you specify your Pixel Tracking URL as follows: |
Important Notes:
|
The Pixel URL option enabled in your Account will trigger automatically by default the pixel in all Confirmation Pages. If, for specific product/checkout combinations you would like to trigger a different custom pixel URL, Upclick checkout allows merchant to specify different pixels per checkout, which will overwrite the global one (configured in the API’s & Tracking section).
To do so, under ‘My Checkout Links’, navigate to the ‘Manage Tracking Campaigns’ section. When you add/edit a Tracking campaign you can define various tracking options for your specific needs.
Pixel Tracking URL is defined in Step 2 and is also part of this configuration.
The following Figure illustrates the screen where you can define Pixel URLs that will override the general pixel URL defined under Reports ---> API’s & Tracking section.
Figure 19: Third party tracking
When you define a checkout link you will have to choose which of the tracking campaigns to use on the purchase event.
The next chapter ‘Tracking Campaigns’ is dedicated to the other tracking options you have.