Using Google Analytics™ in Certain.
This document will guide you through setting up Google Analytics in Certain.
If page hits are tracked to registration forms and event websites, Google Analytics can be used. Certain provides seamless integration with Google Analytics for this purpose.
Google Analytics is a free service offered by Google. Google Analytics generates detailed statistics about visits to a website. Site activities that can be tracked include site visits, page views, pages per visit, average time on site, and referring URLs. To do this, a Google Analytics Tracking ID is obtained from Google. The Tracking ID is added to Certain. Certain uses the Tracking ID in the HTML of all attendee-facing pages that should be tracked in Certain.
For details of the cookies added to Certain forms and websites when using Google Analytics, see the separate guide to “Cookies in Certain”.
> Note: Certain uses Google Analytics internally for some aspects of the Certain platform. An administrator can disable this. See Certain Google Analytics” in your Account.
Contents
1. Set Up a Google Analytics Website Profile
- Website Profile
- Tracking ID
2. Configure your Event for Google Analytics
3. Add a Tracking ID to an Event Website
4. Add a Tracking ID to an Event Registration Form
- Enable page-specific, page-level URLs
5. Add a Tracking ID to a Speaker Portal
6. “Certain Google Analytics” in your Account
Set Up a Google Analytics Website Profile
To sign up for a Google Analytics account, go to www.google.com/analytics, and follow the instructions to sign up for an Analytics account.
Website Profile
When a Google Analytics account is set up, the setup includes the first Website Profile. One Website Profile per Certain event is recommended. This Website Profile setup enables site traffic tracking for each event separately. Google provides a separate Tracking ID for each registered Website Profile.
When the URL for the Website Profile is entered, the domain name portion of the URL that is used to access Certain is entered.
An example domain name for a Standard edition customer is “www.certain.com”. An example domain name for an Enterprise edition customer is the first part of the URL that is accessed with Certain, such as “registration.example.com”.
Tracking ID
When the Tracking Instructions page is displayed, the Tracking ID is copied. The Tracking ID is in the format “UA-12345678‐1”.
You will later paste this Tracking ID into Certain.
> Note: Do not copy the long “tracking code”. The long “tracking code” is the snippet of JavaScript code consisting of several lines beginning “<script>” and ending “</script>”.
Copy just the short Tracking ID. An example short Tracking ID is “UA-12345678‐1”.
Certain dynamically generates the relevant code to use that Tracking ID in Certain registration forms and websites.
Configure your Event for Google Analytics
Google Analytics can be used for an event by following these instructions:
1. In the event, go to Plan > Configure > Options. 2. In the Global Settings section, enter (or paste) the Tracking ID into the Event-level default Google Analytics Tracking ID field. 3. Click Save to save your settings.
Add a Tracking ID to an Event Website
If a Google Analytics Tracking ID is entered at the event level, event websites automatically inherit that Tracking ID.
In some cases, tracking traffic for an event website only is required. In these cases, a different Tracking ID can be entered at the website level. A Tracking ID entered for the website will override the ID entered at the event level.
To use Google Analytics with a separate Tracking ID for an event website, follow these steps:
1. In the event, go to the Promote > Websites > Setup page for that website. 2. In the Website Setup section, enter (or paste) the Tracking ID into the Google Analytics Tracking ID field. 3. Click Save.
Add a Tracking ID to an Event Registration Form
If a Google Analytics Tracking ID is entered at the event level, all registration forms automatically include the code to use that Tracking ID.
In some cases, traffic tracking is desired separately for each registration form. In these cases, separate Google Analytics Tracking IDs can be used. This setup is typically used for “series” type events in Certain. A series of recurring events is set up as a single event. Each recurring event or meeting has a separate registration form.
A Tracking ID entered for the form will override the event-level Tracking ID, if one was entered.
To set up Google Analytics for an individual registration form, follow these steps:
1. In the event, go to Plan > Forms > Setup for that form. 2. In the Setup Information section, enter (or paste) the Tracking ID into the Google Analytics Tracking ID field. 3. Click Save to save your changes.
Enable page-specific, page-level URLs
By default, hits to registration form pages are not tracked at the individual level. This means individual pages in a single registration form cannot be tracked. After a registrant proceeds beyond the entry page, the form URL is the same for all following pages.
This behavior can be changed by setting labels to Enable page-specific, page-level URLs. To do this, follow these steps:
1. In the event, go to Plan > Forms > Setup for that form. 2. In the Page & URL Titles section, select Enable page-specific, page-level URL? 3. A list of text fields is displayed, numbered from 1 to n. n is the number of pages included in the form’s Online Form Sequence. 4. In each field, an optional text label can be entered. The text label is added preceded by # to the URL for that page.
> Caution: The examples shown, such as “Entry” or “Registrant Details”, are placeholders with suggested text. To use this feature, your own text must be entered.
This setup enables each page of the form to have its own unique URL. Form progress can then be tracked via embedded web tracking codes.
For example, if the label for page 1 is set to "ENTRY", the URL for the first page is something like:
https:yourdomain/profile/form/index.cfm#PKformID=0x12345678all#ENTRY
You can then use that page-unique URL in your web analytics.
> (Technical note: This was introduced in Certain 5.6. Without these labels, the URLs for each page seem identical; in the example above, https:yourdomain/profile/form/index.cfm#PKformID=0x12345678.)
Add a Tracking ID to a Speaker Portal
If the Speaker and Session Management module is used in an event, the Speaker Portal can have a Google Analytics Tracking ID.
In the event, go to Manage > Speakers and Sessions > Speaker Portal and click Settings. The settings configuration page includes a Google Analytics Tracking ID field.
If a Tracking ID is entered at the event level, the Speaker Portal automatically inherits the Tracking ID. A separate Tracking ID can be specified for the Speaker Portal.
If a separate Tracking ID is not entered, visits to speaker portal pages are tracked using the event-level code, if there is one.
If a Tracking ID is entered here, the Google Analytics visit statistics can be viewed. In Google Analytics, visit Content > Event > Overview to see the visit statistics for each Speaker Portal page separately. Example Speaker Portal pages include: My Information, My Tasks, and My Sessions.
“Certain Google Analytics” in your Account
Certain uses some Google analytics in the platform itself.
An Administrator can choose to disable this for an account. To do so, the administrator goes to Account Settings > Implementation > Security page. The administrator clears the Certain Google Analytics check box.