RunSignUp and Google Analytics (Part Three)

At this point, you’re almost a Google Analytics and RunSignUp expert. You’ve read about the basics of RunSignUp and Google Analytics, and you’ve configured your website and RunSignUp to support cross domain tracking. However, rather than linking to RunSignUp for registration, you are taking advantage of the RunSignUp widgets, and are hosing registration directly on your own website. Since these aren’t links to RunSignUp, configuring your website and RunSignUp as described in the previous articles doesn’t quite do the trick, as there is one more step to complete cross-domain tracking support for RunSignUp widgets. Don’t worry though; we’ve got you covered here too!

There are two separate walk-throughs on installing RunSignUp Google Analytics depending on the type of Google Analytics you have installed on your website. Below are the updates needed to install widgets that support cross-domain tracking on both Asynchronous and Universal Google Analytics. This installation is a tad more technical, so you’ll want to have your Webmaster nearby!

Both the Asynchronous and Universal Widget installations follow the same general principles. First the Google Analytics code is loaded, so it’s functions are available to the RunSignUp widgets. Second, a placeholder is installed in the location that the widget should be placed. Third, the RunSignUp JavaScript runs building the widget and placing it in the correct location. An important note of this part of the script is it will contain a “try / catch” so just in case there is a problem with Google Analytics the widget will continue to load correctly.

Example Universal Google Analytics Widget Installation

So what does this all mean?!  Well, the code is broken into three different sections. First is the main Google Analytics script, this should already be installed on your website if you’ve already setup Universal Google Analytics. The important thing to note about this first section of Google Analytics code, is that it needs to be running before the RunSignUp widget since the widget will rely upon Google Analytics functions.

The second piece of this code is the Widget Placeholder. This part of the code should be installed on your website exactly where you want the widget to appear. There is no customization needed in this second piece of code, it is simply holding a location on the website for the widget to appear once it has been loaded and configured. Without this placeholder, the RunSignUp widget would automatically build at the bottom of the page, once the rest of the site’s content has loaded.

The third piece of this code is the part that actually builds the RunSignUp widget, and then tells the placeholder it is ready to load. There are a couple of important customizations that must be made when installing your specific widget based on this code. First, you’ll need to switch the “widgetId” parameter in both locations it is listed replacing the placeholder with your specific widget ID. Second, if you have an affiliate code, you will want to replace affiliate token placeholder with your token. If you do not have an affiliate code, simply delete the placeholder (including the “&” symbol prior to the parameter). Once you’ve switched the placeholders with your IDs, you should be all set!

Example Asynchronous Google Analytics Widget Installation

As with the Universal Analytics installation, this code is segmented into three areas. The first section of the code is the Google Analytics script, which should already be installed on the site from the previous setup steps. The important thing to note here is that the Asynchronous Google Analytics must be loaded onto the site prior to executing the RunSignUp widget.

The second section of code here is a simple placeholder. This should be placed on the website exactly where you want the RunSignUp widget to load. If you don’t include this placeholder, then the RunSignUp widget will load at the bottom of the page after the rest of the website’s content.

The third and final part of the script is the process that builds the RunSignUp widget, and then tells the system that it is ready, and loads the widget into the placeholder. There are two important parameters that should be updated in this third part of the script, the “widgetId” placeholder and the “aflt_token” if you have one. If you do not have an aflt_token, then you can remove this parameter from the widget script. Also be sure to update the placeholders in both the “try” and “catch” section of the code, to make sure even if there is a problem with Google Analytics, your widget loads correctly.

Installation Complete!

If you’ve followed all of the steps from Part One, Part Two and this, the last installment of the RunSignUp and Google Analytics series you’re RunSignUp and Google Analytics should be fully configured. Your Google Analytics will now support cross-domain tracking, and will include full E-commerce information including the number of transactions, dollar amounts, and correct attribution of the transactions to their original sources. As always though, be sure to run a couple of tests to make sure that the widget was installed correctly, and that Google Analytics is correctly processing information prior to launching your major media campaigns.