Simple Google Analytics - Support

If I'm installing this mod for the first time on a store using ZenCart version 1.3.8a, which version of the mod should I install? Will the most recent 1.3.9 version be compatible, or should I download the older version for 1.3.8?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this

CreepyD:

I posted a thread, but I now see this thread!
Simple problem, hopefully a simple fix.

My website is not passing the session information to Paypal, so when they return to the site to complete the sale google analytics shows every sale as [mysite].co.uk instead of the actual traffic source. The traffic source does show up correct in other areas of analytics, just not for purchases.
In Paypal I have added utm_nooverride=1 to the return page in Paypal's settings - That's suppose to pass the session back from Paypal to my site.
So my guess is that it's still not working as my site is not passing the info to Paypal.

I assume I have to add something in my google_analytics.co.uk to do that?

If I understand you correctly, you'll need to capture the info passed via PayPal (in the query string) and add that to GA.

If you can pull this off, the best way of doing this is to send a a variable that Google Already tracks back in your pass back query string.

Try using the Google URL builder to get the proper parameter in there.

http://www.google.com/support/analytics/bin/answer.py?answer=55578

Let me know if this helps.

BlessIsaacola:

econcepts, how does setting Recreation Session in Admin - Session to True affect this mod? Obviously, when this is set to true, the session will change when the customer attempts to login or create account. How does this affect tracking?

Thanks!

Recreating the session has no effect on this tracking mod. It tracks the same person all the way through via Google (with cookies etc...)

They will be seen as the same 'unique visitor' either way you set it.

Argon09:

If I'm installing this mod for the first time on a store using ZenCart version 1.3.8a, which version of the mod should I install? Will the most recent 1.3.9 version be compatible, or should I download the older version for 1.3.8?

Thanks in advance for any advice on this

Any version of this mod will work for your needs. The best option is to choose the newest version.

econcepts:

Recreating the session has no effect on this tracking mod. It tracks the same person all the way through via Google (with cookies etc...)

They will be seen as the same 'unique visitor' either way you set it.

Thank you so much for the clarification. So glad to read this! I am also curious if you plan some day in the future to convert your yahoo tracking for Microsoft Adcenter.

econcepts:

Google says the newest code will give you the 'most' information. However, many people don't even know 'how or where' to find that info (or even set it up) by using new tracking codes so it doesn't matter.

All forms of tracking will provide you with the basic info you need to run a successful business. I've found that the ga.js tracking code produces a larger margin of error specifically with regard to ecommerce tracking (inconsistent reporting) so I never personally use that.

I tend to stay with either the older urchin methods (for most accurate results) and have been migrating to the asych tracking on a few sites. ONce I determine the asych tracking is as accurate in core data (the info I use to run a business) as the legacy urchin code I'll migrate to that fully.

Quoting this post from February. Is this still the current conclusion, to use urchin.js, or has anything changed? I see a note in the mod that the author found that the urchin.js is more accurate, but that was dated back in 2008. I'm still missing 15-20% of my transactions from the Analytics report using urchin.js, but I don't know of ga.js has improved in the last couple years.

Or what's this about asynch tracking? Will it be updated in the mod?

BlessIsaacola:

Thank you so much for the clarification. So glad to read this! I am also curious if you plan some day in the future to convert your yahoo tracking for Microsoft Adcenter.

Yes, actually I have it running on a few of my own sites now (converted) but need to make it "public ready" (which I have yet to do.)

Once I get to that point (MSN tracks differently than Yahoo did and a few of the variables make it a little more complex to 'standardize') I'll release it.

fakeDecoy:

Quoting this post from February. Is this still the current conclusion, to use urchin.js, or has anything changed? I see a note in the mod that the author found that the urchin.js is more accurate, but that was dated back in 2008. I'm still missing 15-20% of my transactions from the Analytics report using urchin.js, but I don't know of ga.js has improved in the last couple years.

Or what's this about asynch tracking? Will it be updated in the mod?

If you are using the urchin version of the code (legacy tracking) then you should not have that big of a difference unless something else is not setup correctly (at least that is what I find from my experience.)

The ga.js version tracks ok with everything EXCEPT, everyone still using it reports Ecommerce Tracking to be off pretty significantly in some cases.

The newest version of this module has Asych tracking built into it and that is an option you could use as well. I have not seen any problems using that to date and in a few cases have switched over to that on a number of sites.

econcepts:

Yes, actually I have it running on a few of my own sites now (converted) but need to make it "public ready" (which I have yet to do.)

Once I get to that point (MSN tracks differently than Yahoo did and a few of the variables make it a little more complex to 'standardize') I'll release it.

Thank you for the update! Looking forward to it and if you need testers we'd be happy to test it for you.

I just noticed an odd behavior after upgrading to 1.2.4. Please note that this issue may have been there before now, I just didn't notice it until today.

If you have an order for an item that uses attribute the order transaction details in Google Analytic is not reporting correctly. So let's say for example a custom buys t-shirt A for $10 and select size Small and then add another t-shirt A for $10 to cart and select size Medium and let's say the customer now adds a CD for $10 to cart and shipping is $2.

Google Analytic correctly shows total revenue of $32 shipping cost of $2 is also shown. Unfortunately, Google Analytic shows 2 individual products as purchased instead of 3 units it only records one occurrence of t-shirt A even though two were purchased in different sizes. The transaction screen also only picks up one purchase of t-shirt A not two with different size.

This to me seems like a bug and would like suggestion on how to fix it.

We are using the newest Asycronous tracking code so I am not sure if that makes any difference. We used to implement the ga.js.

Thanks!

Good point here. This is actually how Google sees it and would be 'correct' to some degree (nothing with the module itself ... more with how Google reads the info).

Here is what I mean:

If you look at it from Google's perspective, there were only "2" unique products (by product id / model) ordered yet there were "3" variations of products in all.

So from Google's end, it reads it as two unique products (which is correct) one of which has '2 variations' (but in fact is the same product as the first.)

Does that make sense?

econcepts:

Good point here. This is actually how Google sees it and would be 'correct' to some degree (nothing with the module itself ... more with how Google reads the info).

Here is what I mean:

If you look at it from Google's perspective, there were only "2" unique products (by product id / model) ordered yet there were "3" variations of products in all.

So from Google's end, it reads it as two unique products (which is correct) one of which has '2 variations' (but in fact is the same product as the first.)

Does that make sense?

What you're saying make sense but it's a faulty logic on Google's part. Obviously, if the product ID is the same Google analytic should be smart enough to show the variation.

So in my example, even if google is only reporting one product A, if they are not going to report the variation they should at least count all for that id. So if a customer buys 2 small t-shirt and 2 medium shirt, if Google is only going to report it as a t-shirt the count should be 4 NOT two units.

Oh well!

Apologies if this has been answered before in this long thread, however...

I created a new page called "main", which has its own "tpl_main_page.php" in \includes\templates\mytemplate\main\ because its layout is different from all other pages.

(Background: This new page was originally the homepage of my old site, but upon migrating the site to zen cart, "index.php" has become the homepage. Wishing to retain the content and layout of the old homepage, I had to create a new page called "main".)

1. Just before the </body> at the bottom of the "main" page, I inserted the following code as instructed:

<!-- Google Analytics 1-2-3 start-->
<?php
if (GOOGLE_ANALYTICS_TRACKING_TYPE == "Asynchronous") {
// Do nothing
} else {
require($template->get_template_dir('.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'google_analytics') . '/google_analytics.php');
}
?>
<!-- Google Analytics 1-2-3 end-->

and then removed the "/" before "google_analytics.php".

2. I then placed a copy of "google_analytics.php"
   from
   includes\templates\mytemplate\google_analytics
   into
   \includes\templates\mytemplate\main\

However, while the above throws no errors and because my zen cart is still under development on localhost, I have no idea whether the above actually works on a live site or indeed is the correct way to invoke google analytics for this one page.

Comments/Criticisms most appreciated.

dw08gm:

Apologies if this has been answered before in this long thread, however...

I created a new page called "main", which has its own "tpl_main_page.php" in \includes\templates\mytemplate\main\ because its layout is different from all other pages.

(Background: This new page was originally the homepage of my old site, but upon migrating the site to zen cart, "index.php" has become the homepage. Wishing to retain the content and layout of the old homepage, I had to create a new page called "main".)

1. Just before the </body> at the bottom of the "main" page, I inserted the following code as instructed:

> 
> and then removed the "/" before "google_analytics.php".
> 
> 2. I then placed a copy of "google_analytics.php"
> from
> 	includes\templates\mytemplate\google_analytics\
> into
> 	\includes\templates\mytemplate\main\
> 
> However, while the above throws no errors and because my zen cart is still under development on localhost, I have no idea whether the above actually works on a live site or indeed is the correct way to invoke google analytics for this one page.
> 
> Comments/Criticisms most appreciated.

This is one way to do it. The way to see if it will work is to look at the page on your local server and simply "view source" (from the browser). If you see the Google Analytics code on the page you're all set.

I have changed templates, what do I need to do to get analytics working again?

Does anybody know the benefit of using Asynchronous Snippet versus ga.js option? I've read on Google analytics and still not sure what the benefit is even though they are promotion the Asynchronous Snippet method.

Thanks!

econcepts:

This is one way to do it. The way to see if it will work is to look at the page on your local server and simply "view source" (from the browser). If you see the Google Analytics code on the page you're all set.

Hi econcepts. Thanks for your prompt reply.

Yes, the code does appear in view source.

On further thought, however, I am wondering how else to access the original google_analytics.php in includes\templates\mytemplate\google_analytics.

It seems I only need to change the "$current_page_base" in the following code at the bottom of my new tpl_main_page.php to reference /mytemplate/, but which is currently rendering as "main" .

require($template->get_template_dir('.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'google_analytics') . 'google_analytics.php');

Any thoughts or solutions.

kolivo:

I have changed templates, what do I need to do to get analytics working again?

Follow the install instructions in the readme file (no need to reapply any admin SQL patches.) You'll need to make any code changes (to the tpl_main_page.php, and the html_header.php within your new template and also make sure you copy the "google-analytics" directory to your new template folder as well.

Basically, if you go through the readme and follow the instructions but skip the part about installing the SQL patch, you should be ok.

BlessIsaacola:

Does anybody know the benefit of using Asynchronous Snippet versus ga.js option? I've read on Google analytics and still not sure what the benefit is even though they are promotion the Asynchronous Snippet method.

Thanks!

Of course they say there are more tracking options with the new snippet (if you know how to find them and activate them in analytics.) One thing they say is the asych tracking loads at the top of the page (instead of the bottom as in the past) which helps a number of tracking issues. It also is apparently 'faster' in loading the way it calls the script etc...

I can say that if you are running any Website Optimizer experiments that having the code at the top of the page will help as often times it is needed to be placed before any Optimizer code on the page.

dw08gm:

Hi econcepts. Thanks for your prompt reply.

Yes, the code does appear in view source.

On further thought, however, I am wondering how else to access the original google_analytics.php in includes\templates\mytemplate\google_analytics.

It seems I only need to change the "$current_page_base" in the following code at the bottom of my new tpl_main_page.php to reference /mytemplate/, but which is currently rendering as "main" .

require($template->get_template_dir('.php',DIR_WS_TEMPLATE, $current_page_base,'google_analytics') . 'google_analytics.php');

> 
> Any thoughts or solutions.

If the code is showing on you page when you view source then you should have to change anything. The tracking is installed correctly.