Using Conversion Tracking With A Private Domain

You've seen the blog posts (here and here) about the upsides of moving your Bronto email sends to your own private domain. Before you take the plunge, you will want to think ahead to your conversion tracking needs, as moving to a private domain will change how Bronto’s conversion tracking interacts with your site.

Before we go any further, you need to know which type of conversion tracking you are currently using, if any?

• If you are using the HTML image-based conversion tracking, it looks something like this:

  <img src="http://example.com/public/q=stream_conversion&fn=
  Mail_Conversion&id=bukwgcnuvyfgbobffppobauzanusbmi&order_it=jfnc636
  &type=$&description=emailcampaign&money=9.95" width="0" height="0" border="0" alt=""/>

• If you are using the Bronto Tracking Code Method from Bronto Labs, it will look something like this:
  

  <script type="text/javascript">
  document.write(unescape("%3Cscript src='" + ((document.location.protocol == "https:") ? "https:" : "http:") + "//p.bm23.com/bta.js' type='text/javascript'%3E%3C/script%3E"));
  </script>
  <script>
  var bta = new __bta(' bukwgcnuvyfgbobffppobauzanusbmi ');bta.setHost("app.bronto.com");
  bta.addConversionLegacy("$", "descript_var”, "amount_var");
  </script>

Knowing this information will help you understand which parts of this post are most relevant for you.

How Conversion Tracking Works In Bronto

When you send an email through Bronto, and one of your contacts opens and clicks a link from that email, Bronto populates a cookie with domain information and takes note of metrics such as who clicked which link in which email. That cookie tags along as the contact navigates your site, puts items in his or her cart, and checks out. When the contact reaches your thank you or confirmation page where you've hosted our conversion tracking code, details about the purchase are added to the cookie data via your specified variables. The whole packet of information is then sent back to Bronto for recording in your account.

Tip: Check out Tracking The Source Of A Conversion for more information on how we track conversions in Bronto.

Tip: Check out the video below by the Wall Street Journal for an in depth explanation of tracking cookies.

Because Bronto’s conversion tracking relies on cookies, switching to a private domain changes the domain information that is attached to the cookies that come from your emails. Therefore, you will need to consider the following points as you move to a private domain:

Private Domain Selection

What is the URL of your confirmation page where you plan to host your conversion tracking code?

If you plan to use conversion tracking with your private domain, your selected subdomain will need to share the same top-level domain as your checkout and confirmation pages. This especially comes into play if you have multiple redirecting domains for your site. If your checkout pages live at brontoexampledomain.com, you will want to select something like newsletter.brontoexampledomain.com for your Bronto private domain. If you have a domain, for example BrontoExDo.com, that redirects to where your checkout pages reside (for this example let's say those checkout pages reside at brontoexampledomain.com ), the private domain selection of newsletter.BrontoExDo.com will not create a cookie of the proper scope for tracking conversions. You need to choose a subdomain of your site (newsletter.brontoexampledomain.com ), and not a subdomain of a domain that redirects to your site (newsletter.BrontoExDo.com). Keep this in mind when you open the Support case to start your private domain configuration, as you will need to specify your desired subdomain then. Remember, it should be a subdomain that is not currently in use by any other part of your organization.

Third Party Shopping Carts

Are you using a third party shopping cart that hosts your checkout on a different domain or puts a redirect between your email links and your confirmation page?

If your shopping cart vendor hosts your checkout and confirmation pages on their own domain, which is different than your website’s or is separated from your website by a redirect, that means that there is no way for the cookie information to make the leap from your Bronto private domain/your website domain to the checkout vendor’s domain. In this instance, the only way to use conversion tracking is to remain on the Bronto sending domain, so moving to a private domain may not be a good choice for you. There are many third party shopping cart vendors out there, so you could always consult your vendor's documentation or customer support for additional information -- your mileage may vary.

Webpage Security

Is your confirmation page where you plan to host your conversion tracking code on a secure (https://) or non-secure (http://) page? If you are currently using the HTML image-based conversion tracking, you may be hosting that code on a secure or on a non-secure page, depending on your thank you or confirmation page setup.

HTML image-based conversion tracking

If your conversions are being tracked on a non-secure page, you can continue to use the HTML image-based conversion tracking after moving to a private domain. You will still need to update the domain inside your image code after activation. When we activate your private domain, the conversion tracking code snippet on the Data Exchange page (go to Home->Settings->Data Exchange) will automatically update to the new code. All you would need to do is copy and paste the code snippet from there, plug in your variables, and host the new snippet on your http:// page.

If you are tracking conversions on a secure page with the HTML image-based conversion tracking, moving to a private domain will cause browser security warnings, as the conversion tracking image URL will no longer match the security certificate of the originating email cookie domain. Security warning pop-ups are not something you generally want associated with your checkout process, so in this case, we recommend you switch to the Bronto Tracking Code Method.

Bronto Tracking Code Method

If you are already using the Bronto Tracking Code Method, you need to go to the Data Exchange page after your private domain is activated and get the updated code snippet. If you are not already using the Bronto Tracking Code Method or are unfamiliar with this Bronto Labs feature, you can learn more by following these steps:

1. Go to Home->Settings->Bronto Labs.
2. Click the green word Enable next the Javascript Conversion Tracking feature.
3. Go to Home->Settings->Data Exchange.
4. Verify that the checkbox by Conversion Tracking is checked. You should see a new gray box with your account’s unique JavaScript Bronto Tracking Code. This code is not functional as is, since there are two methods of conversion tracking to choose from in the code (both commented out at first). Follow the instructions in the code comments to choose the method best suited to your needs, uncomment it, and fill out the required variables before putting the code on your page.

Note: If you are looking through your code before activation, please note that it will change slightly after your private domain is made live.

Note: The two methods to choose from in the Bronto Tracking Code Method are “Legacy” and “New” JavaScript Conversion Tracking. The “New” one requires a little more programming knowledge and sends detailed conversion information to the API only. The “Legacy” method will populate conversion information into your Bronto application just like the older HTML image-based conversion tracking and requires the same two variables.

Tip: Type “Bronto Tracking Method” into the help search in the application and click on Adding The Bronto Tracking Code Method To Your Site for more information (make sure the Javascript Conversion Tracking feature is enabled in Bronto Labs first). There is some sample code in the article, but please be sure to only host code from the Data Exchange page on your site, as this code is pre-populated with variables unique to your account.

If you plan to move to one of the Bronto Tracking Code Methods, you will want to grab the code from the Data Exchange page after your private domain is activated to update your thank you or confirmation page. When you place your updated code snippet on the page, make sure to remove any previous conversion tracking code snippets to avoid the browser security warnings or tracking double conversions.

As you review this information to ensure you have a plan in place for tracking conversions on your new private domain, you can contact Support with any questions or concerns along the way by opening a case via the Support link in the upper right-hand corner of the Bronto application.

Amanda Harris
Support Engineer at Bronto