Regarding the Activity Map, it is possible to retrieve the href value of the link

[ExO_Spain]

Hello, we are using Activity Map, and when clicking on a CTA, we want it to capture the href value of the link rather than the button's name. We have employed a dataElement with the Activity Map customizer extension, but it retrieves the entire URL, and we need to exclude parameters from the button's URL. Is it possible to achieve this? Thank you.

 

[Jennifer_Dungan]

It should be possible.. but full disclosure, I've never used this extension...

I have done all my Activity Map customizations via code in the Analytics extension custom code area....

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/analyze/activity-map/link-tracking/activitymap-lin...

So basically, I modified our tracking to take the link name from links, the button text from buttons, and the alt text from images wrapped in anchor tags (where there was no "link text").

Starting with the basic code:

s.ActivityMap.link = function(clickedElement) {
  var linkId;
  if (clickedElement && clickedElement.tagName.toUpperCase() === 'A') {
    // This will take the "title attribute"
    linkId = clickedElement.getAttribute('title');
  }
  return linkId;
}

Obviously, this isn't what you want, but you should be able to take the href attribute instead of the title...

You can then add some JS to remove parameters if they exist, something like:

s.ActivityMap.link = function(clickedElement) {
  var linkId;
  if (clickedElement && clickedElement.tagName.toUpperCase() === 'A') {
    // This will take the "href attribute"
    linkId = clickedElement.getAttribute('href');
    if (linkId && linkId.indexOf('?') > -1){
      linkId = linkId.substr(0, linkId.indexOf('?'));
    }
  }
  return linkId;
}

This can just be added to the top of the custom code in your extension, it does not need to be called in s_doPlugins.

When the Analytics script is loaded, this code will run and manipulate how Activity Map reads the clicked elements.

You will want to test this obviously, and maybe make additional tweaks to the code.

[ExO_Spain]

Hi Jennifer,

Thank you very much for your reply.
Unfortunately, the solution cannot be applied as it overwrites the original function found in Adobe Analytics, i.e. it modifies the functionality of the extension. We are trying to create a code where a new dataElement is created that calls the functionality of the Adobe Analytics extension and removes the parameters from the URL.
Any help is welcome.
Thanks

[Jennifer_Dungan]

You can attempt to use the s_object attribute on your buttons.. someone else was having issues with this, but it may have been specific to other parts of their implementation...

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/implementation/vars/page-vars/s-objectid.html?lang...

This will of course require your developers to add this attribute to all of the elements that you need modified.

[davidl55903031]

Hi Jennifer, ExO - 
At Summit '23, Rockstar Tips, the same session you presented some tricks with segmentation and relative date ranges, Victoria Stapleton at Acronym Media showed how to create a custom dimension for the Activity Map Link destination URL as an add-on to the existing AM dimensions.

https://business.adobe.com/summit/2023/sessions/2023-adobe-analytics-rockstars-top-tips-and-tricks-s...

2023 Adobe Analytics Rockstars: Top Tips and Tricks

Her how-to-guide

https://www.acronym.com/adobe-summit/

https://docs.acronym.com/analytics/adobe-analytics/activity-map-destination

It's a bit above my pay grade. I tried to talk our Analytics owners & IT into it, didn't make the cut. My workaround is to break down AM Link by Page or Page URL, which is the destination page - NOT AM Page, that's the page the link was clicked on.

I still think the custom AM dimension has value for condensing many into one (i.e., same link but different text, e.g., translations) and splitting one into many (e.g., micro/button text like "Learn More" that may point to a number of different pages in different contexts).

Looking into the AEM debugger, I see that the Click Map Object ID is the destination URL congruent to the AM Link, but I don't see it in Workspace, so maybe that could be put into a standard conversion variable, not related to AM Map, and an easier ask.

Or maybe you can set up a Custom Link tracking per element, e.g., s.tl(this, "o", linkID) instead of s.ActivityMap.link, the code in Jennifer's first reply, more documentation here) in App Measurement, or maybe adapt s.ActivityMap.link to a rule that only fires in certain regions or on certain elements, for example, where you currently have Activity Map gaps. I'd like to look into both of these solutions when I have time.

[davidl55903031]

Ah, and reading the ExO's OP more thoroughly, maybe they're already using the plug-in that Acronym uses. But then I looked at her preso again and remembered a final tip she gave: you can apply SAINT classifications to your new AM dimension to get pseudo-dimensions in Workspace. So there's a post-hoc solution to removing extra URL params. But I think the best solution will involve manipulating the href string with JS in App Measurement before the fact.

[Jennifer_Dungan]

Interesting catch on the ClickMap Object ID, while the "Click Map" is deprecated, it appears to still be collecting data... With a processing rule, you could capture this value into a custom dimension... 

(Replace Page URL in the above with the appropriate dimension).

Or create custom context variables that you map in the same context as Activity Map data, as that plugin shows (that too is a good option to extend what can be collected in a similar fashion.

Both of those sound like great options!

And while yes, you can use s.tl(this, "o", linkID) and pass whatever dimensions and values you want, this will cost additional server calls, fine for really important links, but if you do this for every link in your site it will start to get expensive and negate many of the benefits of Activity Map.

Great follow-up to this older thread!