Storing data from a form

[mattlukoff1]

Hello,

How would I code a form field in order to pass data back into site catalyst. Would those be as Evars/sProps or is there a better way?

Thanks,

[ecarpe15]

mattlukoff wrote...

Hello,

How would I code a form field in order to pass data back into site catalyst. Would those be as Evars/sProps or is there a better way?

Thanks,

Just a heads up, if you're passing any PII you may want to double check with your legal team and make sure your privacy policy is updated.  I had the headache with dealing with my internal legal team when setting this up a few years ago.  

[mattlukoff1]

  Thanks Eric, that's great advice these days. We actually took that into consideration and scaled back our tracking.

Eric Carpenter wrote...

mattlukoff wrote...

Hello,

How would I code a form field in order to pass data back into site catalyst. Would those be as Evars/sProps or is there a better way?

Thanks,

Just a heads up, if you're passing any PII you may want to double check with your legal team and make sure your privacy policy is updated.  I had the headache with dealing with my internal legal team when setting this up a few years ago.  

[Alexis_Cazes_ · Accepted solution]

Hi Matt,

I would use a prop and enable pathing on it. That will allow you to know for example on which field the customer stops the most.

here is how I do form tracking most of the Time (checkout process):

When a specific step (form) loads I send the name of the form in the s.propN

Then for each form I send a custom link tracking call and the name of the field.

When you run the Path for this prop report you will be able to figure out at which field they stopped or if you run the prop report you can see at which step the customer stops the moss.

Best regards.

Alexis Cazes

[mattlukoff1]

Thanks Alexis, that makes sense for optimizing the form but what about actually collecting and storing form input data in SC. That's what I was asking about. 

[Alexis_Cazes_]

Do you want the values to persists and which metrics do you needs to use ? 

[mattlukoff1]

Yes persist. Only need Visits metric.

[Alexis_Cazes_]

ok so:

1.You would use an eVar for persisting values over a period of time. So any events (metrics) sent during this period of time will be tied to the value in the eVar. 

Advantages: gives full credit for the event

Disadvantages: the event will only be tied to only one value of the eVar: last value if set to most recent allocation and first value if first allocation is set. You will also needs several eVar, one for each field because of previous sentence

2.You could also use a list var: it works similar to list props and evars are the same time. It allows multiple values within the same image request,which persist beyond the image request they were defined on.

http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/sc/implement/listN.html

So using this you could use to see which combination of values in forms fields drives the most revenue.

3.if you just want to collect the values that customer's imput in fields but you do not want to know how it affects lets say revenue after wards the I think a prop or list prop is enough. The value will not persist after the hit.

Best regards.

Alexis Cazes

[mattlukoff1]

That's Alexis that's helpful. Do you know if Adobe has any modules for the S-Code to make the code of this easier in any way? 

[Alexis_Cazes_]

HI Matt,

I do not think there is a plugin by default.

Here are some information that I found :

Collecting Data From Form Elements: 

http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/sc/implement/data_elements.html

If I were your implementation, I would use Tag Management system to create a tag that would automatically track forms on your website. if you are not using any Tag Management at the moment I would suggest you to use our Dynamic Tag Management that is free to use. It is one of the best Tag Management system in the market. (http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/dtm/).

So in the tag, I would do the following:

-onLoad of a step in your form send an s.t() call with the form variable (see post above to choose for form variable) with a value like that for example. FORM NAME | STEP#

-For each field, on onchange event send a custom link tracking call (s.tl()) with the same form variable with a specific format Form name|Field name or ID|Field Value 

-On thank you page of form send an image request with the form variable with a value like Form Name|COMPLETE

On top of having this implementation I would use a classification to create additional reports: FORM NAME, STEP NAME, FORM VALUES (it is an example of classification). To make the classification automatic I will use RULE BUILDER classification based on a regex formula : 

http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/reference/classification_rule_builder.html

http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/reference/regex_classification_rules.html

With this example of form classification :

-once you have created a tag you should be able to reuse it to automatically track any form on your website (if coded in similar way)

-it only needs one variable

-it will allow to use pathing if using traffic variable and therefore fallout report

-classification will allow you to make as many new report that you want, and by using rule builder classification no need to do the classification manually every so often.

If you need you could request our consulting team to do that for you, I am sure they have done it before. I would contact your account manager to learn more

Best regards.

Alexis Cazes

[mattlukoff1]

Excellent advice Alexis, thanks for taking the time to share all of it!

[AdamGreco]

One note...I would only do a solution like this on a temporary basis since it will cost a lot in Adobe server calls.  I would suggest you use a tag management system to flip it on and off when you need to test the form...

[AdamGreco]

I think the solution above is fine.  You basically want to pass the field name (with a form identifier if you want) to an sProp as visitors go from field to field and enable pathing...

[mattlukoff1]

Hey Alexis/Adam,

Could you elaborate further on how we would implement this tracking (in the s-code.js I presume). Are there any examples you could share? This help file was good but not enough to take back to our developers: http://microsite.omniture.com/t2/help/en_US/sc/implement/data_elements.html

Thanks!

[mattlukoff1]

Adam, what would you implement as best practice to track drop off from specific inputs of a form and in order to see data in a pathing report?

Thanks!