My friends, this version is packed with new exciting features… I just have to share!
Google Analytics custom variables
So far, we have always required a second Google Analytics (GA) profile to track events. The reason behind this was that if you send an event on the landing page, GA sees the event as a second pageview. That means that if the user then navigates away, GA won’t see the visit as a bounced visit – as it should. And that would skew your bounce rate data in GA. Not good. The other way of doing things would have been to use custom variables – but there was not a lot of custom variable “slotS” available to us (5)… So with our tools sending data for all kinds of stuff, we’d have run out of slots pretty quickly. But now Google has announced they will increase the number of available custom variables so we are gladly jumping on board the variable boat! The downside is that your previous data in events will be cut-off from the data going forward in custom variables… But we are confident that is a very small cost to pay to go back to only one GA profile – always good to have everythign in one place. Now, don’t worry however: we won’t make that switch for you. Everyone will still use events (if they had provided a second profile) until you actualy tell us you are ready to switch to custom variables. You can do that directly in your Monitus.net account, in the Tools Settings.
Automated Google Analytics Custom Variables
- Organic Ranking Google’s organic ranking was previously tracked as an event – one of the possible bounce rate polluter… So now it’s a custom variable call.
- Repeat Buyers TWith a flip of a switch, get “New” and “Repeat” values in your custom variable slot.
New Automated Google Analytics Event
Tow new automatic events can now be trcked with the flip of a switch in your Monitus.net settings:
- Shipping Calculator usage This one will let you know as soon as someone uses you rshipping calculator on the checkout. It will include the zip code, the state and the shipping method the user selected… Could tell you you need to get a shipping deal for deliveries down south or something…
- Transaction ID On the confirmation page, if you turn this even ton in your account, we will send the transaction ID as an event – useful for cross-referencing in custom reports and such…
Checkout Form Validation
Our public javascript library adds a function to add validation to the checkout form(s) so that users are warned of incomplete fields before they submit the page… Thsi one is not a switch in your Monitus.net settings, you’ll need to contact us if you want it installed on your store.
And more!
We just felt so lightheaded by the whole giving new features process, we kept-on giving:
- Cart recovery now supports the new Yahoo! floating cart
- Target internationla customers in PersonQuest