How does Tracedock's server-side transaction tracking work?

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Current Ecommerce transactions rely on client-side events on 'Thank you pages' which results in measurement differences in revenue. TraceDock's Server-side transactions are set up to reduce this measurement error.

With TraceDock you can send over server-side transactions to your Google Analytics.

In this blog we’ll explain how we do this in a way that allows you to retain correct transaction attribution.

After reading this blog, you will understand:

  • How Google Analytics traditionally forwards transactions on the Thank you page
  • What is needed to send transactions via the server
  • How TraceDock connects the transaction to the Browser session
  • Why it is important to de-duplicate your data.

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This is a rather technical blog

Note that this is a rather technical blog. If you have any questions on this topic, feel free to reach out to support. We are more than willing to clarify any questions you may have.

How Google Analytics client-side transaction works

Traditionally, Google Analytics forwards transactions on the Thank you page. After performing a payment, a customer is redirected to a thank-you
page where the transaction is fired to Google Analytics.

The reason for implementing transactions on the Thank you page is because this is the easiest way to connect the transaction to the clientID in the
cookie, which is needed to correctly attribute the transaction to the incoming marketing channels.

Unfortunately this method, using client-side events, is not accurate when:

  • Visitors don’t return to the Thank you page
  • Visitors open the Thank you page in default browser
  • Loading time takes too long: Thank you page is closed before purchase event is sent

How TraceDock's Server-side transaction tracking works

TraceDock Server-side transaction tracking is a plug-and-play implemention, no coding skills are required:

  • Connecting the transaction to the correct session: TraceDock will match and connect the transaction with the with the session CookieID, User Agent and IP address, resulting in correct session based attribution in Google Analytics.

  • Plug-and-play templates included, no coding required: Within the TraceDock portal you can select predefined Measurement Protocol templates, already correctly formatted and extendible towards your wishes.

  • De-duplication service to remove any double counting: Some payment providers tend to send through transaction events twice. TraceDock makes sure that the transaction event is sent only once, so no double revenue in your Google Analytics.

  • Parallel shadow testing during the trial period: You can continue sending e-commerce events while testing TraceDock Transaction Tracking via regular events. Testing without a hard switch to validate the setup and ease the transition.

If you have more questions about how TraceDock Transaction tracking works, reach out to our support team.

Updated 10 months ago