1485693 - [tracker] Cross-domain web analytics

Status: NEW

(Websites :: Web Analytics, task)

Description

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

We should set up cross-domain web analytics so we can better understand (and better optimize) our acquisition journeys.

Business Need / User Story:
As an analyst, I need to understand how user journeys across our owned channels impact product acquisition so that I can monitor and optimize our download funnels.

Why is this important?
* Out-of-network referral attribution is impossible for downloaders whose original landing page is not on the download website. For example, we cannot know that a visitor was referred from Twitter, to the blog, before eventually downloading on www.
* In-network referral attribution is incomplete and probably misleading. For example, if a visitor to support.mozilla.org does not use one of our specially crafted download links, but instead downloads via one of countless alternative links, we might not attribute that download to SUMO.
* Content-specific attribution is not feasible. For example, if a visitor lands on the addons.mozilla.org page for the Facebook Containers addon, and clicks on any of the specially crafted download links to download, we only know that AMO sent a download, but we don’t know which AMO page did so.
* Complex journeys are unknowable. For example, if a Twitter referral lands on a blog post about the Facebook Containers addon, then visits the addons.mozilla.org page about the addon, then clicks a download button to download Firefox, Twitter's and the blog’s role in this transaction is obscured.

Comment 1

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

Wes, can you update on status of this?

Comment 2

[Wes Contreras]

Tracking journeys across all subdomains at mozilla.org is relatively easy. We make sure tracking is in place on all sites, that the cookie is being set to .mozilla.org, and that we have a rollup property that includes everything in one place. 

Adding in sites that aren't under mozilla.org is more of a challenge. Google has some built-in solutions when users click on an <a> link from one to another, but linking separate sessions across multiple domains would require some engineering to address successfully. 

It might be best to cover this in more detail on the phone.