969520 - Referrer tracking code on webmaker.org and tools

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(Webmaker Graveyard :: Metrics, defect)

Description

[Adam Lofting (:adamlofting)]

To help us better measure the impact of campaigns and partnerships, we should add referrer code tracking to webmaker.org, and the corresponding tools.

I suggest that the MVP for this is using an agreed URL parameter to set a referrer code (this is any arbitrary string), and hold onto this using a session variable or a cookie, and then store this in the database when a user signs up to create a new account. 

For example, user visits webmaker.org/?ref=ymca
Creates an account (maybe via popcorn maker or another tool)
Their account data would now include a "ref" field with the string stored.

This will allow us to query the database to understand which partnerships engage users on the day, and on an ongoing basis (i.e. who comes back to use the tools later?)

Building a practice of tagging particular campaigns will also give us a quick and easy way to segment and attribute traffic in Google Analytics.

Comment 1

[Jon Buckley [:jbuck]]

We'll need to:

1) Add a referrer field in the wmlogin db. Should be a nullable string
2) Add some way of capturing the referrer, maybe store it in localStorage so that it isn't sent with every request to the domain
3) When account creation happens, send the referral code along with the request to create an account

Comment 2

[David Humphrey (:humph)]

Chris can we give this to you?

Comment 3

[Adam Lofting (:adamlofting)]

I was talking to Paula, and there is an event on 11 April that could be a first test case for this if it's possible to ship by then?

Comment 4

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

I think we can ship this before then. I'll start building it this week!

Comment 5

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker-auth-client/pull/17

Comment 6

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/253

Comment 7

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

so, this updates the webmaker-auth-client so that if "ref=foo", foo will be set in localstorage as the referrer, and can be used if the user creates an account somewhere on the site later. It will fallback to simply looking for the ref attribute on create if the browser doesn't support localStorage.

This will not work if the user is sent to WM.Org with a referrer and then navigates to popcorn/thimble/goggles/events/login

Comment 8

[paula le dieu]

\o/ thank you
Chris - could you please provide a complete sample URL so I don't make mistakes in creating the referrer URL for partners? Also, can I confirm that this will only work if the user creates an account at webmaker.org rather than x.webmaker.org?

Comment 9

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

here are some sample urls:

https://webmaker.org/?ref=mozilla

https://webmaker.org/teach?ref=mozilla

https://webmaker.org/teach?ref=mozilla

https://events.webmaker.org/#!/?ref=mozilla

https://popcorn.webmaker.org/?ref=mozilla

https://thimble.webmaker.org/project/952/remix?ref=mozilla

... Everywhere an account can be created will work once we update each app's version of the Webmaker Auth client library!

The gotcha here is that if the link sends the user to Thimble, the referrer value will be set in localStorage for thimbles domain *only*. This means that if they decide to explore by navigating to webmaker.org and then decide to create an account, that stored referrer value will not be applied on the creation step.

I have an idea to work around this, but I'm gonna run it by jon to see if it's a sane approach.

Comment 10

[paula le dieu]

Thanks Chris - I will keep tracking it here and wait for your signal before I start setting up partners :)

Comment 11

[Jon Buckley [:jbuck]]

Comment on attachment 8397258 [details] [review]
https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker-auth-client/pull/17

r-, some nits to fix up

Comment 12

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker.org/pull/662

This switches a cookie library that was previously being used out for the one I forked from node-cookie, so we don't get duplicate codez.

will need a version update for webmaker-auth-client when that is merged.

Comment 13

[paula le dieu]

Just a quick query to see how this is going?

Comment 14

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Hey Paula - Sorry for the delay, Jon and I have been working on the engagement ladder stuff for measuring contribution.

All that's left here is to get the code reviewed, test it on staging, and then deploy it.

Comment 15

[paula le dieu]

\o/ to both the engagement ladder/contribution measure and the referrer code. Thank you.

Comment 16

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Comment on attachment 8397259 [details] [review]
https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/253

rebased and added a commit, lets re-review.

Comment 17

[Jon Buckley [:jbuck]]

Comment on attachment 8397259 [details] [review]
https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/253

r+ with one nit noted in the PR, just re-arranging some lines of code

Comment 18

[Matt Thompson (@OpenMatt :OpenMatt)]

* This is awesome. Let's follow up on this in Apr 23 Webmaker.org call. 

* @ Chris: once it lands, can you or JBuck write some basic documentation about it on the wiki?
* So that a) relevant staff know how to use it properly, and b) we're clear on what behaviors it will allow us to track, and which it won't?

Comment 19

[Jon Buckley [:jbuck]]

That's an r+ with one nit in the PR

Comment 20

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

(In reply to Matt Thompson (@OpenMatt :OpenMatt) from comment #18)

> * @ Chris: once it lands, can you or JBuck write some basic documentation
> about it on the wiki?
Totally can!

> * So that a) relevant staff know how to use it properly, and b) we're clear
> on what behaviors it will allow us to track, and which it won't?
This patch won't provide any tools to get data automatically about referrers, but if we have an idea of the kind of tools we need we can build them in follow-up tickets.

Comment 21

[[github robot]]

Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org

https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/commit/778318ff7fc48102ec90a985cafa70d11ae0c86d
Bug 969520 - Add Referrer Field

Comment 22

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker-auth-client/pull/18

This patch fixes webmaker-auth-client so that its require dependencies are properly loaded during the build step using the requirejs optimizer.

Comment 23

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/258

update webmaker-auth-client version to 0.0.28

Comment 24

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker.org/pull/691

Comment 25

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/popcorn.webmaker.org/pull/535

Comment 26

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/thimble.webmaker.org/pull/418

Comment 27

[Jon Buckley [:jbuck]]

Comment on attachment 8409729 [details]
https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/258

r-, I think we need to leave eventEmitter in there

Comment 28

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/goggles.webmaker.org/pull/132

Comment 29

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Comment on attachment 8409751 [details] [review]
https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker.org/pull/691

fixed up the GH comments

Comment 30

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Comment on attachment 8409729 [details]
https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/pull/258

did you accidentally r-?

Comment 31

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/MakeAPI/pull/207

Comment 32

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Attachment: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker-events-2/pull/76

Comment 33

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

Login server update merged: https://github.com/mozilla/login.webmaker.org/commit/f67996bf7438ef775d7386b530d90d0de95d4061

Comment 34

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

webmakerorg patch merged: https://github.com/mozilla/webmaker.org/commit/c7ddb2f331fa703463ad42a6e22ced7a9dd0cd43

Comment 35

[[github robot]]

Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/mozilla/popcorn.webmaker.org

https://github.com/mozilla/popcorn.webmaker.org/commit/e23d549118e75fb46783aff2971664f0da6db4d4
bug 969520 - update webmaker-auth-client version to 0.0.28

Comment 36

[[github robot]]

Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/mozilla/thimble.webmaker.org

https://github.com/mozilla/thimble.webmaker.org/commit/db37e1e94caa96a5a04dbfebda91001584cbb581
bug 969520 update webmaker-auth-client version to 0.0.28

Comment 37

[[github robot]]

Commit pushed to master at https://github.com/mozilla/goggles.webmaker.org

https://github.com/mozilla/goggles.webmaker.org/commit/745e94181c2223ee5b638ef767922253aef6dc12
bug 969520 update webmaker-auth-client version to 0.0.28

Comment 38

[Chris DeCairos (:cade)]

This is working on our staging and production environments, documentation to be done in bug 999513 as soon as I can!