Integrating Visual Website Optimizer with Omniture SiteCatalyst

Jason Thompson — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 01:42:32 +0000

If you haven’t heard of Visual Website Optimizer then I suggest you go check them out now. Do it. Go! Check them out, then come back and read the rest of this post.

Visual Website Optimizer (VWO), currently in beta, is poised to be a real player in the optimization space. Their elegant design and drop-dead simple approach to designing, launching, and monitoring tests is just sexy, I don’t know how else to describe it.

I have been part of the beta team testing VWO for over a month now and, as you can probably tell, I am impressed. So impressed, that I wanted to pull my VWO data into Omniture SiteCatalyst and Omniture Discover to extend the value of the product even further.

The integration between VWO and Omniture was super simple.

Step 1: If you haven’t already done so, designate one of your Custom Conversion variables as your optimization tracking variable.

Step 2: Copy the following code snippte and paste it into the doPlugins section of your s_code.js file.

var _combination = _vis_opt_readCookie(‘_vis_opt_exp_’+_vis_opt_experiment_id+’_combi’);

if(typeof(_vis_opt_comb_name[_combination]) != “undefined”){
s.eVar1= _vis_opt_experiment_id + ‘:’ + _vis_opt_comb_name[_combination]
}

}

Step 3: That’s it!!!

NOTE: Using a similar approach, you can very easily integrate VWO with Google Analytics using ‘pageTracker._setCustomVar’.

I’m running an A|B test on the ‘Contact Jason’ section of my blog.

I’m testing if it’s best to show a photo of me or to show an icon of a telephone. When the integration code executes, my conversion variable is populated with the following:

s.eVar1=”Contact Icon:Photo”

‘Contact Icon’ is the site section that I’m testing and ‘Photo’ is the treatment version. For reference, you can see these values inside the details section of your test within VWO.

Although Visual Website Optimizer is still in it’s infancy, I see good things in their future. They really seem to value customer engagement and their product is sexy as hell.

P.S. I have a few beta invites to VWO, if you are interested, email me via my contact form.

Jason Thompson

Jason is the Sr. Director of Community Solutions at Keystone Solutions. If you are interested in partnering with Jason at Keystone, in need of analytics & optimization consulting, or looking for employment/internship possibilities, please feel free to email ‘jason [at] keystonesolutions [dot] com’

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Integrate Test & Target with Omniture SiteCatalyst

Jason Thompson — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 20:24:14 +0000

Step 1: Update your s_code.js file with the Omniture TnT Integration Plugin – Version 1.0

/*
* TNT Integration Plugin v1.0
*/
s.trackTNT = new Function("v", "p", "b", ""
+ "var s=this,n='s_tnt',p=p?p:n,v=v?v:n,r='',pm=false,b=b?b:true;if(s."
+ "getQueryParam){pm=s.getQueryParam(p);}if(pm){r+=(pm+',');}if(s.wd[v"
+ "]!=undefined){r+=s.wd[v];}if(b){s.wd[v]='';}return r;");

Step 2: Determine if you will include the integration call in your standard SiteCatalyst page tag or if you will require to use a Custom Link call.

Is your SiteCatalyst code block located after the last mBox call on your page?

YES! Simply add the following before you call s.t():

var tntInput = s.trackTNT();

s.eVar47 = s.tnt = tntInput;

Is your SiteCatalyst code block located before the last mBox call on your page?

YES! This will take a bit more work but, if you ask me, worth it. I have our SiteCatalyst code directly following the tag. This has greatly improved our data accuracy. Moving the code to accommodate an integration with Test & Target was simply out of the question.

To send the Test & Target information to SiteCatalyst using a Custom Link call add the following after all mBoxes on the page:

Step 3: Classify the Test & Target Campaign and Recipe ID. Omniture has a behind the scene integration to automatically classify your TnT integration. However, I have been told it is limited to one (1) report suite. I found it easy enough to simply do this myself.

Step 3a: Create a Custom Conversion variable to capture your Test & Target integration IDs

Step 3b: Classify your conversion variable to include a text based classification called ‘Treatment’

Step 3c: This part is a little hacky but hey, it works. Log into Test & Target and view your campaign. The TnT plugin will return a value like ’4503:0:0,’. To get the values hover your mouse over the preview icon for each treatment

Now, look down in your status bar and you will be able to see the values you need to write down.

Now you can compile a list of Ids and treatment names

4503:0:0, Control

4503:1:0, Improved Headline

Step 3d: Download a SAINT template for your TnT classification. Map each treatment id to your friendly treatment name. Upload.

Step 4: Create and activate a plug-in offer in Test & Target. This plug-in will pass the Test & Target identifiers to the page. For detailed instructions on creating this offer, refer to ‘Configuring the SiteCatalyst Integration’ in Test & Target online help.

Step 5: Analyze your results. Test & Target is great for giving you a dashboard view of your treatments and how each one is converting (with statistical significance). However, you still are not able to fully understand how your tests are changing user behavior inside your site. This is where SiteCatalyst and more powerfully, Discover, comes into play. Use SiteCatalyst and Discover to slice your visitor population to better understand how your Test & Target campaigns are influencing user behavior beyond the conversion check point.

And by uploading a friendly treatment name via SAINT, this job is made much easier.

Jason Thompson

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EmptyMind » sitecatalyst

Integrating Visual Website Optimizer with Omniture SiteCatalyst

Jason Thompson

Integrate Test & Target with Omniture SiteCatalyst

Jason Thompson