24 replies to this topic

[eugeneb]

Hi X2 guys,

 

not sure when things started happening wrong. I recently tested web tracking with contacts in my DB and then sent our emails direct as well as with a campaign to see if it identifies them. But to no avail, despite showing the precise web activity, but anonymous.

 

Firstly Web tracking. All my contacts show they have a key. But when they visit the website, the tracker just notifies me of anonymous activity. How do I link them to the key being tracked? I then assumed they had some OLD key and thus if I sent new campaing mails to click it would rectify it. My next point

 

Secondly I tried sending a campaign with the website link to try and FORCE a link or cookie to ID the contact. However this showed a problem by itself. After sending the campaign, is shows all 3 mail sent and my staff got them. Opened and clicked the links. Campaign doesn't show opened or clicked. And notifications show again only anonymous web activity.

 

Please help. I have customers on X2 that are dependent on the integrity of the tracking and stats. My own DB is not yet active so I can reset stuff. Is there a way to fix this?

 

Thanks

 

Eugene

[that0n3guy]

Is your x2 install on a subdomain of your website.  If not, you will have to setup a cname subdomain or tracking won't work.

 

Do your links in your emails have a query that is like: x2_key=9a87sg9h09asd76f8970a9sd78f(some web tracking key here)?

[eugeneb]

Hi,

 

yes I am running of a subdomain http://crm.disalox.co.za. I dont have any CNAME record on the domain. Any suggestion on what I need?

 

Not sure what you mean with if the email have a link? What link and where do I check this?

 

Thanks

[that0n3guy]

So disalox.co.za is the site your trying to track users?

 

Try this:

• go to your site, open chrome's developer tools (right-click: inspect element)
• Click on the resources tab, open cookes section.  
• Find your domain and look at the x2_key.
• Reload the page.... did the x2_key cookie change or stay the same?
• If same, go to x2 and create a test contact.... get the web tracking key from your text contact.
• go to youdomain.com?x2_key=yourtrackingkeyfromtestcontact
• Did your x2_key cookie change to this specified x2_key?
• If so, did x2 report that "text contact" visited your website?

[eugeneb]

Nope, crm.disalox is where X2 is installed. I am tracking our company website which is under another brand and a subdomain called services.tuit.co.za.

 

I found the X2_key and Value stays the same with refresh. I see on this field it shows Domain as being .tuit.co.za. Is this correct?

 

Please advice. Not sure about your last couple of points. Easy enough to create a contact. Key is generated on contact and shows.

• youdomain.com?x2_key=yourtrackingkeyfromtestcontact create another X2_key record in Element, yes with the value of the new contact
• Yes, X2 Notified that Test Contact visited your site
• New cookie in Elements shows domain as .disalox.co.za

So all tests work.

 

Can you see the problem for my questions?

 

Thanks

[that0n3guy]

Ok, since you are tracking a domain that is different then the domain your x2 is installed on, your cookies will not work correctly.  See index.php/admin/publicInfo on your x2 install.  You have to setup a cname domain under tuit.co.za (I think) for this to work.

 

This isn't a bug, this is just the way cookies work in web browsers.  Its a security thing.  Essentially your crm.disalox.co.za domain can't access the cookies set on your services.tuit.co.za domain... thus your problems.

[glebret]

Hi that0n3guy and eugeneb,

 

I think I'm in the same case than eugene : 

When I do the test describe by that0n3guy, all work : I got a notification on my CRM that the test-person visited my website.

BUT, if someone click in a email campaign link, and then go to the same website, I still haven't any notification.

 

So, I think the tracking on the website, the CNAME and so are well configured, but something is missing to get the notification from a campaign link....

[eugeneb]

Thanks that0n3guy,

 

 I will investigate and do a CNAME and report back. Thanks for the insight. Will keep the thread updated when I sort it out.

 

Thanks

[that0n3guy]

glebret,

 

Your situation sounds a little different... but maybe not.  After you click a campaign link in an email... does your x2_key cookie show change?  Also, have you checked if you have anonymous notifications (login as admin, I think only admin user gets these notifications).

[eugeneb]

 Hi that0n3guy,

 

I forgot to mention my subdomains are achieved by using A records. On our hosting environment I create a A record to 'simulate' a subdomain and then a website on that subdomain. I see this prevents me from creating a CNAME record of similar setup. Would this create or possibly be the cause of the problem? The A record point to the IP where the CNAME tries to point to the text name, but the CNAME is then prevented from being created...:-(

 

you mentioned that how cookies work, meaning? Do cookies attach to the main domain and not the subdomain, thus never get picked up or something in that line?

[that0n3guy]

I'm not sure you understand the difference between A record/cname.  Do some googling. 

 

That said, I think you need a cname like crm.tuit.co.za (it may need to be crm.services.tuit.co.za... but I don't think so) that points at crm.disalox.co.za... then setup x2 public settings as crm.tuit.co.za.   I've not done this as I'm setup differently.. this is just how I see it.

 

Cookie stuff: http://stackoverflow...23086139/140541& http://erik.io/blog/2014/03/04/definitive-guide-to-cookie-domains/ (I just did a quick google).

[eugeneb]

Will try this tomorrow.

 

Thanks a mil. Really appreciated

[glebret]

Hi that0n3guy,

 

After I click in a email campaign, the x2_key cookie doesn't change.

And I've got Anonymous notification (In the menu Marketing/Anonymous Contacts).

[that0n3guy]

Does the x2_key match a contacts web tracking key?

[glebret]

No, the x2_key didn't match any contact

[that0n3guy]

So your x2_key changed at some point... or you didn't do step "go to youdomain.com?x2_key=yourtrackingkeyfromtestcontact" correctly.

 

Fine a contact (a test contact).  Go to your website, go to yourwebsite.com?x2_key=PasteWebTrackingKeyHere .  Refresh page and verify your x2_key cookie is the same as the on you specified in the url (ie, the one from the test contact).

[glebret]

When go to my website with mydomain?x2_key=mytrackingkey, the x2_key cookie is the same as the on I specified in the url (and i've got a notification on my crm)

[that0n3guy]

Ok, so now when you browse around your site... it notifies you that your test user is browser.  Correct?

 

When you click the link from campaign... does that cookie change and it make you anonymous again?

[teledev]

We seem to be in the same situation as glebret.

 

We have a CNAME record x2.websitedomain.com.au pointing to crm.otherdomain.net.au. Pasting a contacts tracking key directly into the URL works (tracking activity shows up), but campaign clicks with ?x2_key={trackingKey} in the URL aren't tracked. When clicking on a campaign link, the resulting x2_key cookie has a key that doesn't match any contacts. This has been an issue for us since mid last year and there are a bunch of anonymous contacts.

 

After pasting a contacts key directly into the URL, their website browsing activity continues to be reported successfully afterwards - but as soon as a campaign link is clicked and the x2_key cookie value updated, that stops happening.

 

x2.websitedomain.com.au, www.websitedomain.com.au, and *.otherdomain.net.au are all SSL secured in our case.

[that0n3guy]

Hmm... this sounds like an issue with the campaign tracking functionality.  I really don't use it (we have a custom email marketing module).