Tracking product views
By sending product views to Engage we are able to calculate the products of interest for each customer. Products of interest can be used in segmentations and are part of the product recommendation data.
To perform this tracking, Engage needs to know:
Every product page viewed
The contactId of the visitor
The method used to register a product view (click) interaction is productview().
The productview() method
Invoke this method every time a product is viewed, whether the user has been identified by the website or not. This method will then generate a HTTP POST request to the Collect endpoint.
Param | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
*categoryName | string | Product category, e.g. “Men / Sweaters / Cardigan” |
*itemId | string | Mapped to SKU in Engage |
contactId | string | The Engage contact ID |
Fields marked with * are mandatory
This is what a call to the productview() method looks like:
va("productview", {
"categoryName": "Women / Armour / Greaves",
"itemId": "123XYZ",
"contactId":"afa7625d-2e97-4667-b4c1-ad3b01194bbb"
})Use cases
When the user logs into the e-com
They clicks a link to the e-com in a newsletter from Engage.
The URL contains a contact id (vtid) which is stored in the _vaI cookie.
The user clicks on a specific product and invokes productview()
Populate categoryName (e.g. “categoryName”:”Computer accessories > Printers > Toners”)
Populate itemId with the field that is defined as SKU in Voyado. This will vary depending on the setup. (Ex. “itemId”:”549852″)
Do not populate contactId
When the user enters the e-com unidentified
The user browses into the e-com and is not identified
They click on a specific product, invoking productview()
Populate categoryName (e.g. “categoryName”:”Computer accessories > Printers > Toners”)
Populate itemId with the field that is defined as SKU in Voyado. This varies depending on the setup. (Ex. “itemId”:”549852″)
Do not populate contactId
The productview API
It's possible to submit product views directly via the productview API instead of implementing the tracking script. If you so this, it's important to identify contacts that come to the e-com via clicks in email (add vtid in contactId).
Corresponding functionality is exposed via REST API:s as well. Read more here.
Important points when tracking product views
Call productview() or the productview API in all cases, regardless of whether the user is anonymous/identified or logged in. All behavioral data can be used to create insights. A product view belonging to an anonymous user can be linked to a specific user after the user is identified.
Call productview() or the productview API for all product views and with an itemId that matches SKU in Voyado. A product view can be a visit to a product page but can also be anything else that shows a selected product to the user, for example a “quick look” in a popup. The product/itemId will be matched against the SKU in Voyado and enriched with the item (from the item register) and transaction data. A product page can call productview() or productview API multiple times if it represents multiple SKUs.