Spring Metrics – conversion tracking¶
Spring Metrics is a conversions analysis tool. It shows you the top converting sources, search keywords and landing pages. The real-time dashboard shows you how customers interact with your website and how to increase conversion.
Installation¶
To start using the Spring Metrics integration, you must have installed
the django-analytical package and have added the analytical
application to INSTALLED_APPS
in your project
settings.py
file. See Installation and configuration for details.
Next you need to add the Spring Metrics template tag to your templates.
This step is only needed if you are not using the generic
analytical.*
tags. If you are, skip to
Configuration.
The Spring Metrics tracking code is inserted into templates using a
template tag. Load the spring_metrics
template tag library and
insert the spring_metrics
tag. Because every page that you
want to track must have the tag, it is useful to add it to your base
template. Insert the tag at the bottom of the HTML head:
{% load spring_metrics %}
<html>
<head>
...
{% spring_metrics %}
</head>
...
Configuration¶
Before you can use the Spring Metrics integration, you must first set your website Tracking ID and tag a page for conversion. You can also customize the data that Spring Metrics tracks.
Setting the Tracking ID¶
Every website you track with Spring Metrics gets its own Tracking ID,
and the spring_metrics
tag will include it in the rendered
Javascript code. You can find the Tracking ID in the Site Settings
of your Spring Metrics account. Set SPRING_METRICS_TRACKING_ID
in the project settings.py
file:
SPRING_METRICS_TRACKING_ID = 'XXXXXXXXXX'
If you do not set a Tracking ID, the tracking code will not be rendered.
Tagging conversion¶
In order to make use of Spring Metrics, you must tell it when visitors become customers. This is called conversion. Usually, it marked by the client requesting a specific page, such as the “thank you” page of a webshop checkout. You tag these pages in the Site Settings of your Spring Metrics account.
Alternatively, you can mark conversion pages using the
spring_metrics_convert
template context variable:
context = RequestContext({'spring_metrics_convert': 'mailinglist signup'})
return some_template.render(context)
Tracking revenue¶
Spring Metrics allows you to track the value of conversions. Using the
spring_metrics_revenue
template context variable, you can let
the spring_metrics
tag pass earned revenue to Spring Metrics.
You can set the context variable in your view when you render a
template containing the tracking code:
context = RequestContext({
'spring_metrics_convert': 'sale',
'spring_metrics_revenue': '30.53',
})
return some_template.render(context)
(You would not need to use the spring_metrics_convert
variable
if you already tagged the page in Spring Metrics.)
Custom data¶
Spring Metrics can also track other data. Interesting examples could be
transaction IDs or the e-mail addresses from logged in users. By
setting any spring_metrics_X
template context variable, Spring
Metrics will track a variable named X
. For example:
context = RequestContext({
'spring_metrics_revenue': '30.53',
'spring_metrics_order_id': '15445',
})
return some_template.render(context)
Some variables should be passed on every page and can be computed from
the request object. In such cases you will want to set custom
variables in a context processor that you add to the
TEMPLATE_CONTEXT_PROCESSORS
list in settings.py
:
def spring_metrics_global_variables(request):
try:
profile = request.user.get_profile()
return {'spring_metrics_city': profile.address.city}
except (AttributeError, ObjectDoesNotExist):
return {}
Just remember that if you set the same context variable in the
RequestContext
constructor and in a
context processor, the latter clobbers the former.
Identifying authenticated users¶
If you have not set the spring_metrics_email
property
explicitly, the e-mail address of an authenticated user is passed to
Spring Metrics automatically. See Identifying authenticated users.
Internal IP addresses¶
Usually you do not want to track clicks from your development or
internal IP addresses. By default, if the tags detect that the client
comes from any address in the SPRING_METRICS_INTERNAL_IPS
setting, the tracking code is commented out. It takes the value of
ANALYTICAL_INTERNAL_IPS
by default (which in turn is
INTERNAL_IPS
by default). See Identifying authenticated users for
important information about detecting the visitor IP address.
Thanks go to Spring Metrics for their support with the development of this application.