The 2024 Next Gen Attention Study - www.livewire.group
Pixel tags and tag management
1. Pixel Tags and Tag Management
Image - http://marketingland.com/tag-management-care-95113
2. What are Pixel Tags?
• A small block of code on a webpage that can read
and put cookies when a user visits the web page
• A 1X1 pixel transparent image
• Web page is served from the site’s domain while
the image is served from the tracking server’s
domain
– This allows the tracking server to read and record the
cookie with the unique ID and the extended
information it needs to record.
3. What can be collected using a tag?
• User Context
– Implicit information (IP, browser id, referrer)
• User Profile
– Anonymous data (Profile ID, Targeting criteria)
• User Behavior
– Visitor data (Views, clicks, time spent)
Source - http://www.signal.co/resources/tag-management-101/
4. Tags - Examples
• Site side analytics
• Search marketing
• Ad serving
• Affiliate marketing
• Behavioral marketing
• A/B testing
• User experience
• Audience measurement
• Display advertising
• Customer support
11. TMS Architecture – High Level
1B
2
3
1. Browser request
A. Request goes for content
B. Request for tag logic
2. Client-side tag rules are downloaded and cached in
the browser for subsequent page loads. The initial
large file can followed by multiple smaller requests
3. Tags are executed in the browser and requests
containing tracking data are sent to various
vendors.
1A
12. TMS Architecture – High Level
1B
2
3
1. Browser request
A. Request goes for content
B. Request for tag logic
2. Vendor tags are downloaded
3. to the browser.Tags are executed in the browser
and requests containing tracking data are sent to
various vendors.
1A
13. TMS Architecture – High Level
1B
2
3A
1. Browser request
A. Request goes for content
B. Request for tag logic
2. Vendor tags are downloaded to the browser.
3. Tag Requests/Firing
A. Tags are fired from the server for selected integrated
vendors.
B. Tags are executed in the browser and requests
containing tracking data are sent to various vendors.
1A
3B
14. Data Layer
• JavaScript object
• Repository for structured data / objects in key
value pairs
– a common dictionary for all digital marketing
applications
– A unified method of porting the data to various
vendors
15. Data Layer – Practical Examples
• Analyzing the number of abandonment carts
above $200
• Fire a remarketing tag whenever a user
purchases for more than $50
• Understand when is the right time on a day to
post an offer
• You have only 3 more free articles to read in
this month
From Google Images
Signal was previously BrightTag
Often analytics, advertising, user behavior are driven by Marketing department; but website is owned and managed by IT department
Ability to manage tags outside of website development and code release cycles
TMS systems deliver the greatest gains to process efficiencies, reducing the effort, resources, and time required to add, edit, and remove tags from sites (Forrester 2012 report)
Tag management allows companies to adjust to country-specific privacy laws (Tag Management Buyer’s Guide Econsultancy)
Screenshot of Tealim IQ (Adding_Value_with_a_tag_management_solution-AVIS Group.pdf)
Source – Cognizant A Tag Management Systems Primer
http://tealium.com/blog/standard/why-the-client-server-model-for-tag-management-is-going-obsolete/
https://www.ensighten.com/blog/debunking-fud-part-1/
Client Side – GTM (Container tag based), Adobe DTM, Tealium
Server Side – Ensighten
Server / Server – Tealium, Ensighten
With client-side conditionals, the rules are deployed within the JavaScript file that is downloaded from the TMS servers to the client-side browser. This
file is cached for subsequent page loads, reducing the need for communication between browser and server. File size increases as rules are added, which can result in increased page weight and decreased site speed
In this model, conditional logic is processed by the TMS server. Once a small JavaScript file is downloaded from the TMS server, a dynamic request is generated and returned to the TMS server. Based on the tag rules created within the interface, only the necessary vendor code is then loaded into the browser. Subsequently, tags are executed within the browser and data is forwarded to the respective vendors
In addition to server-side conditionals, cloud connectivity with selected partners allows for data to be communicated directly between the TMS server and vendor servers. This reduces the number of requests fired from the browser, where integration is an option
While there are some performance advantages to this approach, there are potential issues that should be considered. For instance, a lack of vendor support and issues around visitor ID cookie sharing are common with the server-to server model. Additionally, data contained in the server-side calls can be difficult to validate and will not be seen using a standard browser-based debugging tool.
Google Tag Manager pushes a certain set of values to the data layer of web applications by default. These values are:
gtm.js – Pushed to the data layer as soon as Google Tag Manager is ready to run.
gtm.dom – Pushed to the data layer when the DOM is ready.
gtm.load – Pushed to the data layer when the window is fully loaded.
If CARS wants to show ads to users who have previously visited a particular category and model make, they could create a trigger based on a page view. This trigger could add a condition that the variables {{modelMake}} and {{location}} be equal to the Sedan and NY. When this condition is true, the trigger will fire a tag that shows Sedan model in NY.
The second way of populating data is to use a Javascript method to push values from your web page into the Data Layer directly. For example, an eCommerce site has a shopping cart where users can add trips asynchronously without needing to refresh the page.
E Consultancy – Tag Management Systems Buyer’s Guide
Technical aspects
Platform down-time
Disaster recovery and redundancy
Use of content delivery networks to support global deployments
Ease of deployment
On-demand, on-premises or hybrid deployments
Implementation methods (client side v/s server side)
Support and Services
Ease of usage
Templates, pre-defined tags
Workflow administration
Reporting & analytics
Extensions
API support
New tag supports
Cross-device support
Based on Forrester report 2012
-The default option for all vendors is on-demand, but several vendors support on-premises and hybrid deployments — where the client selects the location of the script code file. On-premises and hybrid options may appeal to organizations from regulated industries with significant security concerns.
Both options require JavaScript tags, but the designation refers to where most tags are fired, either at the browser or server level.
https://www.captechconsulting.com/blogs/choosing-a-tag-management-system-6-considerations
Triggers ~ Rules
Variables ~ Macros
Variables can be static (Eg: GA Account ID) or dynamic (Eg: page url which will be populated run time for each user) or transactional (Eg:cart quantity)
http://www.slideshare.net/liip/google-tag-manager-an-introduction
GTM Container snippet needs to be pasted in every page after the opening <body> tag