How To Set Up Cross Device Tracking in Google Analytics
If you are a website owner, you're probably aware that your visitors come to your website in many ways, shapes and forms. It's also possible that repeat visitors will come to your site from many different devices. You know, computers, phones, tablets (and possibly even cars, watches, TVs). (Read full post - goo.gl/a1a1Ym) Sing up for our Free Google Analytics Mini-Course - goo.gl/9GnLyk The same physical human being can visit your site in many ways across many browsers. But according your analytics data, they will be treated as separate users taking separate actions after consuming your content. That's because by default, every modern analytics tool tracks devices, not people. So, what happens to your analytics data when I visit your website from two different devices? Your Google Analytics account will think I am "Regular Jeff" and someone else, who we will call "Mustache Jeff" for the purpose of distinction and entertainment. Even though I am only one human being, Google will track all my devices as separate users for reporting purposes. Tracking devices - instead of actual humans - can cause a big problem with how you trust your analytics data. If one person is being recorded as two, or possibly even five different users, it can really mess up your confidence in analyzing the data you collect. Good news! There is a potential fix for this problem that we will explore in detail: cross device tracking. To understand how cross device tracking works we need to look at how Google Analytics tracks your website visitors. How Google Analytics tracks users Google Analytics doesn't track people, it tracks unique browser cookies (specifically, the Client ID field) to determine users. Google tracks each unique Client ID they see as a unique user in your analytics reports. Here is what the Client ID looks like when you visit a webpage. Your uniqueness is determined by your Client ID. So think of your analytics account as a Cookie Monster. Google Analytics loves cookies. But, too many cookies for one person can cause problems for your analytics, as well as your physical and mental health. Each cookie is unique to its browser, and its device. Your cookies contain a Client ID for each website you visit. This ID allows Google Analytics to monitor your behavior on that website. If Google Analytics recognizes your Client ID, it can match up your hits, sessions, and visits across devices. All devices are merged into one user. Sweet! Google identifies users by their Client ID Let's return to our original scenario where I visited your site on multiple devices. If you can sync my Client ID across those devices, then you get one "Jeff" in your Analytics report. But if my Client ID remains different on each of my devices, Google Analytics will think I am multiple users. Google might think I a whole bunch of different "Mustache Men." ( Sorry couldn't resist. Look at those staches!). If your analytics account is tracking devices, instead of users, it can cause a lot of problems for analysts. More problems than just skewing your visitor metrics. You conversions will be inflated, and it can mangle your attribution modeling. So how do you fix this problem? How do we track users instead of devices? Cross device tracking. There are two ways to set up cross device tracking in Google Analytics You can implement cross device tracking using cookies, or you can use the cloud. Cross device tracking with cookies As we discussed, every browser cookie contains a unique Client ID. If you want to use this cookie across devices for known users, you can access their Client ID using JavaScript. You can set up a JavaScript a function that reads your visitors' Client IDs and stores it to your database or store it in the users local browser. Once you access the Client ID variable you can do cool things like: Attach the Client ID to a user record in your CRM When your javascript function captures the Client ID variable, you attach that variable to a user record in your CRM or proprietary database. You can even match up the Client ID to an email address in your CRM. Then you can store the Client ID as a custom field in your CRM user records. Store the Client ID on the browser You can also store the Client ID on the browser's local storage. Set a new Client ID through code You can access the Client ID using code, and you can even override the ID using the value from your database. Then you can update the Client ID for each known user. Use the measurement protocol to send hits to the client ID Using the measurement protocol is an advanced technique for tracking in Google Analytics. The measurement protocol is an open way to send data into Google Analytics. This technique allows you to set the Client ID in your Google Analytics hit, and send data about that ID into Google Analytics. (Read full article - goo.gl/a1a1Ym)
