Data Collection FAQ

How do I verify that the Salesforce Audience Studio code is pulling in the correct data?

There are two principle means to verify what attributes are being collected by Audience Studio via data transfer code (DTC):

1. Use the Control Tag Helper tool and toggle between tags to view the page and user attributes. The left column on each tab will display the attribute being collected with the corresponding value on the right. Read more here: Control Tag Helper Guide
2. Another, perhaps more direct means to view the collected data is to open your browser’s developer tools and navigate to the Network view. If you filter the calls in the network tab by “krxd” you will see just the call sent from Audience Studio. You may need to refresh the page after applying this filter. Read more here.

There will be one pixel.gif call for each ControlTag sequences that is deployed on the page (note, in most cases there will only be one pixel.gif call from beacon.krxd.net).

If you click into the pixel.gif file and scroll down to the response headers, you will be able to view all data being ingested by Audience Studio for that page view.

Note, page attributes are prefaced by “_kpa_” while user attributes are indicated by “_kua_”.  Any attributes that are not included in this call will not be passed into Audience Studio.

How do I verify that the Control Tag Helper is implemented?

Use the Control Tag Helper to determine if the Control Tag is implemented. The phrase “No Control Tag Detected” will appear in red if the Control Tag is not placed or improperly placed.

The Control Tag Helper can be found under Manage > Diagnostics in the Audience Studio platform. To bring the Helper to your bookmarks, click and drag the Control Tag Helper link onto your bookmarks toolbar.

Please refer to this video for a Control Tag Helper demo video.

Are there any considerations when launching a site with Audience Studio infrastructure?

Yes, please consider the following:

1. Is there going to be a change to the URL structure?
2. Is the new site going to utilize traditional pagination or is it going to be set up with Ajax?
3. Verify if the original site uses global variables (set by Google Analytics, Omniture, Chartbeat, etc.) that those values (and naming conventions) will remain consistent on the new site.
4. Determine if the new site is going to use a responsive design- meaning that desktop and mobile will be identical. If not, find out what differences will exist between the two new sites.

What is the difference between the code snippet versions when looking at site codes?

• Javascript: for web-based deployments
• Actionscript: for video deployments
• Ajax: used on pages with infinite scroll
• Interchange: snippet of code that allows segments to be targeted onsite

How does Audience Studio organize the data it collects?

Information is grouped together in the Platform through accounts, and by a configuration mechanism that Audience Studio calls “Sites”.

When your account is first set up, Audience Studio will create different Sites for the account. There could be a Site for your website activity, a Site for your Display campaigns, a Site for your Search campaign, a Site for your Social activity and etc.

When a Site is created in the Platform, a unique Audience Studio Configuration ID is created for it. This Configuration ID (ConfID) is included in the Audience Studio Control Tag that issued to collect data from webpages. This ConfID is also included in the media tracking tags used to collect data from media campaigns.

It’s through this mechanism that Audience Studio can let you filter a marketing campaign report to only show the Social campaign activity versus Search campaign activity.

**It is important that the correct tags are deployed for the correct channels. If a tag is trafficked with an Audience Studio Configuration ID that is associated with the Display channel into a Video campaign, Audience Studio will register the impressions and click as being from a Display campaign.

What types of attributes does Audience Studio collect for segment building?

Page Attributes

• Contextual/page-level data
• Defined by recency and frequency of user visits on a page where a specific attribute exists

User Attributes

• Does not tend to change over time
• Typically, mutually exclusive 
• Note: if a user qualifies for one attribute value, they likely may not qualify for another (ex: User Location might be Texas; will not ALSO be New York)

Event Attributes

• Used to understand visitor interactions on the page
• Any user gesture, click, action and conversion can be captured and used as an Event
• Events include media Impression & Click Trackers

Media Attributes

• Used to evaluate a user's exposure to marketing and campaign efforts (on- and off-site where applicable)
• Includes Campaign Channel, Site, Ad, etc.

Where does the traffic source attribute data come from?

Traffic source data comes from the referral URL in the pixel.gif file.

Is user data ever deleted?

A user’s KUID will be deleted after 6 months of inactivity.

Can event pixels be used within an iFrame?

Only the HTML version can be used within an iFrame? 

If a user selects the opt-out/Do Not Track option, how are DSPs informed?

The user immediately becomes untargetable in all DSPs. 

Can I collect social data in the UI?

Social platforms such as Facebook have policies where they maintain a closed ecosystem. Because of this, Social platforms don’t allow external tracking on organic post views or ad campaigns.

While social platforms actively restrict pixels and impression trackers, there are still ways to collect social activity data:

1. Adding an Audience Studio click tracker on your organic posts could be one way to collect data off Social platforms.
2. You can also collect Social data off of your webpage. If you have a social widget for sharing, we can collect data off of the click of the social badge/button that leads them to your social channel.
3. If you have a social microsite, you can collect all of that interaction data as part of your social activity.
4. You can also collect data from the landing pages where you direct people to when they click on the social post using UTM parameters in the URLs of those landing pages.

In addition, if Facebook and Twitter widgets are present onsite, the Social Activity module (Insights > Content Engagement > Social Activity) can capture activity, such as Facebook Likes and Shares, as well as Twitter Tweets. However, for accuracy, the standard APIs must be used for both Facebook and Twitter.

Facebook: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/apis-and-sdks#facebook-apis

Twitter: https://dev.twitter.com/overview/api

If the standard APIs are not being used, we recommend creating event pixels to place on the click events within the Facebook and Twitter widgets to capture activity.

What considerations should be made if I am changing my site to secure versus non-secure?

There should be no concerns with the Audience Studio Control Tag. The Control Tag will mirror the security of the page it's firing on (http vs. https). However, event pixels should be reconsidered as they are initially created as either secure or non-secure pixels.