ChannelMix ID Implementation Guide

 

Purpose

This guide includes instructions for implementing ChannelMix ID via Google Tag Manger (GTM) and Google Analytics (GA), as well as instructions for validating the implementation. Instructions are provided for both Google Analytics 4 (GA4) and Universal Analytics (UA). 

Difficulty:

No developer required.

What is ChannelMix ID? 

ChannelMix ID is a unique identifier assigned in the cookie of a user’s device in order to tie together data from multiple experiences. This ID is specific to the device itself, and is assigned upon first visiting a website (or the first time visiting after the ID assignment code is implemented). The ID is made available to be recorded by the website owner and tied to a specific customer within the owner’s database.

Implementation Steps:

• Google Tag Manager Container
  • Create the 1st Party Cookie Variable
  • Create the ChannelMix ID Variable
  • Add the ChannelMix ID Variable to a PageView Tag  
• Google Analytics Property
  • Configure ChannelMix ID as a Custom Dimension
• Validation

 

Google Tag Manager

 

Create a 1st Party Cookie Variable

• Name the variable "Cookie - _ga" 
• Set the cookie name to "_ga"

 

Create the ChannelMix ID Custom JavaScript variable 

• Name the variable "ChannelMix ID".
• Copy/paste the code snippet below into the custom JavaScript field as demonstrated.

function(){
  var CID = "{{Cookie - _ga}}";
  CID = CID.split('.');
  CID = [CID[CID.length-2],CID[CID.length-1]].join('.');
  return CID;
}

 

Create or Modify the PageView Tag 

• Create a Tag called "GA4 Event - page_view" (referred to here as "PageView Tag")
• Set the trigger for this Tag to fire on all pages you wish to track. 

OR 

• If you already have a Tag that serves this purpose, you may include the ChannelMix ID as an Event Parameter on that Tag. 
  • GA4 - Add the new ChannelMix ID Variable to your PageView Tag as an Event Parameter.
  • UA - Add the ChannelMix ID Variable to your Tag as a Custom Dimension (index value set in the next step). 

 

Google Analytics

 

Add the ChannelMix ID Custom Dimension

GA4

• From your GA4 Reporting View, navigate to Configure > Custom definitions > Custom dimensions > click "Create custom dimensions"
• Create the ChannelMix ID Custom Dimension
• Set the Scope of this Dimension to "User"

UA 

• From your UA Reporting View, navigate to Admin > Custom Definitions > Custom Dimensions 
• Create a new Custom Dimension named "ChannelMix ID" and set the Scope of this Dimension to "User". 
• Ensure that the Dimension Index in GA matches the Index for ChannelMix ID in your PageView Tracking Tag.

 

Validation

 

GTM Preview Validation

• From within the container where you have implemented ChannelMix ID, click "Preview" in the upper right corner. Input your site URL click "Connect". Tag Assistant will open a third tab with your site.

• Your GA PageView Tag should fire after loading the first page. Find that Tag in your Tag Assistant tag - ensure that it fires when expected and a value is set for the ChannelMix ID Custom Dimension. In order to see the value of Event Parameters you must first click the step where the Tag fired, then click the Tag under "Tags that fired".

• Submit your container changes after verifying the above. 

 

Google Chrome DevTools Validation

• After deploying your staged GTM Container changes in the previous step, open Chrome browser and navigate to your site to trigger the PageView Tag. 
• Right-click anywhere on the page and choose "Inspect" from the menu to open Chrome DevTools.
  • Mac: Ctrl + Option + J 
  • Windows: Ctrl + Shift + J
• Click the "Network" tab at the top of the DevTools - this is where you will be able to verify the analytics requests sent from your site to your GA Property. 
• Check the box next to "Preserve Logs" and search "collect?" as demonstrated below - this will limit the logs to network requests relevant to validation of the ChannelMix ID. In order to confirm the correct implementation, verify that the Base PageView Tag has fired and sends the correct data to GA, including the ChannelMix ID Custom Dimension. 
• At this point, you may need to refresh the page in order to see the PageView Tag in Network logs.
• Find the request that has sent the PageView data to your GA Property and confirm that a channelmix_id value is included.
  • GA4 
    • Identify the page_view event (look for the "en:" value representing Event Name) and ensure that the request with this data was successful. It should appear red if an error has occurred. 
    • Ensure that the Event Parameter for channelmix_id is set. 
    • If you are looking at this through GTM Preview you should see this is the same value found in Tag Assistant. 

• • Universal Analytics 
    • PageView - find the values associated with your PageView tag and ensure that the network request is successful (200 response).
    • cd[index]: [ChannelMix ID] - the same Network request should also pass the ChannelMix ID value as a Custom Dimension ("cd"). The number appended to "cd" represents the index set in both GA and GTM. 

 

GA Reports Validation

• Realtime Report - The Network requests validated in the previous step should have sent event data to Google Analytics. The Realtime Report will show events collected by GA from the past 30 minutes. 

• Events Report - Choose "Today" from the time range selector in the top right. 
  • Search for your PageView Tag
  • Add the Custom Dimension "ChannelMix ID"
  • If you can confirm that the correct value has been sent and is consistent across all three steps (GTM Preview, DevTools Network Request and, GA Reports) you have successfully validated your implementation. Congratulations!

GA4

UA