Analytics Reporting Integration

Salesforce B2C Commerce provides robust storefront analytics that can help make your storefront more successful. To capture these analytics, you must add certain templates to your application. These templates call B2C Commerce processes that capture the data and report on it via the Business Manager user interface.

B2C Commerce uses session IDs to capture web activities for this analytics data. While this doesn't distinguish between visits and visitors (unique visits), it does circumvent the issue with users blocking cookies or not allowing JavaScript and therefore not being counted.

B2C Commerce also uses web logs for analytics. Using web logs is faster than pulling data from the database. The web logs represent all storefront web activities, for example, orders entered by consumers. However, they do not represent activities outside B2C Commerce, such as order cancellations, order modifications or returns performed off-line by the merchant.

You can capture this information by including the appropriate reporting template on a page. This template triggers a request to the server (via a URL include) with the required parameters.

Note: B2C Commerce ignores reporting (log) entries that originate from pages that have been processed using the RedirectURL-Start pipeline (URL mappings).

Important: Don't use the ReportingEvent-Start pipeline as a pipeline trigger. There are some explicit checks for it in the Web Adapter and the requests for that pipeline don't propagate to B2C Commerce. See A/B Test Participation Triggers.

See Analytics.

Reporting Hooks

The following SiteGenesis templates include reporting hooks (SiteGenesis Storefront Core: cartridge/templates/default/util/reporting):

ReportABTesting.isml: collects analytics on A/B testing (the A/B testing functionality in the Business Manager Analytics Module, not in the Online Marketing > A/B Testing module).
ReportBasket.isml: collects analytics on the basket.
ReportCheckout.isml: collects analytics on the checkout process.
ReportOrder.isml: collects analytics on orders.
ReportSearch.isml: collects analytics on search results.
ReportSourceCodes.isml: collects analytics on source codes.
ReportUserRegistration.isml: collects analytics on the user registration process.

CAUTION:

Don't change the locale in these templates. These templates merely log the information into the analytics log file. The customer will never see it and the analytics module expects en_US.

ReportABTesting.isml

This template must be referenced via an include in a template that appears to the user as a result of the test segmentation / alternate page. For example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportABTesting.isml"/>.

Variables are passed in the SiteGensis application to the ReportingEvent-Start.xml pipeline that this template expects

ReportBasket.isml

This template, referenced via an include, logs events that indicate the creation or use of a basket (cart). For example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportBasket.isml" />

Use the parameters to collect:

common cart information
order promotion information: price adjustments for the entire cart
shipping promotion information: check all shipments for shipping promotions, line items and their promotions
product promotion information: check all product items in the cart, gift carts promotions

In SiteGenesis, this include is in the cart.isml and minicart.isml templates.

ReportCheckout.isml

This template logs a checkout event. It logs the step, depending on the parameters, and expects the step number and name as parameters in the scope of a page. Make sure that steps can be ordered alphabetically so that they appear correct in the report. The reporting funnel display will use the step value to show the steps in ascending order. Using the name improves the display. This template can be called using an include, for example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportCheckout.isml"/>

Use the parameters in this template to collect checkout information.

You can give each step a meaningful name for the checkout funnel name by changing the pdict variable checkoutname. You must report the steps in the correct sequence with the checkoutstep variable. For example, if you only have three steps in your checkout, they must be reported with the values one, two, and three. If you report with values one, two, and five, the funnel report will insert steps three and four with the same values as five.

In SiteGenesis, the modues.isml template references the ReportCheckout.isml template directly. It doesn't use an include.

ReportOrder.isml

This template logs the total amount of orders made by a customer. This template is called using an include, for example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportOrder.isml"/>

Use the parameters to collect:

general information about an order
price adjustment information for the entire order
information on shipping promotions, line items and their promotions
information on product line item promotion details
information on multiple price adjustments
information on gift certificate line items
information on gift certificate payment instruments

In SiteGenesis, the include is in the confirmation.isml template.

ReportSearch.isml

B2C Commerce first determines if this is the first search request or a drill down on refinement attributes. B2C Commerce only logs initial searches, not refinements. This template can be called using an include, for example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportSearch.isml"/>

Use the parameters to collect information on initial searches.

In SiteGenesis, the include is in the categoryproducthits.isml, foldercontenthits.isml, nohits.isml templates.

ReportSourceCodes.isml

B2C Commerce logs a source code if it exists in the session. You must place this template on every page that can be a redirect result of an incoming source code to the session or visit. You can also place this template on every page, or as part of the minicart, which is part of every page.

This template can be called using an include, for example:

<isinclude template="util/reporting/ReportSourceCodes.isml"/>

Use the parameters to collect information on:

a requested source code
the source code status by name

In SiteGenesis, the include is in the ReportBasket.isml, ReportOrder.isml, ReportBasket.isml, and redirect.isml templates.

ReportUserRegistration.isml

B2C Commerce tracks user registration by assigning each iteration of AccountOpen with a unique ID and then counting its occurrence, no matter where it occurs in the storefront, using the parameters listed in the template.