How Tracking IDs Work
Katalys has developed a tracking methodology that manages how data gets into and out of your Katalys account. All data is stored in a “bucket” called a “Tracking ID” (also previously referred to as a “Site ID” or “Realm ID”).
What is Collected
A Tracking ID stores 2 primary types of data: 1) web behavioral data, and 2) order data. Behavioral data is captured by deploying the Katalys Tracking Script on your website. It records page views, clicks, and sessions. Order data comes from CRM systems, and alternatively from Thank-You or post-sale web pages. Order data describes order details like sale amount, line items, and shipment status.
It is important that behavioral data and order status data be collected into the same Tracking ID. This is required for attribution to operate. This means that your frontend implementation and your backend implementation must be configured with the same Tracking ID in order for attribution to work.
What Alias to Use
When you are integrating Katalys into another system, you must use a Tracking ID when completing the integration, frequently by defining the site_id parameter in a script. The value you place into the site_id parameter will be an identifier that must map into your Katalys account. Katalys defines the value you should put here by creating an alias for the bucket that can be copy/pasted. Most alias values look like KA-XXXXXXX, but your alias might be a domain name like example.com. When you input this value into the site_id parameter, that value maps back to your bucket within Katalys.
To find your Tracking ID or create one, please visit Katalys Integrations page for instructions.
When to use Multiple
Most clients only need one Tracking ID for all their programs. You can integrate a single Tracking ID into as many websites as you need. However, the following use cases might require additional Tracking IDs.
Clients who have duplicate Order IDs between their staging and production environments.
Clients running multiple programs where it is critical that attribution results between programs remains separate.
Clients sharing data for marketing purposes and must comply with regional data collection practices.
To create another Tracking ID, please visit Katalys Integrations page for instructions.
Use Case: Staging/Production Environments
If you have separate development, staging, and/or production stores, it may be beneficial to you to separate the data for testing purposes. We recommend that you create an additional Tracking ID, name it the appropriate environment name, and implement that Tracking ID only in that environment. Note: Attribution cannot be turned off for a Tracking ID and might create billables. All Tracking IDs on your account are automatically associated with any live offer you have running on the Katalys Network.
Use Case: Multiple stores on one or many domains
If you operate multiple ecommerce stores, then we highly recommend ensuring that your Order IDs have unique prefixes associated with them so you can tell in what store every order was placed. If you do not have unique Order IDs, then you must create a separate Tracking ID for each store that might have a duplicate Order ID and implement the correct Tracking ID in the frontend code and backend code of each store.
Please note that your landing pages to your different stores will now segment traffic per-store and will no longer offer your publishers attribution between stores. This may result in lower-than-expected conversion rates and complexity in managing your publisher relationships.