In this article, you will read how to implement the Daisycon Conversion Pixel with Server-Side Google Tag Manager (ssGTM). This guide assumes that you have your server side container set up and the data from your website available in Tag Manager (e.g. event data variables in place).
Warning: This article may be more advanced and may require a deeper understanding of the topic before proceeding.
Useful Resources
Are you starting from scratch and don't have a tagging server yet?
Please start here: https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/server-side
Do you have your tagging server set up, but need a way to transfer data from your website to the server? Please start here: https://developers.google.com/tag-platform/tag-manager/server-side/send-data
Are you looking for a complete guide to get started with Server-Side Google Tag Manager?
Please start here:
- https://www.analyticsmania.com/post/introduction-to-google-tag-manager-server-side-tagging/
- https://www.simoahava.com/analytics/server-side-tagging-google-tag-manager
Getting started
Now that your tagging server is up and running, the pixel implementation is quite simple. If you have used our client side GTM solution before, you'll notice that the process is largely the same.
The main difference is that we will not rely on client-side click information anymore. Therefore, we'll have to find a new way to transport the click data from the Daisycon system to the pixel. To do this, we will add a second tag to the conversion tag that will capture the click ID from a URL parameter of choice.
Step 1 (adding the first tag, "Page view tag"):
First, we're going to add the tag to capture the click ID.
Just like the client side Tag Template, the server-side template is available in the Community Template Gallery. In the sidebar, go to Templates, click on "Search Gallery" and search for "Daisycon Conversion Tag Server Side".
Add this template to your workspace to start using it.
Next, go to "Tags" and add a new tag with the "New" button. Click Tag Configuration and select the "Daisycon Conversion Tag Server Side" template.
Set this tag to "Page view" and choose your logging preference (for troubleshooting).
In a server-side setup, the tags don't have access to the browser data from a visitor. To replace the click data we normally retrieve from the browser, we need to add a click ID to every campaign link. This ID (called DCI - Daisycon Click ID) can be added to a parameter of your choice.
In the lower section of your tag configuration, you can specify the parameter used for the ID. The default should work just fine, but you can use any parameter name you like.
Please share the parameter name with your Daisycon contact, so they can verify that this parameter gets added to all material in the system (e.g. parameter name "dci" means that all links need to contain &dci=%DCI%).
Last but not least, we will be storing this ID in a first-party cookie. Please specify the domain under which we should store this cookie, this is normally the domain of your website. Format: .domain.com
After the tag has been added, add a trigger.
As this tag is used to capture the click ID from the URL, it should be triggered on all pages where a visitor can land. Therefore, please add a "Page View - All Pages" trigger to this tag.
Finally, save the tag and trigger. You've succesfully added the first tag!
Step 2 (adding the second tag, "conversion tag"):
Now that the click ID is being stored succesfully, it is time to add the actual conversion tag. If you have worked with the client-side Daisycon Conversion Tag Template, this will look familiar. It is essentially the same template as we use for client side, the differences are behind the scenes.
Add another tag to the Workspace, go to "Tags" and add a new tag with the "New" button. Click Tag Configuration and select the "Daisycon Conversion Tag Server Side" template again.
Set this tag to "Conversion" and again, choose your logging preference for troubleshooting.
From here on, you can fill in all the values that need to be passed to Daisycon, either with static values or Google Tag Manager variables. The campaign ID can be provided to you by your Daisycon contact.
If you don't have variables set up, please refer to the second link at the top of this article, under "Useful Resources".
Add the trigger
Last but not least, this tag also needs to be triggered at the right moment.
Normally, the Daisycon Conversion Pixel would be triggered on the thank you page, after a purchase or payable action. The page URL or path is not available server-side unfortunately so a Page URL trigger is not possible.
The easiest way to set up the correct trigger is by using a trigger for the "purchase" or "conversion" event. To do this, add a "Custom Event" trigger and set the event name to a value that corresponds with the name of the correct event.
Finally, save the trigger and publish the changes in your Workspace. Don't forget to let your Daisycon contact know that the tags have been published, so they can continue with the next steps and test the conversion tag setup.