Referrers, Redirects and Test&Target HTML Offers

The "redirect" offer in Adobe's Test&Target is a simple way to direct visitors to a new/different page should they meet the necessary targeting criteria for a test.  Unfortunately, redirect offers have at least two major flaws:

1. Original referrer information is not passed on to the new page.
2. Query string parameters that were passed to the original page are not passed on to the new page.
• EDIT:  While there is an option to pass parameters, I was having difficulties in making this work as expected. Since that time, however, I believe any issues with this feature have been fixed. I simply prefer to use custom HTML offers in my campaigns.

Fortunately, there are ways around these issues.  The method I've come to prefer requires the following:

• Abandon the use of redirect offers in favor of HTML offers.  The HTML offers will contain logic to store the original referrer (docment.referrer) in a temporary cookie before redirecting the visitor to the desired destination (window.location).  If you wish to pass along any query string parameters, be sure to include document.location.search in the redirect string.  For example:
• window.location="testPage.html"+document.location.search;
• Include a small block of code on the destination page(s) that reads the cookie created by the HTML offer, updates the referrer details for your analytics platform and then deletes/expires the temporary cookie.

Google Analytics: Tracking Embedded YouTube Videos

Notes:

• Video ID - The video can be tracked by YouTube ID (as in the above example), or with a "friendly" name such as the video's actual title ("Beware of the Phog").  Note that both options are to be hard-coded into the implementation.  This setting can be easily modified.
• Restart - If a visitor restarts the video after it has been viewed 100% of the way through, all milestones are tracked a second (third...) time.  This setting can be easily modified.

Video progress is tracked at the following milestones:

• Play - A "play" event is incremented only the first time "play" occurs.
• Pause - Every "pause" event is captured if it occurs before 92% of the video has been viewed. This limit is in place because the YouTube player fires a "pause" event immediately before the final "complete" event. The intent is to avoid tracking this automated "pause."
• 25% Progress - When the video reaches 25% of the total video time, an event is incremented.
• 50% Progress - When the video reaches 50% of the total video time, an event is incremented.
• 75% Progress - When the video reaches 75% of the total video time, an event is incremented.
• Complete - When the video reaches 100% completion, a "complete" event is incremented.