Setting up Event Tracking with our API wrapper

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Setting up Event Tracking with our API wrapper

Introduction

Event Tracking is an advanced feature offered by ActiveCampaign, designed to help you collect valuable data regarding various contact behaviors on your website or app. This feature allows you to create events for almost any activity, such as clicks, sign-ups, or purchases, and assign a specific value to each event. By capturing this data and sending it to your ActiveCampaign account, you can significantly enhance your marketing and sales processes. Moreover, Event Tracking enables you to trigger automations, create segment conditions, and personalize your campaigns, which can lead to improved engagement and conversion rates.

Implementing Event Tracking using the API wrapper simplifies the process of sending event data to ActiveCampaign. The API wrapper handles the necessary connections and API calls, allowing you to focus on defining and capturing the events efficiently.

How to Access This Feature

To set up Event Tracking with the API wrapper, you’ll need to have access to ActiveCampaign's API. You can find more information on API usage in the Developers and API Reference sections of the ActiveCampaign Help Center.

Ensure that your ActiveCampaign account supports this feature, as it is available for the following plan types: Plus, Pro, and Enterprise.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Setting up Event Tracking involves a sequence of steps to ensure that your API wrapper is correctly configured and working effectively. Below are the detailed instructions:

Step 1: Define Your API Credentials

First, you’ll need to establish your API connection by defining your API credentials. Start by including the following lines in your code:

``` define("ACTIVECAMPAIGN_URL", "https://ACCOUNT.api-us1.com"); define("ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_KEY", "3693354bb1...04c2d126b9c"); require_once("../activecampaign-api-php/includes/ActiveCampaign.class.php"); $ac = new ActiveCampaign(ACTIVECAMPAIGN_URL, ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_KEY); ```

Replace the placeholder values with your specific ActiveCampaign URL and API key, which can be found in your account settings.

Step 2: Set Up Your Tracking Details

After establishing your API credentials, you need to configure your tracking details. You do this by adding the following code:

``` $ac->track_actid = "764325673"; $ac->track_key = "oy5tbe34c564...69079d18abc"; ```

You can find the account ID and key values on the Website > Site Tracking page of your ActiveCampaign account. Click the link that says Event Tracking API.

Step 3: Associate an Email Address (if necessary)

If you wish to track an event associated with a specific email address, include it by adding this line:

``` $ac->track_email = "test@test.com"; ```

If you choose not to associate an email address, the event can still be recorded and will be available for creating segments later.

Step 4: Set Your Event Data and Submit the Request

Next, outline the data for your event and submit the tracking request using the following code:

``` $post_data = array(

   "event" => "event_name1", // e.g., "event_name2"
   "eventdata" => "event_value",

); $response = $ac->api("tracking/log", $post_data); ```

Your response should resemble the following structure, indicating success:

``` stdClass Object([success] => 1 [message] => Event spawned [http_code] => 200) ```

Once this is complete, the event data will be reflected in your contact's Activity Stream on their Contact Record, enabling the use of this data for segment creation.

Configuration Options and Settings

While setting up Event Tracking with the API wrapper, the following configuration options are crucial:

API Credentials: These are the credentials that allow your application to connect to your ActiveCampaign account. - ACTIVECAMPAIGN_URL: The URL specific to your ActiveCampaign account. - ACTIVECAMPAIGN_API_KEY: The unique key that authenticates your API requests.

Tracking Details: - track_actid: The identification number for the tracking activity. - track_key: A unique key for the tracking event.

Email Association: - track_email: The email address associated with the event, if applicable.

Best Practices and Tips

- Always ensure your API credentials are kept secure and not hardcoded into public code repositories. - Regularly review the events you're tracking to ensure they align with your marketing and sales strategies. - Consider assigning clear and descriptive names to your events for better clarity in reporting and segmentation. - Utilize event data to inform your automations and marketing campaigns for enhanced targeted outreach.

Common Use Cases with Examples

1. **Tracking Sign-ups**: Capture when a user subscribes to a newsletter. This can be done by creating an event called "Newsletter Sign-Up" with a value that reflects the potential worth of this new contact.

2. **Monitoring Purchases**: Log a purchase event when a customer completes a transaction on your site. You can assign a value correlating to the sale amount.

3. **Engagement Activities**: Track interactions such as button clicks or downloads. Events can be "Button Click" with a value that reflects user engagement levels.

Troubleshooting

If you experience issues during setup or tracking, consider the following tips: - Verify that your API credentials are correct and that the necessary permissions are active in your ActiveCampaign account. - Ensure the tracking details are configured properly, particularly the event names and values. - Check your API responses for any error messages that might provide insight into what needs to be corrected.

FAQ

1. What is Event Tracking?

Event Tracking is a feature that captures contact behavior on your website or app, allowing for improved marketing strategies based on collected data.

2. Do I need programming knowledge to set this up?

Yes, using the API wrapper requires knowledge of programming languages as you will need to write code to capture and send event data.

3. How can I see the captured event data?

The event data you capture is visible in the Activity Stream on the respective Contact Records in your ActiveCampaign account.

4. Can I associate multiple email addresses with the same event?

No, you can only associate one email address per event during the tracking process.

5. What happens if I don’t associate an email address with an event?

The event will still be registered and can be utilized for segment creation, even without a specific email address.

6. Is it necessary to have an API key?

Yes, an API key is required to authenticate and enable your connection to the ActiveCampaign API.

7. Where can I find additional resources on Event Tracking?

You can refer to the overview of Event Tracking provided in the ActiveCampaign Help Center for further information. ```