My conversion tracking idea

[cpi]

I've been having problems for a while now trying to track conversions with e-junkie, specifically when using Google Website Optimizer for testing different sales pages to see which perform better.



This of course is due to the fact that a 3rd party site (PayPal) is being used. GWO seems to have problems with that.



So, here's my idea.



Since e-junkie allows me to sell multiple products, what if I set up 5 "different" products that are all actually the same exact product... they'd just now all have unique item numbers.



And then, I'd set up 5 different sales pages, each of which uses a different item number in the "buy now/add to cart" link, and then set up Google Website Optimizer to rotate between showing these 5 different pages. I'd of course include a fake "conversion page" just so it works right.



I'd then track conversions myself (not through GWO) by watching which item number was getting more sales.



Does this make any sense (at least for what I'm looking to do), or is it kinda dumb?



And assuming it's an okay idea, will e-junkie have any problems selling 5-10 "different" products that are all actually identical with the same name and everything?



Thanks in advance for any help.

[E-junkie_Monster]

If that is how you'd like to handle your sales data I don't see any problem with it from our end. :)



We don't have any actual restrictions on setting up multiple products that are all the same thing, as long as you have room on your subscription plan to support the extra products everything will be fine.

[stephg]

I realize this thread is two years old, but I've been tearing my hair out about how to track E-Junkie sales through GWO.



All I have to say to cpi (if you're still around) is BRILLIANT IDEA. Thank you, thank you, thank you!



OK, off to make those 5 sales pages!

[E-junkie_Guru]

We also provide some tips for conversion tracking with services like GWO that require the conversion page on the same site/domain as the sales page:

http://www.e-junkie.com/ej/tips.tracking.conversions.htm

[stephg]

Thanks for that info. Reading it, it says I can put in Iframe code to get the tracking to work.



It's my understanding that some browsers like IE7 will alert a user with a "are you sure you want to do this" message when presented with an Iframe. I would have to rely on them clicking "yes", which may give inaccurate results. Is my assumption accurate?



Thanks

[E-junkie_Guru]

The iframe code would only be used to embed your E-junkie-generated thank-you page content (such as download links) inside the thank-you page on your own site/domain. You would place the tracking code in that page on your site (outside of the iframe), not in your E-junkie thank-you page customization fields.

[jaredakers]

This is in interesting idea and may be the solution to something I'm trying to implement. Any comments suggestion welcome.



I have a book for sale, both Print/Kindle via Amazon plus I'll be selling a .PDF version through ejunkie. All accessible through one sales page on a stand alone site.



But I want to be able to track where the sales are originating from (my email list/newsletter, other kindle books, from supporting websites, etc.)



I figure I can pass a unique amazon affiliate ID to the sales page to track where it comes from if the sales go to Amazon (at least I'll be able to track through my amazon affiliate account the number of items shipped for those tracking ID's) but have been pondering how to track the different originating sources for the ejunkie downloads.



Sounds like I could possibly pass in a unique ID or parameter with the amazon affiliate ID that also sets a unique product item number. And setup separate product item numbers for each originating source (newsletter, free ebook, website, etc.) but not sure how that would then play into the Google Analytics Goal conversion tracking.



The conversion tracking doesn't have to be spot on accurate, it would just be nice to know where most of my sales are originating from so I can concentrate more on those efforts.

[E-junkie_Guru]

You can add a &custom= parameter to any of your purchase link URLs, which would be passed thru to checkout and appear in your E-junkie Transaction Log -- e.g., for a purchase link you place in a free ebook, you could have this:



https://www.e-junkie.com/ecom/gb.php?c=cart&i=XXX&cl=86012&ejc=2&custom=ebook



This would be a bit trickier if you newsletter, free ebook, etc. are just linking to your site, where buyers would place their order. You'd need some custom scripting in your page that could read an ID appended to your page URL and then append that as a &custom= value to all the purchase button URLs in your page -- e.g., links to your site that you place in your free ebook could have a referral ID like so:



http://www.example.com/?ref=ebook



...then custom scripting in your page would recognize when a buyer arrives at your site with such a ref= ID in the URL, so if it finds one, it would append a corresponding &custom=ebook value to all your button URLs in that page.



If you'd like some help setting this up, we can recommend the competent, E-junkie-experienced developers listed at the Developer Directory link at the very top of our site.

[jaredakers]

Awesome stuff! That's perfect. I already figured I could add the url param going to the sales page to differentiate the origination. But knowing I can just have one product bundle and append that custom param to the end is awesome! Thanks!!



Actually, if I setup the Amazon affiliate id's so they're easily recognized I could use the same param for the custom one going to ejunkie (assuming a hyphen is OK in the value). Awesome possum!



http://www.mysalespage.com/?ref=newsletter-20

http://www.mysalespage.com/?ref=mainsidebar-20

http://www.mysalespage.com/?ref=hellobar-20

etc.