Knowledge Base

What: The Google Analytics Connection allows you to enrich the information in an existing Google Analytics implementation. The connection can feed segment or profile information from BlueConic to Google Analytics using the technique of custom event tagging.

About BlueConic: The BlueConic Customer Data Platform harnesses the data required to power the recognition of an individual at each interaction, and then synchronizes their intent across the marketing ecosystem.

Why: BlueConic features a unique data collection engine that stores data at the customer level for known and anonymous users. Integration capabilities with CRM and other marketing/communication platforms can further enhance this dataset. Setting up segments in Google Analytics with selected details from BlueConic can greatly improve upon already insightful analyses. Or use BlueConic data to define custom audiences to retarget in Google Ads.

Do not create a Google Analytics connection if you are using Google Tag Manager to serve the Google Analytics tag on your website. In this specific case you have to use a Google Tag Manager connection to get the information across instead. Follow the steps outlined in this tutorial: Connecting BlueConic to Google Analytics through Google Tag Manager.

Moving from Google Universal Analytics to Google Analytics 4 (GA4)

Google is replacing Universal Analytics (UA) with Google Analytics 4 (GA4) by July 2023. All customers currently using Universal Analytics will need to migrate to GA4. 

See our FAQ guide with details about using BlueConic to sync data with Google Analytics 4.

Overview of the BlueConic connection to Google Analytics

There are three procedures required for setting up the Google Analytics connection with BlueConic:

1. Create custom dimensions in Google Analytics
2. Create and configure a connection in BlueConic
3. Start analyzing data in Google Analytics

Watch the video: Google Analytics Connection

Step 1: Create custom dimensions in Google Analytics

Start by creating custom dimensions in Google Analytics. For details, see the Google Support site.

After you set up custom dimensions, the overview of created dimensions looks like this:

Step 2: Create and configure a Google Analytics connection in BlueConic

The second step is to add a Google Analytics connection in BlueConic, where you set up the mapping between BlueConic profile properties and your custom dimensions in Google Analytics. Follow these steps to implement the mapping:

Add a Google Analytics Connection

1. Click Connections in the navigation bar.
2. Click Add Connection.
3. A pop-up window appears. Check the Show all box. Enter “Google” in the Search bar.

   Click Google Universal Analytics connection.
   

Set up a Google Analytics connection

1. In the Setup page, select the channels to collect data from. Optional: You can also enter specific URLs within those channels.
2. Enter a tracker name. Google Analytics will use the default name "ga" for your tracker. If you use a custom name in Google Analytics, enter it here.
3. When the connection runs, the data exchange section shows the number of unique profiles whose data is exported to Google Analytics through this connection.
   

Map BlueConic profile properties to Google Analytics dimensions

Click the Add goal button to add an export goal that defines how to map and send your BlueConic profile data to the corresponding fields in Google Analytics. You can customize the default name for this goal, "Export data into Universal Analytics" as needed.

Follow these steps to export data from BlueConic into Google Analytics.

1. Select a BlueConic segment to export profile data from
2. Map BlueConic data to Google Analytics
   Select the profile property that matches the dimension with the same index-number in Google Analytics:
   
   If you choose to map profile properties, and multiple values are available for the selected profile property, values will be pipe-separated.
   Similarly, if you map associated segments, multiple segment names will be pipe-separated. If you select All viewed interactions, the goal will use the names of all viewed BlueConic dialogue interactions (for the current page view) as the value. Names will be pipe-separated. Other options include the BlueConic profile identifier, associated BlueConic lifecycles, permission level, or a text value.
   Add as many dimension-mappings as you need:
   
3. Choose when to push data to Google Analytics
   Select whether you want BlueConic to push data: upon each page view, only when values for the export properties change, once per visit, when permission levels change, or when triggered by an event. Google Analytics will recognize events sent by BlueConic by name. In this example, we chose "BlueConic" but you can use a custom name.
   
4. Tracker name (optional)
   If you want to send usage data to a named tracker in Google Analytics, enter the tracker name here. The tracker name option is relevant when you have installed multiple Google Analytics tags on your pages (for details on this topic, see the Google documentation). Enter the name of the non-default tag to send data to it. The example below leaves this blank because there was only one tag installed on the pages.
   
5. Choose whether to push advanced data (optional)
   You can choose to push a BlueConic interaction viewed (such as a dialogue or lightbox) as a separate event.  You can also choose to push BlueConic events (for example, "Inactivity", "Exit Intent", "Content meter") as separate events, regardless of the push frequency set in step 3. Information about interactions viewed is sent in the form "interaction name" / "variant name" (for example, "send", "event", "BlueConic", "Welcome Lightbox / Variant B").

Run the Google Analytics connection

The Google Analytics connection will send data from BlueConic to Google Analytics according to the push frequency you set in steps 3 and 4 above. Remember to check the Export goal(s) box under Export Goals on the left-hand side, and at the top of the window, Save the connection and turn it on.

Step 3: Start analyzing data in Google Analytics

Once the connection has been made, events start to drip in at the Google Analytics side. To analyze the BlueConic data within Google Analytics, go to the following section:

• Choose Behavior > Events > Top Events from the left navigation.
• Choose a custom dimension as Secondary dimension, as shown below.

If you're using a BlueConic form in a dialogue, you can choose to add some additional JavaScript to pass the submission of the form as an event in Google Analytics:




In Google Analytics, if the Custom Dimensions have been properly configured and your Privacy settings are exposed, you would find this new custom event in the Real-Time > Event tabs, or in the Behavior > Events tabs.

Privacy management

Connections can be added to Objectives, allowing for privacy management of the information that is being picked up. A connection will only process the profiles of visitors who have consented to at least one of the objectives that the connection is linked to.