Custom Campaign URL in DMS 2.0

Question

Edited The issue (#347688) has been fixed in Sitecore CMS 6.5.0 rev. 120427 (6.5.0 Update-4) and DMS 2.0.1 rev. 120427

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We have been asked to explain where the editor can customize the campaign tracking url, they have seen the feature when participating in Sitecore Training sessions, but can't find the features in the our platform that is currently fully updated.

It seems to me the feature has been removed otherwise it is hidden in {3AC13180-912F-4388-AF56-46A0F1172E70} that is missing in the DMS Installation, when looking at the insert options for the Campaign Item.

Does anyone have insight on the topic ? and if the feature is still present or has been removed for another model.

OMS / Custom Campaign tracking URL

When looking at the old documentation for Sitecore OMS the section related OMS Creating Campaign Events, it should be possible for the Editor to personalize the incomming url parameter that triggers the page visit to attach to a specific campaign.

Reference: "OMS Creating Campaign Events" page 13-14 http://sdn.sitecore.net/upload/sitecore6/64/online%20marketing%20suite%20cookbook-usletter.pdf

Engagement Analytics / No Custom Campaign tracking URL (?)

In the new DMS 2.0 / Engagement Analytics there are also Page events, and they should be attachable to Campaigns. But we can't seem to create anything under the Campaign definition even tho the first line in the documentation suggests it. Looking at the Insert options on the campaign there is a missing id: {3AC13180-912F-4388-AF56-46A0F1172E70} that suggest the installation is missing an Item for this feature to function.

Reference: "Engagement Analytics Page Events" page 6-7 http://sdn.sitecore.net/upload/sitecore6/65/engagement_analytics_configuration_reference_sc65-usletter.pdf

Campaigns

You can associate events with specific campaigns. To register a campaign event, beneath the campaign definition item, insert a campaign event definition item using the System/Analytics/Campaign data template. You can activate the campaign using the value of the sc_camp query string parameter or you can assign a campaign to a content item, such as a landing page. For more information about campaigns, see the section Campaign. To change the name of the sc_camp query string parameter, see the section The Analytics.CampaignQueryStringKey Setting.

Answer 1

I have been in contact with Sitecore Support and they responded that the option of customizing the url that triggers the campaign has been removed. The documentation is misleading on the subject and they have registered it as a bug.

So yoursite.net/?sc_camp={ID of the campaign item here} or using a landing page with the campaign as trigger is currently the only way to monitor incoming links from a campaign, unless custom code is build.

Thanks for the answers.

Edited: The issue (#347688) has been fixed in Sitecore CMS 6.5.0 rev. 120427 (6.5.0 Update-4) and DMS 2.0.1 rev. 120427

Answer 2

Mentioned ID {3AC13180-912F-4388-AF56-46A0F1172E70} used to be a Campaign Event template. Campaign Events are no longer used, as they were replaced by Campaign in Sitecore DMS.

In order to track it, use the following URL format: yoursite.net/?sc_camp={ID of the campaign item here}

Answer 3

I just wanted to add in that although it might be what they know and what they want to use, the reason that it's so obscured is because that's really not how you should be doing things and its not a practice I'd recommend since it's not really guaranteed to be tracked. The structure of DMS and the underlying database is such that I'd stick to setting things up by associating things with a campaign. Tracking is done in large part via page events that are triggered... but just amending a url will trigger a visit and a new page, but not a page event to be created unless there is something associated with that item that will trigger an event.

Campaigns are typically associated with items, or events, or engagement plans or any number of different elements of DMS. In all cases, there's a tab on the item that has an option to check the campaign to associate it with. That's how you want to be doing this which ensures that a page event is properly created and associated with the campaign.