GTM ecommerce after container container code on page

Question

I want to use GTM to track eCommerce transactions. This is a test for client environments where the code might be placed after the GTM code snippet which is why using Dom Ready as a trigger for the transaction tag is not reliable.

This is my test code:

<body>
    <!-- Google Tag Manager -->
<script>window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || [];</script>
<noscript><iframe src="//www.googletagmanager.com/ns.html?id=GTM-M4RNT2"
height="0" width="0" style="display:none;visibility:hidden"></iframe></noscript>
<script>(function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':
new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],
j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src=
'//www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);
})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-XXXXXX');</script>
<!-- End Google Tag Manager -->
<div class="container">
<script>
window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []
dataLayer.push({
   'transactionId': '32698',
   'transactionAffiliation': 'Acme Clothing',
   'transactionTotal': 38.26,
   'transactionTax': 1.29,
   'transactionShipping': 5,
   'transactionProducts': [{
       'sku': 'DD44',
       'name': 'T-Shirt',
       'category': 'Apparel',
       'price': 11.99,
       'quantity': 1
   },{
       'sku': 'AA1243544',
       'name': 'Socks',
       'category': 'Apparel',
       'price': 9.99,
       'quantity': 2
   }]
});
</script>
</body>

As you can see the eCommerce code is taken straight from the Google documentation here.

I made sure that the pageview tag I'm firing works and I can see myself on the realtime view.

The issue is that no matter what I do to trigger the transaction tag, no eCommerce transactions are shown in Google Analytics.

Here is what I've tried:

Using 'event': 'eCommerce' right after the transaction products or in a separate script tag after the transaction code push and then using that event as a trigger
I've created a dataLayer variable in GTM that references transactionId and defaults it to false and then using event gtm.dom as a trigger with a filter for transactionId does not equal false

The frustrating part is that I have the GTM preview window open and it looks perfectly like it should work.

In attempt 1 above it shows a sequence of pageview, message, eCommerce DOM ready, page load where the dataLayer after message is correctly filled with transaction data and the eCommerce tag firing on the eCommerce event (i.e. data is in the dataLayer for sure.
In attempt 2 the dataLayer after Message is filled with transaction data and the eCommerce tag is fired on the DOM Ready event.

This has been going on for days now so it isn't a case of "the data hasn't shown up in GA yet". I am using the right UA tag since both tags reference the sasme onstant GTM variable and since I see myself in realtime the pageview tag uses the right UA and therefore so does the transaction tag. And yes eCommerce is obviously enabled in the view settings.

Ryan Ryan · Accepted Answer · 2016-06-03T15:34:46

Simply pushing the transaction data to the data layer will not trigger the tracking to work. You need an action such as a pageview to pick up the transaction data and send it.

If you are unable to add the data layer before the GTM snippet, my recommendation would be the following:

Convert your code to be in the Enhanced Ecommerce format (provided below)
Add a custom event, in this case it is named trackTrans.
Add an event tag in GTM, labeled similar to Send Transaction. You can specify whatever values you'd like the for the event category/action/label.
In the event tag go to more settings > Ecommerce Features, enable Enable Enhanced Ecommerce Feature and Use data layer
Setting the trigger to be a Custom Event and specify trackTrans for the value

In your view settings make sure to enbable enhanced ecommerce tracking

dataLayer.push({
   'ecommerce': {
     'purchase': {
       'actionField': {
         'id': 'T12345',                         // Transaction ID. Required for purchases and refunds.
         'affiliation': 'Online Store',
         'revenue': '35.43',                     // Total transaction value (incl. tax and shipping)
         'tax':'4.90',
         'shipping': '5.99',
         'coupon': 'SUMMER_SALE'
       },
       'products': [{                            // List of productFieldObjects.
         'name': 'Triblend Android T-Shirt',     // Name or ID is required.
         'id': '12345',
         'price': '15.25',
         'brand': 'Google',
         'category': 'Apparel',
         'variant': 'Gray',
         'quantity': 1,
         'coupon': ''         
       }]
     }
  },
  'event' : 'trackTrans'
});

With what I have described above, the page will load then an event will fire and send the ecommerce transaction data with it.

GTM ecommerce after container container code on page

3 Answers