Netsuite and Google Analytics How To - Part 1

This is the first of a 3 part series on how to integrate Google Analytics (with eCommerce Support) into Netsuite version 2009.1

In part 1 we will talk about the basic components of setting up the analytics integration, in part 2 we will actually perform the configuration and part 3 I will provide some custom code to capture the contents of the shopping cart for reporting within Google (valuation of clicks - something you would have to "write" yourself)

This tutorial is going to assume you understand a few things - so let's get that out of the way first:

1) You already have a or will set up a Google Analytics Account 

2) You are running Netsuite version 2009.1 or later

3) You are comfortable with some basic HTML and JavaScript work - no heavy coding, just some cut paste and simple modify

4) You understand that sometimes to make things work you have to bend the rules (you will see what I mean in a bit)

Get your GA on!

The first and foremost important step is to go get signed up for a Google Analytics account.  It's simple - free - and one of the best analytics packages out there - www.google.com/analytics is the place to start.  Once you go there and sign up with the domain you want to start collecting data on one of the screens will talk about installing the "code" into your site.  There's 2 things on that page you need to understand: 1 is your Web Property ID (UA-xxxxxx-x looking thing) the other is the tracking code you need to insert into you pages (it's a block of JavaScript)

We will be using this in part 2 of the tutorial.

The Netsuite Piece!
Within Netsuite there is a place under 2009.1 for configuring most of the Google Analytics Integration...  and I have included the screen shot showing the 3 sections that matter:

(1) This  is where the code provided by Google will go (this will be a cut and past step).  What this will do is load the Google JavaScript code and then populate it with your unique identifier...  We will be making a small change to the code in this step because of how the Netsuite checkout process actually crosses from your-domain.com to netsuite.com - easy - just wait for Part 2 - I'll show you the tweaks!

(2)  This field here adds some special code to the "Add To Cart button" that you can use to capture button presses.  We won't be spending a lot of time on this one now - that's a slightly more advanced configuration item...

(3) This field is the "magic" field that until Netsuite 2009.x made Google Analytics integration very - very difficult.  This field here is what will populate the "Proceed to Checkout" button with the special code that needs to be present for Google Analytics to cross a domain structure (that your-domain.com to netsuite.com part).

So what's in store - well - I'll be releasing part 2 and part 3 of the "How to make Google Analytics work with Netsuite"tutorial over the next week or so...  please sit tight - get you Google Analytics account registered - and get ready to start making better decisions based on data!

Netsuite Pages Loading Slow - why?

Here's a tip that flew by un-re-tweeted today:

If you are concerned w/ page load times and things seem generally slow...  and you don't know what the issue is (it's not you, it's me syndrome)

Try this: double click NS logo top left of any pages you are in (obviously this is when you are inside Netsuite - not a web store page) - this nifty little window will pop up and help you figure out if the problem is a slow server, slow network, or that nifty GUI enhancement you are running in your browser that's making everything slow for you.  At least it give you a starting point for troubleshooting.  It would be SUPER terrific if Netsuite was to add a specific server identifier for their cloud - so when you see server at 100% - you could call and get moved...  but for now - this is a lot better than just watching the browser spin!

Quick Tip - via Netsuite on Twitter

Twitter is cool - and by following @NetSuite_Inc or @fishpick (that's me) - They tweet cool "tricks" and I'll try to reTweet the extra good ones...

Here was yesterday's:

In Global Search, use % sign as a wildcard. Ex. cu:john% would return results like johnson, johnston, johnny

The cu: in the string is for the "Customer" type - obviously john in the string is what you are looking for and the % is the wildcard (all you DOS fans - let go of the need to use your *.*)

You and the Netsute RSS Feed - again

Unlike Google and most other SaaS providers out there in the marketplace - when Netsuite says Beta - they apparently really mean it...  which is all fine and dandy...  but until you understand WHAT the beta limitation is...  well - you know the rule about beta software in production!

Here's the simple deal - the RSS feed works EXACTLY the way you would want it to - and I have already talked about how to leverage the feed generator here.  What I failed to mention (because at the time I was unaware) is the fact that in the current 2009.1 version of the RSS Feed system - every time you add a new entry to the feed - EVERY SINGLE ITEM in the feed gets the new publish time and date.

While that may not sound overly ugly at first - understanding that many RSS readers and consumption engines determine content freshness by date of publish...  well - that makes for a pretty ugly scenario.

For instance - imagine you subscribe to a feed somewhere - like a news site...  and every time there is a breaking headline (or any new headline) added to the feed everything old becomes "new" again...  around the holidays when you have nostalgia for things old yesteryear - maybe that's not all bad...  but in the case of providing a consumable service - it's not good.

So - for now - all my prior recommendations about using the RSS Feed generation tools stand - but I would recomend, until this is out of beta, that you then take the content from the feed - create a flat XML file - and point visitors to your site to THAT content...  then when you have new content - by all means generate the correct XML file within the Netsuite tool - then simply append the new content to the flat XML file to retain all the previous time stamps.