Frequently Asked Questions
ObservePoint is a software company that provides automated technology governance and privacy compliance solutions for websites. ObservePoint’s solutions verify that the data you collect on your site is accurate and secure–allowing you to make more informed and confident business decisions.
A website audit is where ObservePoint automatically scans the tags on your website checking that they are where you want them to be collecting the information correctly. If the tags are broken, missing, or duplicated, the audit informs you where the errors occurred, so you can quickly fix the problem. In short, an audit makes sure that the data you use is accurate. This process can be done manually but would require valuable resources of time and personnel to do so.
A web analytics audit is when ObservePoint scans your website specifically verifying that your web analytics implementation is installed correctly. The audit primarily focuses on analytics tags fired on a pageview as opposed to event-based tags, though testing event-triggered tags is possible. ObservePoint supports all major analytics vendors.
A website tag is a piece of JavaScript implemented on the page of your website that records information about how visitors use your page. For example, you may have a tag that monitors when users click on a certain button, like “checkout” or “purchase,” or a tag that tells you how many unique (first-time) visitors view your homepage, etc.
Data validation means verifying that the data you collect is accurate. While an audit checks that the tags are in place, data validation verifies that the tags are collecting the right data in the right way.
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The TagDebugger is a Chrome extension. To download the extension, open up your Chrome browser and follow this link. To use the extension, open your browser’s developer tools. The ObservePoint TagDebugger tab will be furthest right tab on the menu bar. Refresh the page and you will see all the recognized tags loading on the page. You can also view a full tutorial of our TagDebugger here.
Tag management is the business function responsible for deploying JavaScript tags via a tag management system. A tag management system (TMS) is a solution, usually provided by a third-party vendor, that simplifies the processes of implementing, maintaining, and sunsetting JavaScript tags that collect and transmit data to the solutions in a company’s analytics and marketing stack.
Even after implementing a tag management solution, things break—tags go missing or are duplicated, links break and JavaScript code is corrupted, old third-party implementations are not fully eradicated, etc. This is why companies need to have people, tools, and processes in place to oversee both tag management and tag governance.
The data layer is a JavaScript object that serves as a repository for your website’s most essential data. Born out of the soils of tag management, the data layer helps centralize data collection and storage by gathering data about user behavior and page content into a single location. That data is then distributed to the various technologies in your MarTech stack.
The frequency of your audits depends on your business needs, but generally ObservePoint customers find the most value by aligning with their release cycles, reacting to business conditions that dictate audits, and performing proactive audits in anticipation of large project releases.
Yes. Tag management systems are great and help teams become more efficient and sophisticated, but they also introduce additional tagging to the site and can cause blind spots.
ObservePoint is integrated with every major digital marketing technology. Visit the Tag Database page to see an extensive list of technologies ObservePoint supports.
Yes. ObservePoint supports a variety of browser agents and devices, including mobile.
Don’t wait. Auditing now can help you:
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Ensure you have completely removed any old or unauthorized tags from your website or mobile app
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Create documentation of what your current implementation looks like
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Validate that your new solution has been deployed correctly
Yes. Since ObservePoint is executing JavaScript, all JavaScript parameters and values are stored in the tag database after an audit and available as test criteria in Journeys.
Since there's no code to deploy, it's not difficult. Everything happens through the ObservePoint interface where you configure the audit, user journeys, and reports according to your rules in a very simple process. You can start your Free Trial to see the setup process in action.
It can. For example, if a tag is on the bottom portion of a page that is loading slowly, the page view might not be recorded in the web analytics solution. Consequently, this page might falsely show very low page views.
Yes. ObservePoint can simulate visitor actions, such as a user login.
Yes. ObservePoint's patented technology interacts with your website’s user interface, and custom action event audits can be configured within the ObservePoint platform.
Yes. ObservePoint identifies all duplicate and multiple tag requests.
Yes, for the most part, but it depends on the tag. For example, ObservePoint supports HBX all the way to the current SiteCatalyst tags. Typically if a tag has version data, ObservePoint will catalog it.
Yes. ObservePoint follows all redirects and will audit the terminal page if it is allowed by filters defined in the audit. ObservePoint also catalogs all other server status codes such as broken and access denied pages.
Yes. ObservePoint scans each image request for a given tag.
Yes. ObservePoint scans the network traffic for particular page tags that load from an iframe as part of the network requests.
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