Integration QA Steps: Conversion

Steps to QA your integration of Chartbeat Conversion

Conversion QA Checklist

Reviewing your code

• Verify that subscriptions.js loads: In order to begin tracking conversion events with Chartbeat, the subscriptions.js script must load on your pages.

• Verify events are tracked: Review the conversion event ping data being sent to Chartbeat by using your browser's developer tools.

Conversion Event Guidelines

Review the guidelines below to ensure your conversion events are being fired according to our best practices:

• Fire a Chartbeat event on every page in a single conversion flow. Events with Shown or Complete in their name should only be fired once per conversion flow but those with Start or Cancel may be called multiple times if needed. Below is an example of a conversion flow that spans multiple pages:

  Page Path	Chartbeat Event Name	Optional Parameter
  example.com/articleA	trackPaywallShown	eventLabel: 'Modal paywall'
  example.com/signup1	trackPaywallStart	eventLabel: 'Enter customer info'
  example.com/signup2	trackPaywallStart	eventLabel: 'Enter payment info'
  example.com/signup-complete	trackPaywallComplete	eventValue: 100

  You can use one of our optional parameters – e.g. an eventLabel or eventValue – to distinguish events with the same name.

• Use the trackPaywallShown event on the article page associated with a paywall. The path associated with the trackPaywallShown event is used to determine the content a user last viewed prior to a conversion event.

• Use events from the same category to track a single conversion flow. Use the same category when tracking a single conversion. Do not start a conversion flow with trackPaywallShown and end with trackRegistrationComplete.

• Use trackPaywallComplete at a place in the code that runs after a successful conversion. Call Complete events after a successful conversion – for all event tracking methods.

• Fire Chartbeat events only when you are sure they have occurred. If you fire an event e.g. trackPaywallComplete on page load, make sure you account for edge cases. If users can visit that page directly, your logic should first check that the user is completing a paywall flow by, for example, checking the referrer or the user's subscriber status

• Fire Chartbeat events only on your site's domain. Some conversion pages, like checkout pages, are hosted on separate domains. If a conversion event occurs on a separate domain, the corresponding Chartbeat Complete event should be called on your domain's article page, after the user is redirected from the checkout page. Below is an example of a conversion flow that includes pages hosted on a separate domain:

  Page Path	Chartbeat Event Name
  example.com/articleA	trackPaywallShown
  example.com/signup1	trackPaywallStart
  payment.com/example-checkout	❌ DO NOT FIRE AN EVENT
  example.com/articleA	trackPaywallComplete

Verify subscriptions.js loads

In order to track events with Chartbeat, the subscriptions.js script must load first. Use your browser's developer tools to confirm that it is loading.

Select the Network tool and filter for subscriptions.js:

Verify events are being tracked

Conversion data is sent via a ping request to Chartbeat, you can review the data being sent by using using your browser's developer tools: Select Network and filter for conversion_event :

Click Payload and review the query string parameters. Verify that the values match what you intended to send.

Parameter	Value
p	path
h	siteID or host
d	actual domain
cec	event category (e.g. paywall)
cet	event type (e.g. shown)
cel	event label
cev	event value

If you are using the optional pathOverride parameter, make sure to check that the p parameter contains the pathOverride value. Otherwise p should match the article's page path that you're sending to Chartbeat in your standard configuration.

Using Debug Mode

When debug mode is enabled for each event, the event details will display in the console.

Enable Debug Mode for an Event: Add the debug parameter set to true for an event method to print the event configuration to the console. This will only print to the console if a ping was successfully sent to Chartbeat.

chartbeat('trackPaywallStart', {
    debug: true
})

In your browsers's developer tools, select Console to find your event debug details:

Implementation Review

Our Implementation Review dashboard lets Admin users view data snapshots from the latest full calendar day we have on hand. The Conversions Audit tab provides a way to verify correct Conversion implementation and to help self-diagnose data discrepancies or issues.

To access Implementation Review:

1. Sign in to your Chartbeat account.

2. Navigate to Settings from the menu top right-head

3. Click the Implementation Review pages on the left side menu

4. Navigate to the Conversions Audit Tab

Tip: If you cannot access the Implementation Review, verify with your organization if your account has the required Admin role.

Next Steps

Read through the next article in this guide to review a list of supported conversion flows