Summary
This year has seen several updates with implications for analytics on our checkout pages:
Upgrades to the data layer for analytics events
Purchase events moving to the checkout page
A change to the checkout URL format
Support for server-side events added
Release of a cookie consent banner
This guide provides details on all these changes and guidance for how to review your analytics configurations.
Data layer changes
We upgraded the add_to_cart and purchase events with new structures for each analytics integration, following the latest recommendations for those platforms.
ACTION REQUIRED: We recommend you review your analytics and ad platform(s) to determine if you have defined any custom variables or conversion events based on the existing event structure.
If so, check the format against our complete guide to the new event structures and make any required changes in your analytics platform.
Purchase event location
Previously, purchase events were triggered on the Thank You page after a successful purchase. This limited analytics tracking for some product types, or for products that use a custom Thank you page.
To address this, purchase events will now be triggered on the checkout page when the payment has been completed. This means purchases for all product types will be tracked, regardless of the post-purchase page used.
ACTION REQUIRED: If you track custom conversion events based on purchase events from specific Thank you page URLs, you should update the settings in your analytics platform to instead reference the product identifiers passed by our new purchase events, such as item_id for Google Tag Manager.
URL structure
Schools migrating from our legacy checkout to the latest version will notice a change in URL structure.
The legacy checkout URL follows this format:
https://sso.teachable.com/secure/SCHOOL_ID/checkout/PRODUCT_ID/
The new checkout experience follows this format:
https://checkout.teachable.com/secure/SCHOOL_ID/checkout/ORDER_ID
Please note, you do not need to update any of your links or sales pages. But we do recommend that as a best practice you always use the link to your pricing plans found in the Pricing tab of the product you are selling, which has the format:
https://yourschooldomain.com/pricing/PRODUCT_ID
This will automatically redirect to the final checkout URL seen by your students.
ACTION REQUIRED: If within Google Analytics you have added a referral exclusion specifically for sso.teachable.com, you should update this to teachable.com, to ensure both domains are excluded as referrers.
ACTION REQUIRED: If you track custom conversion events based on purchase events from specific checkout page URL paths, you should update the settings in your analytics platform to instead reference the product identifiers passed by our new purchase events, such as item_id or item_name for Google Tag Manager.
Server-side events for Google Analytics and Meta Pixel
We have added support for the GA4 Measurement Protocol and the Meta Pixel Conversions API, allowing you to enable analytics events to be sent directly to these platforms.
If you've already installed these integrations, you will now see an App options menu where you can Edit your installation to add the Secret Value for GA4 or the Conversions API Token for Meta Pixel.
Cookie consent
Our latest checkout version includes a cookie consent banner. While not a direct change to our analytics integrations, you may experience some reduced data being passed to your analytics platform(s) from users who do not consent to tracking cookies.
For more details about this feature, please reference this Help Center guide.
Areas to review
While we recommend a full review with the team handling your ads and analytics, here are some specific steps you should take for each of our major integrations.
Google Analytics 4 (GA4)
Conversions:
Confirm that all conversion events are mapped to the new event structures. If you previously tracked an event based on a value in the old structure, you may need to recreate it using the updated add_to_cart or purchase payload.
Similarly, confirm that any conversion events based on checkout URL paths are updated to reflect the new URL structure.
Google Tag Manager (GTM)
Triggers and Tags:
Check triggers listening for add_to_cart and purchase events. If you've previously defined conditions for these events based on the event structure or URL path, you may need to update them.
If you have defined custom variables based on the old event structure, you may need to update them to match the new event structure.
Meta Pixel
Custom Conversions
Review any custom conversions or audiences that are based on URL patterns. If they use the old checkout path (checkout/PRODUCT_ID), please update them to reflect the new /checkout/ORDER_ID structure.