Setting up Data Import within Google Analytics

Google Analytics (GA) offers several Data Import options to expand your data within the GA platform.  Claravine offers the ability to send data import files directly to GA for two Data Import Types - Campaign Data and Custom Data.

Below details your options when choosing which Data Import type works best for your organization and how to connect with Claravine.  Please note, these options are for Google Universal Analytics and do not include GA4.

Campaign Data Import

Use Case: 

When you want to expand data using the Campaign Code (utm_id) as the key.

Callouts:  

For GA360 customers, if you have Google Ads and/or Campaign Manager 360 (Doubleclick) integrated with your GA Property, you must choose Processing Time Import because of GA’s last non-direct session attribution (Click here for the callout from Google).  

For GA “Free” customers, Processing Time Import is the default and cannot be changed.

Session metadata is expanded at processing time of data only and is permanent.  Data cannot be applied to historical hits.

GA Steps:

1. Define/map out Custom Dimensions to use with your data import key 
   1. 1. GA Path: Admin -> Property -> Custom Definitions -> Custom Dimensions
         
         
      2.  We recommend leaving UTM parameters source, medium, campaign within your URL query.  If these values are mapped within the Data Import, returning users will have  “(not set)” in their default campaign dimensions due to GA’s last non-direct attribution model
         
         
      3. All custom dimensions must be session-scoped
         
         
      4. Send Custom Dimension Names and Index to your Claravine CSM
         
         
2. Setup Data Import  
   1. 1. GA Path: Admin -> Property -> Data Import
         
         
      2. Click Create
         
         
      3. Step 1: Data Set type, select Campaign Data
         
         
      4. Step 2: Data Set details, give your data set a name and select applicable views
         
         
      5. Step 3: Data Set schema
         1. Key: Campaign Code (utm_id query parameter)
            
            
         2. Imported Data: All custom dimensions as defined above
            
            
         3. Choose Processing Time Import
            1. • For GA360 customers, Query Time would not apply, assuming you have integrations with other Google Marketing Platform tools
                 
                 
         4. Make a selection on Override Hit Data
            1. • This decision varies among organizations.  It is best to talk to who manages your GA property to determine the best selection
                 
                 
         5. Click Save
            
            
3. Retrieve Data Import Schema and send to your Claravine CSM
   1. 1. From main Data Import Menu, click on your Data Import Name
         
         
      2. Click the “Get Schema” button 
         
         
      3. Either download schema or copy the values under the CSV Header and paste in a text file

Claravine Steps:

1. In Claravine, go to Settings -> Integrations - > Accounts and connect GA via your GA account login
   
   
2. From Settings, go to Templates and chose the Template to integrate
   
   
3. Click on Step 3 - Connect to see your Inbound/Outbound connections
   
   
4. On Outbound, click the green plus sign, then click the Google Analytics tile
   
   
5. On Integration Details, leave the default integration name, or rename to your choosing
   
   
6. On Account Configuration, make the following selections from the dropdown options:
   1. 1. Connected Google Analytics Account - The name of the GA account from Step 1
         
         
      2. Google Analytics Account - The Account in GA you want to connect to
         
         
      3. GA Property - The Property in GA where you created the Custom Dimensions and Data Import schema
         
         
      4. Data Set Type - Choose Campaign Data
         
         
      5. Data Source - The Data Import name in your GA Account
         
7. In Field Mapping, paste the schema of your Data Import and click “Apply Schema”
   
   
8. Your screen will look like this and we are ready to map each value to the value in Claravine:
   
   
   
9. Within each field highlighted in red, use the dropdown to map the schema value to the corresponding Claravine value
   
   
10. After each value is mapped, click Save

Custom Data Import

Use Case: 

When you want to create a custom Data Set to import data for your specific use case.  Typically used with Adobe/GA customers who run their analytics platforms side by side and collect Adobe Campaign Codes (evar0) within GA Custom Dimension.

Callouts:  

For GA360 customers, users can choose Query Time Import when using a Custom Dimension as a key to import data retroactively and Query Time imported values are reversible.

Query Time imported data is not directly sent to your Big Query tables during your GA sync.  Claravine can send the same import file via Google Cloud Storage should you want to connect the data in Big Query; contact your CSM should you be interested in this integration.

GA Steps:

1. Define/map out Custom Dimensions to use with your data import key 
   1. 1. GA Path: Admin -> Property -> Custom Definitions -> Custom Dimensions
         
         
      2. All custom dimensions and/or default dimensions must be the same scope as your key
         
         
      3. Send Custom Dimension Names and Index to your Claravine CSM
         
         
2. Setup Data Import  
   1. 1. GA Path: Admin -> Property -> Data Import
         
         
      2. Click Create
         
         
      3. Step 1: Data Set type, select Custom Data
         
         
      4. Step 2: Data Set details, give your data set a name and select applicable views
         
         
      5. Step 3: Data Set schema
         1. 1. Key: Your defined key, most likely a Custom Dimension
               
               
            2. Imported Data: All custom dimensions and/or default dimensions as defined above
               
               
      6. For GA 360 Customers, choose Processing Time Import or Query Time Import
         1. 1. We recommend choosing Query Time based on the ability to define historical data
               
               
      7. Make a selection on Override Hit Data
         1. 1. This decision varies among organizations.  It is best to talk to who manages your GA property to determine the best selection
               
               
      8. Click Save
         
         
3. Retrieve Data Import Schema and send to your Claravine CSM
   1. 1. From main Data Import Menu, click on your Data Import Name
         
         
      2. Click the “Get Schema” button
         
         
      3. Either download schema or copy the values under the CSV Header and paste in a text file

Claravine Steps:

1. In Claravine, go to Settings -> Integrations - > Accounts and connect GA via your GA account login
   
   
2. From Settings, go to Templates and chose the Template to integrate
   
   
3. Click on Step 3 - Connect to see your Inbound/Outbound connections
   
   
4. On Outbound, click the green plus sign, then click the Google Analytics tile
   
   
5. On Integration Details, leave the default integration name, or rename to your choosing
   
   
6. On Account Configuration, make the following selections from the dropdown options
1. Connected Google Analytics Account - The name of the GA account from Step 1
   
   
2. Google Analytics Account - The Account in GA you want to connect to
   
   
3. GA Property - The Property in GA where you created the Custom Dimensions and Data Import schema
   
   
4. Data Set Type - Choose Custom Data
   
   
5. Data Source - The Data Import name in your GA Account
   
   
7. On Field Mapping, paste the schema of your Data Import and click “Apply Schema”
   
   
8. Your screen will look like this and we are ready to map each value to the value in Claravine:
   
   
   
9. Within each field highlighted in red, use the dropdown to map the schema value to the corresponding Claravine value
   
   
10. After each value is mapped, click Save

Last Notes

On template submission, Claravine defined metadata will be directly sent to your GA Property.  When a hit value is recorded to your defined key, GA will recognize the value and expand the session’s metadata when processing the hit for that visit.

In the case you would like to use the other Data Set types - Refund, User, Geographical, Content, Product, Cost - the steps are similar to Custom Data import configuration.  Choose your Data Set type, choose how to import, choose your schema in GA, and then, map the schema in Claravine. 

If you have any questions about this process or which option is best suited for your environment, please contact your Claravine CSM.

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Claravine + Google Analytics (UA) Updated Integration