Configure revenue tracking in Optimizely Web Experimentation

Optimizely Web Experimentation can track total revenue from purchases or other events on your site and attribute the amount to a specific experiment and variation. When you add the required code to your site (usually on the purchase confirmation page) and add the revenue metric to your experiment, you can see the revenue earned per visitor, revenue per paying visitor, purchases, and the total revenue earned per variation on the Optimizely Experimentation Results page.

Revenue should not be your primary metric because, unlike clicks or pageviews, revenue does not measure a specific, discrete action your visitors take. However, tracking revenue connects your optimization efforts to the metrics your company values most. 

Implement the Optimizely Web Experimentation revenue tracking code

To track revenue, you must add a small code snippet to your site to call Optimizely Web Experimentation's revenue tracking API. This code (an example of a custom event) typically goes on the purchase confirmation page, and it should look like the following:

<script>
   window["optimizely"] = window["optimizely"] || [];
   window["optimizely"].push({
     "type"      : "event",
     "eventName" : "trackRevenue",
     "tags"      : {
                     "revenue": valueInCents
                    }
   });
</script>

The 'eventName' parameter is required. You can name it what you want. For example, if you want to track the event and name it 'purchases', type 'purchases' in place of 'trackRevenue' in the previous code block.

The valueInCents variable represents the purchase amount, in cents (purchase amount*100). This value must be passed to Optimizely Web Experimentation in cents. Otherwise, your revenue totals are incorrect. If you do not use United States currency, multiply the purchase amount in your currency by 100. For example, a purchase amount of €54.99 should be passed as 5499.

//pass the total purchase amount to a variable 
var value = ‘youDefineThisValue’;
// Revenue must be added in cents
var valueInCents = value * 100;

You can choose which currency symbol is displayed for revenue metrics on the Optimizely Experimentation Results page.

Best practices 

• Track revenue after your checkout or billing detail form is submitted to avoid sending revenue totals for invalid purchases to Optimizely Web Experimentation.
• Avoid triggering the revenue goal at the click of a button. Due to validation errors, a visitor may click the button several times, and the revenue total would be sent to Optimizely Web Experimentation on each click.
• Pass the value to Optimizely Web Experimentation as an integer. Otherwise, your revenue totals are not sent to Optimizely Web Experimentation and do not display on the Optimizely Experimentation Results page. If your site's revenue calculation code returns a floating-point value such as 99.99999999999, you should truncate or round that value to 99.99 or 100. Choose a method that works best for your business needs.

Along with tracking revenue, you can report the purchase event as a conversion by creating a custom event. Add a custom event for 'purchases' (or the value for your 'eventName') on the Optimizely Experimentation Results page to track conversions. You do not have to add this event to track revenue.

When you implement this code on your page, you do not need to adjust it again. The same code can be reused to track revenue for multiple experiments across the project.