Passing Google Analytics data to Pardot

Our ecommerce operation require tracking of Google Analytics data, and submitting analytic data with the form data for submission into the Pardot. This will help us track clicks and conversions of advertisement dollars we spent on various channels. For some reason, the analytics data from the landing pages failed to make it into our Pardot account so I had to troubleshoot this problem. Since this is my second time troubleshooting same problem, I would like to use this to document troubleshooting steps for future reference. If you're not using Pardot, the first 2 steps are all you needed to diagnose your GA problem.

1. The first thing that we must have on our landing page is installing Google Analytics Javascript. Placing the GA javascript (ga.js + _gaq.push([‘_setAccount’, ‘UA-XXXXX-y’]);) will ensure the UTM parameters from the GET parameter will be written to the visitor's cookie.

2. Once you've installed GA javascript, ensure that the cookies are retrieved and sent with the form data. The UTM data is written in the "__utmz" cookie variable, so you'll have to ensure that the cookie is retrieved. If you don't see the same UTM parameters from the GET parameter, chances are that you've visited the same page with NO or Different parameters. If you landed on the same page with No or Different UTM, the newer parameters will not be overwritten to visitor's cookie. To ensure your code is working correctly, open a Incognito Window and see if you can retrieve the "utmz" cookie data. Refer Google Analytic Cookies for cookie details.

3. If you use Browser Emulator such as Snoopy to submit the data, the cookie data is properly assigned to Snoopy cookies via associative array (instead of an object). We use Snoopy to submit the form in the background since Pardot takes several seconds to process the form submission. Also, if you're encoding and decoding json_encode or json_decode, you may want to verify that the magic_quote_gpc is turned off in php.ini file.

4. For GA data to be auto populated within Pardot, you'll have to install GA connector within Pardot. For instruction on installing GA connector, you may want to consult Pardot documentation.