Can Google Analytics track conversions inside a JS widget on a 3rd party site?

Question

I'm working on a project that includes a javascript widget that can be wrapped around a video to enable subtitles. I'd like to track clicks when a person has the tool embedded on their site, in order to optimize UX.

Does anyone know if this is possible?

Answer 1

Custom Variables are likely not the route you want to go. They don't make their own calls; they are packaged along with other requests. That is, you'd set a custom variable to signify a single state for a whole page, session or lifetime, not for particular events. Like, for example, if you want to assign a variable to users who are logged in, so you can segment their behavior easily.

What you're looking for is Event Tracking . They behave somewhat like pageviews, but they have up to 4 data points allowed (category, action, label, and value). This allows you to do things like pass the video's time stamp, track particular actions like enable/disable captions, play, pause, etc. And, with secondary dimensions and advanced segmentation, they offer just as much customization as custom variables.

Answer 2

Yes. You're most likely dealing with an implementation of custom variables in Google Analytics.

Here's an example of how Yottaa used custom variables to measure page load time, which is also a JavaScript-based event.