With the help of your custom track domain, it is possible to do the tracking in a dedicated domain. This allows tracking data to be collected and processed even if your website visitors are using browser extensions to prevent a page from communicating with analytics tools, such as ad blockers. The use of the custom track domain thus increases the quality of your data.

Please note the Best Practice for ITP 2.1. While earlier versions of ITP only blocked third-party cookies, ITP 2.1 also blocks first-party cookies. The storage period for first-party cookies is limited to seven days. To still get high quality data with ITP 2.1, follow the steps described in the Best Practice.

Setting up the Custom Track Domain

In the following, the steps for setting up the custom track domain are described.

  1. First, it is necessary to contact your responsible Mapp consultant, who will agree with you on the following data and information required for the installation:

    Data

    Description
    Custom track domain for a single track domain

    The name of your track domain should base on the name of the website domain.

    Example
    Website domain name: exampleshop.com
    A possible/recommended custom track domain name: data.exampleshop.com or image.exampleshop.com

    The system administrator must confirm that the desired custom track domain is unique, i.e., not already assigned elsewhere.

    Custom track domain for multiple track domains

    Enables cross-domain tracking of website visitors. The name of your custom track domain should base on the domain with the most traffic, i.e., the most visitors.

    Example
    Website domain names:
    exampleshop.com for pixel tracking (100.000 visitors/ month)
    exampleshop.com for Mapp Marketing Automation
    exampleshop.de (80.000 visitors/ month)
    exampleshop.fr (80.000 visitors/ month)
    A possible/ recommended custom track domain name: data.exampleshop.com or image.exampleshop.com

    The system administrator must confirm that the desired custom track domain is unique, i.e., not already assigned elsewhere. Furthermore, Mapp does not accept any wildcard certificates for data protection reasons. If you have any questions, contact the Mapp Support Team.

    Information for CSRInformation that is necessary to create a CSR (Certificate Signing Request) by Mapp:
    • key length (default and recommended by Mapp is 2048 bit)
    • country code (for example, DE, FR)
    • region (if applicable; Bundesland is required for Germany)
    • city
    • name of the responsible person in your company
    • your company name
    • department in your company (optional)
    • website domain name(s)
    • email address of the domain owner
    • postal address of the domain owner
  2. Mapp will then send you the following information:
    • confirmed custom track domain name
    • CSR

    If you want to create the CSR and further certificates by yourself, please encrypt it strongly and send it to your contact person at Mapp. For security reasons, the responsible consultant is allowed to only tell you the password via phone.

  3. If your pages use HTTPS, an SSL certificate is mandatory. You must provide this certificate to Mapp.

    Recommendation

    Mapp recommends that you use a multi-domain certificate, even if you initially start with a single webpage domain, but plan to add more webpages in the future.

    Why a multi-domain certificate?

    The reason is that it often happens that over time customers need a tracking domain for other domains (new websites, more country pages, etc.) or other Mapp products such as marketing automation. In these cases, already existing multi-domain certificates can be used, which reduces the effort for the customer. In addition, the certificate should be valid for at least 2 years.

    Why a validity of two years?

    The purchase of a certificate for two years is cheaper for the customer per year than for a term of one year. Also, the cost is lower than if a valid certificate has to be renewed or purchased and installed annually. The validity of two years also reduces the risk of loss of tracked data in case of an invalid (expired/ not renewed) certificate.

  4. Mapp installs the certificate.

    Important

    Please note that Wildcard SSL certificates are not supported for implementation. Due to security reasons we do not accept Wildcard SSL certificates with regards to your track domains in our environment.
  5. Mapp sends you the CNAME and informs you about the next steps.
  6. Now you have to register this CNAME for your track domain with your DNS service provider.
  7. Finally, update your pixel.


Updating the Tracking Pixel

Using First-Party Cookies for Tracking

  1. Update the value of the track domain in the JavaScript file or the global configuration.

    trackDomain: "data.exampleshop.com"	
    JS
  2. If you use Mapp Tag Integration, adjust the track domain in the configuration of the Mapp Intelligence plugin.


Using Third-Party Cookies for Tracking


  1. Update the value of the track domain in the JavaScript file or the global configuration.

    trackDomain: "data.exampleshop.com"		
    JS
  2. If you use Mapp Tag Integration, adjust the track domain in the configuration of the Mapp Intelligence plugin.

  3. If you would like to retain existing cookies, we recommend that you use the Cookie Control Plugin. The plugin migrates existing cookies to the new track domain.

    If you are not using the Cookie Control Plugin, existing third-party cookies will not be used by the new track domain. This means that new cookies will be set, resulting in new visitor IDs. In reporting, this means that the first visit after setting up your custom track domain is always counted as a new visit. This distorts the metrics for new and returning visitors.