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Web properties: what they are and how to configure them

Updated

A web property connects your website to magnews and defines how the platform interacts with it. 
With a web property, you can collect visitors’ browsing data, show on site messages and signup forms, recognize contacts and measure conversions.

In this article, you’ll learn what a web property is, how to create one and how to configure its settings. 

Have you created and configured your web property, but you’re not sure what to do next? 
Complete the property activation by following the guide to installing the magnews code on your website. 

Is the web property or an on site message not working as expected?
See the page for troubleshooting common issues.

What is a web property

A web property represents a website connected to magnews.

Each property contains the settings that define how magnews collects browsing data and which features can be used on the website. Depending on the selected configuration, a web property can:

If you manage multiple websites, you can create a dedicated web property for each one.

Create a web property

To create a new web property, go to:

Journey Lab > Web tracking > Web properties

From this page, you can view all existing web properties or create a new one.

Click New web property and enter the URL of the website you want to connect to magnews.

The property is created with a default configuration designed to cover the most common use case. Based on the features included in your plan, magnews automatically enables all available options.

To start publishing banners and pop-ups on the website, such as on site messages, showing signup forms or recording visitors’ activities, install the magnews code. You’ll find all the steps in the guide to installing the magnews code on your website. Without the magnews code installed, the web property remains configured in the platform but cannot communicate with the website.

If you see properties with the Needs updating badge in the list, it means they use the previous configuration: we recommend updating them to the new version.

The web property home

When you open a web property, you access its home, where you’ll find a summary of the configuration status and the main actions.

From this page, you can:

  • Activate or deactivate the property
  • Open the Code and check window
  • Check the integration status
  • Access the property settings

Next to the web property name, you’ll find an information icon: click it to view the creation date, the last modified date and the property ID. The ID identifies the web property and is also included in the magnews code. 
It is useful, for example, if you have multiple active web properties on the pages of your websites and want to check which property the code installed on the website is connected to.

In the home, you’ll also find an indicator showing whether the website is sending data to magnews. You can see three situations:

  • Waiting for first events: the property has just been created or activated and has not received data yet
  • Recent events received: the property is receiving data from the website and the connection is working
  • No events received for more than 48 hours: the website has not sent data for at least two days. In this case, magnews suggests checking whether the magnews code is present on the website.

Click the information icon to view the date of the last successful verification and the date of the last recorded event.

If the property does not receive events, code verification does not work or on site messages are not displayed, see the page for troubleshooting common issues.

From the Code and check button, you can retrieve the magnews code, complete property activation and, in supported cases, verify its installation on the website.

For the complete procedure, see the guide to installing the magnews code on your website.

Does the property use a previous configuration?

If you open a property marked with the Needs updating badge, you’ll find a second card in the home inviting you to update it.

Properties created with the previous version continue to work normally, so you can keep using them without interruptions. We still recommend updating them to use the features introduced with the new configuration, including:

  • Ready-made configurations based on the website goal
  • Simpler settings management
  • A single magnews code to install on the website
Updating the property in magnews removes the Needs updating badge, but this alone is not enough to use the new configuration. To complete the migration, you must replace the old script with the new magnews code on all website pages where you want to use the property.

To replace the old script with the new code, see the guide to installing the magnews code on your website.

Configure a web property

To edit the property configuration, click Settings, organized in the General, Domain and Advanced tabs.

Choose what to do on the website

The General tab contains the main property settings.

Here you can edit:

  • The property name
  • The website goal

The What do you want to do on your site? option lets you start from a ready-made configuration based on how you want to use the web property, or manually select the features you want to enable.

Some configurations include features that recognize the visitor and use first-party profiling cookies. If you choose one of these configurations, check that your website’s cookie policy and privacy policy are up to date and that the use of Web experience complies with applicable regulations.

The available choices depend on your plan: if a feature is not included in your license, you cannot select the configurations that require it.

You can choose from:

  • Show messages to everyone
    Use this option if you want to publish on site messages and signup forms on the website without recognizing visitors, using profiling cookies or recording their activities. 
    It is designed to show simple content to everyone, without rules based on behavior or the contact profile. 
    This configuration does not use first-party profiling cookies.
  • Measure conversions
    Use this option if you want to measure the completion of conversion goals, such as a purchase, a contact request or a resource download.
    Magnews recognizes contacts through cookies and attributes conversions to the assets that contributed to them.
    This configuration uses first-party profiling cookies.
  • Analyze and personalize the experience
    Use this option if you want to collect browsing data, recognize contacts and personalize what they see on the website. 
    This is the most complete configuration, useful if you want to create audiences, activate automated flows or show on site messages based on visitors’ behavior in a more advanced way. 
    This configuration uses first-party profiling cookies.
  • Advanced setup
    Use this option if you want to decide manually which features to enable. 
    It is useful when you have specific needs or want to combine only some of the features available in your plan.
    This configuration may use first-party profiling cookies depending on the options you enable.

Advanced setup

If you select Advanced setup, you can configure the available options individually:

  • Show banners and pop-ups on your site
    Allows you to publish active on site messages and signup forms associated with this property on the website. 
    If you use an advanced domain configuration in the on site message settings, the domains you enter must be included among those configured in the web property. Otherwise, the message will not be shown.
    If you disable this option, the web property will not be able to show on site messages or signup forms, even if they are active.

  • Recognize and remember contacts
    Recognizes contacts who visit the website through a cookie. This lets you connect browsing and conversion goals to their profile and, if your plan allows it, continue recognizing them when they return to the website. If you disable this option, visitors remain anonymous and conversion goals cannot be associated with contacts. 
    This option uses first-party profiling cookies.

  • Remember anonymous visitors
    Anonymous visitors are people browsing the website who are not yet contacts in your databases. With this option active, an anonymous visitor returning to the website is recognized as the same visitor. If you disable it, each new visit is considered as a different anonymous visitor. 
    This option uses first-party profiling cookies.

  • Track visitors' activities
    Enables tracking of visited pages through the magnews code. This option lets you use browsing on the website, for example, to activate automated flows, create segments or analyze visitors’ behavior.

Define where to use the web property

The Domain tab contains the settings that define which websites the web property can be used on:

  • Main website domain
    This is the website associated with the web property.

  • Additional domains
    You can add other domains that use the same web property. 
    Enter one domain per line, without specifying the protocol (http:// or https://). You can also use wildcards (*) to include groups of domains or subdomains. For example:

    • For a website such as http://www.domain.com, enter www.domain.com

    • For a website such as http://demo.domain.com, enter demo.domain.com

    • To track all subdomains, enter *.domain.com

    • To enable all websites, enter * (asterisk)

  • Use a single cookie across all domains
    If you use multiple domains, this option lets you recognize the same visitor when they move from one website to another. If you disable it, the same user is considered as different visitors across the different domains.
    For example, you can use the same web property for your company website and for a second website dedicated to e-commerce, quotes or other services. With a single cookie, magnews continues to recognize the visitor even when they move from one domain to another, letting you track their journey and show on site messages or forms consistent with the actions already completed.

  • Cookie domain
    Defines the domain where the cookie is stored. To include subdomains too, enter a domain preceded by a dot, for example .mysite.com.

  • Accept events from any domain
    Allows events to be recorded even when they come from domains other than those configured in the property. 
    This option is intended only for testing and should not be used during normal operation.

Configure the duration of conversions, visitors and sessions

The Advanced tab contains the property’s technical settings. 
These settings control three different aspects of browsing: how long a visitor is recognized, how their visits are grouped into sessions and how long a conversion can be attributed to a marketing activity.
Depending on your plan, you may only see some of the options described below:

  • Conversion attribution window 
    Defines how long a conversion remains associated with the asset that generated it, such as an email or an on site message. After the configured period, new conversions are no longer attributed to that asset.
    Example: if you set a period of 15 days and a contact clicks a link in an email, a conversion recorded within the following 15 days will be attributed to that email. You’ll find it both in the email report and in the goal report as a Last clicked conversion. If the conversion happens after 15 days, it will only be visible in the goal report as a Supported conversion. To learn more, see the conversion goal reports page.
    If you don’t have specific needs, you can leave the default value of 15 days.

  • Session duration
    Defines how long a visitor’s actions are considered part of the same session.
    When the configured period expires, magnews closes the current session and opens a new one at the next visit.
    Example: if you set a session duration of 1 day, a visitor who returns the following day starts a new session, as long as the visitor cookie is still valid.
    If you don’t have specific needs, you can leave the default value of 1 day.

  • Remember the visitor for N days
    Defines how long the visitor cookie remains valid.
    Until the cookie expires, magnews continues to recognize the same visitor when they return to the website. When the cookie expires, the visitor is considered as new.
    Example: if you set 730 days (2 years), a visitor who returns one month after their last visit is still recognized. If they return after 3 years, they are considered as a new visitor.
    Choose a value consistent with the time that usually passes between one visit and the next: if your customers return to the website after weeks or months, a longer period lets you keep recognizing them.
    We recommend setting visitor data retention equal to or longer than the visitor cookie duration. To learn more, see the article dedicated to anonymous and recognized visitors. 
    If you don’t have specific needs, you can leave the default value of 730 days (2 years).

  • Automatically create web tags on your site pages
    If you use meta tags to define web tags in website pages, this option automatically creates in magnews any tags that do not exist yet, making them immediately available for segmentation, analysis and automations.