Olark’s Google Analytics integration allows you to gain additional visitor insights, track conversions for chatting visitors, and much more.

Turning on the integration

  1. In your dashboard, click on Integrations from the left menu bar. From the integrations list, type or find Google Analytics.
  2. Click Configure on the Google Analytics integration page. Check both of the boxes that you see at the top of the page, and then click Save at the bottom.

Turning on GA integration

You’re now ready to start tracking Olark chat events in Google Analytics!

It can take 24-48 hours for Google Analytics to start tracking and displaying Olark events. This is the standard “processing latency” time for all data in Google Analytics.

Overview of events sent by Olark

All Google Analytics events have a Category, Action, and Label associated with them.

All the events that Olark sends to your Google Analytics account will have the Category Olark_Chat and will have one of the following Actions:

  • Operator_Sent_a_Message
  • Visitor_Sent_a_Message
  • Conversation†
  • Visitor_Sent_an_Offline_Message
  • Olark_Targeted_Chat_Sent_a_Message‡

† For a single Conversation, there can be many associated Operator_Sent_a_Message and Visitor_Sent_a_Message events.

‡ Olark_Targeted_Chat_Sent_a_Message includes both Targeted Chat and Greeter messages

For example, if you wanted to see how many messages were sent by agent Jane in the last week, here’s how it would look in Google Analytics:

  • Category: “Olark_Chat”
  • Action: “Operator_Sent_a_Message”
  • Label: “Jane”

The Conversation Event Action is sent when one of the following happens:

  • The visitor sends the first message, and then the agent replies. In this case, the Event Label will look like: Visitor_initiated_with_[agent name]
  • The agent sends the first message, and then the visitor replies. In this case, the Event Label will look like: [agent name]_initiated
  • An automated Targeted Chat or Greeter message is sent to the visitor, and then the visitor replies. In this case, the event label will be: _initiated
  • The visitor sends the first message, and then they receive an automated Targeted Chat or Greeter message. In this case, the event label will be: Visitor_initiated_with__

Conversation in Google Analytics and Total Chats in Olark’s reporting dashboard are calculated differently, and their totals will differ. Total Chats includes all chat sessions where at least 1 non-automated message is sent, including when the visitor or agent sends a message and never receives a reply.

Viewing Olark events in Google Analytics

  1. From the Google Analytics reporting interface, select Behavior > Events > Top Events in the left-hand menu
  2. In the data table, click on Olark_Chat in the Event Category column (or use the search box) and you’ll be able to see a breakdown of the different Event Actions Olark event actions

If you click on Operator_Sent_a_Message, you’ll be able to see a further breakdown of how many messages each of your agents sent.

If you click on Conversation, you’ll be able to see a further breakdown of how many visitor-initiated conversations each of your agents received.

To make the most of Olark’s Google Analytics integration, check out our other Google Analytics help guides below!