CDP - Metering – Troubleshooting Checklist

Owned by Bettina Lippisch
Last updated: May 30, 2024
5 min read

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Visitors keep getting the meter messages/meter block even after they have filled out the registration/subscription form:

Oftentimes, this is due to the fact that the necessary information is not being passed between the forms and the metered website. Here are some additional questions to ask as you look for the root cause.

  • Are the visitors coming back after clearing their cookies?

The visitors will need to identify themselves again in order for the meter to stop firing. The best way to do this is to set up a  login page or a lookup confirmation button that would read something like “Already subscribed? Click here”. The visitor will need to enter a piece of information (e.g. an email address) so that the lookup can confirm they subscribed and let them back in.

Pro Tip [icon name=”lightbulb-o” class=”” unprefixed_class=””]Requiring returning users to log in or confirm their subscription after their cookies have been cleared is a great way to boost your Known(+Behaviors) count because it will link the visitor with a known cookie.

  • Are your forms correctly passing back confirmation that they have registered?

For forms that are not integrated with Omeda Webservices or Dragon:

You’ll need to make sure that the new subscriber/registrant data is being passed back to the Omeda database so that they can be validated and pass through the meter. For full instructions and the olytics.authorized function, check out Code Changes for Your Site.

For Dragon forms:

Check to make sure Olytics is turned on for the Dragon Form

Confirm that the form is set to ‘Run Processor Immediately’ (if this is not checked, it will only run nightly – this will prevent people from getting immediate access)

For confirmation pages, make sure the redirect URL passes back the visitors encrypted ID back to the site

For confirmation emails, make sure all of the links that are included pass back &oly_enc_id={encrypted-customer-id}

Note: if your form is iFramed, include the javascript Olytics-Dragon-Iframe Close-Confirm so that the encrypted ID is passed back when the form automatically closes upon submission.

  • Are the products set up correctly?

For meters that utilize Omeda-based acquisition forms, you have the option to assign products. It is important to make sure that the forms are passing the product back correctly (e.g. if you selected a website product, the acquisition form will need to be connected to the website product).

This is especially true if you are using website products, as sometimes old(er) subscribers who have been ‘known’ for a long time won’t have received this product when they subscribed because it predated the product. In these cases, you’ll need to work with your audience services team to set up their product affiliation.

  • Are your queries targeting the people as intended?

If you’re working with large queries that include several layers of conditional groups, the meter messages may be targeting a group you intended to exclude (and vice versa). The best way to utilize meters is to work with straightforward queries to help eliminate accidental targeting. If you’d like a second set of eyes, your audience managers and directors are always available to review a query and help tweak it if necessary.

The Meter Messages Display on the Wrong Pages (test/live):

Most often, the solution to this lies in the URL targeting/excluding section at either the site-domain level and/or at the meter level.

  • Are you using the URL pattern box?

If you have chosen to target or exclude a URL based on a pattern, the meter messages will be displayed using a Wildcard match.

Example: ‘http://omeda.com ’ will match ‘my.omeda.com’ and ‘my.omeda.com/portal/. ‘main.omeda.com/profile’ will match ‘main.omeda.com/profile/business/today’, etc.

If your meter isn’t showing up where you intended, it may be that you are targeting or excluding a pattern that had wider implications than you intended.

  • Are you using the ‘Specific Page(s)’ box?

Make sure your URL is correct (e.g. did you put Article 12 when you wanted Article 21?)

Make sure you put the full URL (including www when applicable)

Make sure it wasn’t intended as a pattern (e.g. www.yoursite/ads – if you want to target/exclude all of the ‘ads’ pages, this should be put in the URL pattern section).

Meter Messages are Not Displaying (test/live):

You’ve checked your setup and your URLs, the meter is up and running – either in test mode or live – but visitors are not seeing the messages. Here are some things you can check:

  • (Testing) Are your test users set up correctly?

If you’re using a tester with an Encrypted Id, check to make sure the URL has &oly_enc_id={EncryptedCustomerId} added when you’re visiting the page.

If you’re using an Alternate ID to test, make sure your cookie is displaying the correct one. The best way to do this is to clear your cookies and then visit the page with the Alternate Id added to the URL as: &oly_enc_id={anonymous ID}.

  • (Testing/Live) Are the specific pages in your URL restrictions copied correctly?

If you are targeting or excluding specific pages, you’ll need to make sure the link is copied exactly as it appears in the URL. The specific pages option is not a wildcard match, so you’ll need to include the www. or my. etc. If the URL is www.thebestsiteever.com and you just put in thebestsiteever.com it won’t work.

  • (Testing/Live) Are your site-domain exclusions cancelling out your meter exclusions?

The meter can be live and the audience can be set up properly, but if your URLs are not properly set, they may be cancelling each other out. If you have a site-domain exclusion set up, but the individual meter is targeted to that page or pattern, the meter won’t fire. You may find this during testing and/or once the meter has gone live.

  • (Live) Are you part of the target audience?

When a meter is in test mode and you’re one of the testers, you will see the meter as it will display for the target audience. Once the meter goes live though, if you’re not part of the target audience, you will no longer see the messages. It may be that the meter is firing, but not for you.

If you’re not part of the audience, but want to confirm the meter is actually running live, you can add yourself to the target audience or use the encrypted customer Id of one of the targeted audience members to mask yourself in order to trigger the meter. If you do this just remember to clear you cookies so you don’t continue to be tracked as that person!

  • (Live) Has your cookie exhausted the messages during testing?

If you’re using a meter that doesn’t have a hard block, it’s possible that your Cookie Id has cycled through all of the meter messages and the system is simply waiting until the refresh date to show you the meter again. Try clearing your cookies and coming back if this is the case. Just note – if you’re not part of the target audience as an anonymous visitor, you won’t get the messages either (see the bullet point above).

  • (Live) Does your site-domain match the domains in your meter target URL.

Example: A meter is targeting URL (http://main.omeda.com ) and the meter is built under site-domain (http://omeda.com ).  In this case, (http://main.omeda.com ) is a sub–domain of http://omeda.com , and requires a new site-domain (http://main.omeda.com ) for the meter to function.