Original Article by TechSling Weblog:

Since we live in a digital world, it isn’t surprising that the marketing industry has also turned significantly digital. Also, while there are a variety of considerations that drive digital marketing, there are only a few factors that matter quite like data collection, a.k.a. Tagging does. It’s because for any marketing endeavor to be successful; they need to understand their target audience and what better way to understand your market than collecting data about them?

A tag, which is essentially a fragment of code aimed at tracking specific user interaction with a particular element, is then obviously vital to data collection. It, in turn, means one must fully comprehend the challenges as well as other aspects of tagging when developing Mobile and web apps.

1. Tagging in web apps

a. Dealing with dynamic web pages: As web pages become more and more compelling by the day, it is essential to remember that it impacts the page’s HTML structure. It consequently affects the Development of tags since because any update to the elements necessitates treatments as well as the use of highly specific techniques during the Javascript development process.

b. Tracking across a multitude of domains: The world wide web has multiple websites that take the user across a variety of fields as they navigate across the site. Therefore the switch between focus areas requires the use of distinctive handling within Google Tag Manager to ensure that users are tracked across their journey across the website in Google Analytics, irrelevant of the domain they are on.

2. Tagging in mobile apps

a. Don’t forget the WebViews: A means of enabling accelerated development by reprocessing existing web functionalities. It demands the use of particular approaches to ensure that the user’s journey stays on track as it moves between the app and the WebView.

b. Consummate understanding of tagging: This may seem surprising to some, but it is crucial that the development team undergoes training specifically for tagging to ensure complete tagging and avoid any errors that may take a toll on analytics. Some developers may not be too keen in this context, primarily because they do not entirely understand the concept. Hence, it is vital to organize training for them.

c. Hybrid frameworks complicate matters: The advent of hybrid structures to facilitate the development of apps for different OS’ with assistance from mobile web technologies have made tagging much more complicated as compared to other scenarios. Nonetheless, it helps to remember that tagging is directly connected to the hybrid mobile apps‘ architecture. So, there are no specific standards for tagging, and it oft times relies on third-party libraries.

Data collection, or merely tagging, can understandably seem like a daunting undertaking. However, as long as you pay close attention to the challenges, such as the ones listed above, and understand how to deal with them, your project’s success is virtually guaranteed. Mix it with some pro-active planning and what you’ll have is a seamless tagging process.

The post Mobile Applications and Web Development: Data Collection Issues you are Likely to Face first appeared on TechSling Weblog.