Voxa Google Analytics

A Google Analytics plugin for voxa

Installation

Just install from npm

npm install --save voxa-ga

Important! As of version 1.0, this plugin is designed to work with Analytic properties that are setup as Websites. Previously it was the opposite, working only with Mobile Analytics Properties.

Usage

require("voxa-ga")(skill, config.google_analytics);

Options

{
  trackingId: "UA-XXXXXX-X", // Your app's tracking id
  alexa: "UA-XXXXXX-X", // You can also specify platform specific key based on voxaEvent.platform.name
  google: "UA-XXXXXX-X",  // You can also specify platform specific key based on voxaEvent.platform.name
  appName: "hamurabi", // The application name. If not provided, an attempt will be made to derive it
  appVersion: "1.1", // The applications current version number. If not provided, an attempt will be made to derive it.

  ignoreUsers: [], // An array of users that will be ignored. Useful for blacklisting dev or monitoring accounts from analytics
  suppressSending: false, // A flag to supress sending hits. Useful while developing on the website
  suppressSlots: ['phonenumber'], // An array of slots that shouldn't be logged automatically. Use to remove PII slots.
}

What You Get

By attaching the plugin, for free you get the following

• Track users by their Alexa user id
• The paths of each response will be logged as a page view (e.g. Welcome.FirstTimeUser)
• Events will be logged to track each
  • Intent (category: "Intents", action: "IntentName")
  • State (category: "States", action: "state-name")
  • Slot (category: "Slots", action: "slot-nmae", label: "slot-value")
• User timings will be logged for
  • Request processing time (how much time your code takes)
  • Each state's occupancy time
• The device's capabilities (e.g. AudioPlayer) are logged it the flash-version variable
• Session start/stop bookends
• The user's locale
• Exceptions (fatal or caught) are captured
• Health check events from dialog flow are suppressed. more details

Additionally a ga object is attached to the alexaEvent object, allowing you to log custom events.

Suppressing State Events

Sometimes smaller intermediary states are just not interesting to log. Suppress a state from logging as follows:

skill.onState("my-state", alexaEvent => {
  alexaEvent.ga.ignore();
  return { reply: "Greeting", to: "my-next-state" };
});

Custom Events

Log a custom event by invoking .event on the ga object

skill.onState("my-state", alexaEvent => {
  alexaEvent.ga.event("Category", "Action", "Label", Value);
  return { reply: "Greeting", to: "my-next-state" };
});

Timing

Have something to time? Use the ga object. Remember that the request and each state is already timed for you.

skill.onState("my-state", alexaEvent => {
  alexaEvent.ga.time("Category", "Variable");
  return longRunningOperation()
    .then(() => {
      alexaEvent.ga.timeEnd("Category", "Variable");
    })
    .then(finishIt);
});

Anything Else

Use the visitor object to get access to a universal analytics object.

skill.onState("my-state", alexaEvent => {
  alexaEvent.ga.visitor.transaction("213");
});

Sending events

The plugin will automatically send hits at the end of each request.