It's NOT Google Tag Manager, but it gets the job done.
April 29, 2016
It's NOT Google Tag Manager, but it gets the job done.
Score 7 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User
Overall Satisfaction with Signal Tag Management
Signal Tag Management is currently being used to manage all of the tags responsible for sending data to our primary analytics reporting account. Two of our departments use the tool: 1) Development and 2) Analytics/Data Strategy. Using Signal has allowed us to build a consistent analytics tracking structure that the analytics/data strategy team can manage when new content/modules are added to the client's website. There is a front load of work required for the developers to implement a data layer push on every action/page load, but this has saved us plenty of hours in the long-term in creating new tags. Sometimes there are cases when there is a new deployment of the site and tags break (either because an event is no longer being triggered or values being passed to certain variables are incorrect). We're able to make changes on the fly by going into specific tags and overwriting values as a temporary fix. Our client has several vendors that run paid advertising which require tracking implementation, but this becomes a simple task since we can create new tags specific to these ads and have them piggy back onto our primary tags. We usually set up the tracking codes on the first round for other vendors, but once that's completed we have them manage their tags by creating a new user account.
- Populating your library with new tags is simple whether you're duplicating an existing tag or creating an entirely new one.
- Creating the firing conditions for a tag.
- Adding users to different groups with limited or full admin permissions.
- If you know JavaScript, you shouldn't have an issue with assigning values to the proper variables once your data layer is set up for each page and/or action.
- We have a console debugger that alerts when a Signal tag is firing. The problem is it refers to the Signal Tag ID which is unsearchable in the Signal interface. The only way to identify the Tag ID is by clicking on each tag to access its settings.
- Adding new elements to your dropdown list for Post Event Conditionals isn't as easy as Google Tag Manager. It requires a number of steps that aren't clearly defined in Signal's documentation.
- Access to documentation on implementation isn't easily accessible. Forced to use the search feature which isn't that helpful OR to contact your Signal account rep.
- Positive: Increased employee efficiency
- Positive: Minimize internal discussions on tagging additional content
- Negative: Requires a large LOE for onboarding other coworkers who will need to use the tool
We're currently using Signal Tag Management because Google Tag Manager wasn't as robust as it is now. It gets the job done, but we do have our challenges with editing or creating existing tags whenever there is an issue with the site. It requires a lot of time to go through Javascript logic coded by different suers for some of our tags.