Segment

Terminology

Sources

A source is any asset that collects data.

• ex. our WebApp client
• it's worth defining each environment as different sources (e.g. WebApp Client Dev, WebApp Client Staging etc.), which allows for flexibility in directing analytics traffic to destinations.

Destinations

A destination is an integration that has been established by Segment

• ex. Google Analytics, FB Pixel, Google Ads, Amplitude, AWS Redshift
• If we have elected to have one source per environment (as stated above), then we should also have a destination per environment.

Destinations prevent us from having to implement multiple destination SDKs within the codebase.

API

Identify

When a user starts out on your site, they are anonymous and are given an anonymousId The Identify call lets you tie a user to their actions and record traits about them. It includes a unique User ID and any optional traits you know about the user, like their email, name, and more.

We should make an Identify call:

• After a user first registers
• After a user logs in
• When a user updates their info (for example, they change or add a new address)

Typical identify call:

analytics.identify("97980cfea0067", {
  name: "Peter Gibbons",
  email: "peter@example.com",
  plan: "premium",
  logins: 5
});

Which would result in the following payload:

{
  "type": "identify",
  "traits": {
    "name": "Peter Gibbons",
    "email": "peter@example.com",
    "plan": "premium",
    "logins": 5
  },
  "userId": "97980cfea0067"
}

Page

Page calls track the web page that a user visits.

• By default, Segment sends the following properties title, path , url, referrer, and search.

Track

Track calls record user actions which are also known as events.

• They mainly consist of an event name and a user-defined properties object.
• event names should be human readable, and built from a noun and past tense verb.
  • ex. Appointment Request Submitted