Website Event Tracking Reference

1. How tracking works on outwardbound.org

Every action we measure on the site is an event. Segment collects events from the website and sends them to GA4, the ad platforms, Braze, and our Snowflake data warehouse. Segment is GA4's only feed, so if consent stops Segment from loading, GA4 doesn't see that visit.

2. Key terms

3. Current tracking plan

The events below are listed in the order a visitor typically moves through the site. "Status" reflects the most recent QA and handoff documentation we have. Items marked partial or open need to be revalidated in production.

Working Partial / revalidate Open issue Planned / confirm Documented conversion Recommended conversion

4. Properties: the detail that makes events useful

An event tells us what happened. Its properties tell us which course, School, audience, and source it belongs to. Adding properties lets us segment existing events without creating new ones.

Global and common properties

Recommended additions for granular audiences and reporting

5. Conversions for ad platforms

In February 2025, GFM CenterTable added three conversions to GTM, GA4, and Google Ads. They match the Course View → Start Application → Application Submission funnel that Meta and TikTok use. The Segment events above are the newer tracking layer. The table below shows how the two line up and what we recommend.

Attribution reminder: Ad-platform conversions only count people who clicked an ad within the attribution window (for example, 7-day click / 1-day view), and ad blockers and cookie limits remove some of them. Platform numbers will always come in lower than Salesforce application totals.

6. Example payloads

analytics.track('course_engaged', {
  ad_consent: '',                 // should be a boolean (true/false)
  course_slug: '/course/blue-ridge-outdoor-educator/',
  course_title: 'Blue Ridge – Outdoor Educator',
  event_id: '',                   // should be populated for deduplication
  page_path: '/course/blue-ridge-outdoor-educator/',
  page_url: 'https://www.outwardbound.org/course/blue-ridge-outdoor-educator/',
  threshold_seconds: 20,
  userID: 'TEST123'               // test value
});

analytics.identify('<user_id>', {
  bxid: '<Braze identifier from URL>',   // also stored as braze_id
  email: 'visitor@example.org'
  // subscriptionStatus was removed from identify calls
});

analytics.track('course_viewed', {
  course_slug: '/course/blue-ridge-backpack-rock-climb/',
  course_title: 'Blue Ridge – Backpack & Rock Climb',
  school: 'NCOBS',
  program_line: 'Open Enrollment',
  course_type: 'classic',
  age_range: '14-16',
  region: 'North Carolina',
  activity: 'backpacking, rock climbing',
  course_duration: 'two weeks',
  landing_source: 'paid_social',
  page_path: '/course/blue-ridge-backpack-rock-climb/',
  page_url: 'https://www.outwardbound.org/course/blue-ridge-backpack-rock-climb/',
  ad_consent: true,
  event_id: '<unique id>'
});

7. What's next

8. Requesting new events (for Schools)

What action on your School's pages would you like to measure or respond to that we can't clearly see today? Example areas:

• Discovery: engagement on program pages, clicks from blog posts to courses
• Leads: brochure downloads, inquiry and group-program forms, scholarship-info requests
• Contact: phone and email clicks, starting a chat
• Fundraising and community: donations, event registrations, alumni and volunteer forms

Please include with each request

1. The visitor action and the page where it happens
2. The decision you'll make with this data
3. Where you need it: GA4 reporting, ad optimization, an ad audience, or Braze messaging
4. The details (properties) that would split it into useful groups

Event request form