GoSquared Event Tracking: Real-Time Events, People CRM,

Event Model

GoSquared's event tracking is real-time and person-based. Every event fires immediately to the GoSquared dashboard (no batching or processing delay) and is attached to the current visitor's profile. This makes GoSquared events particularly useful for:

• Live monitoring — watch user actions as they happen in the real-time dashboard.
• People CRM enrichment — events build a behavioral profile for each identified visitor.
• Smart group segmentation — create dynamic segments based on event history (e.g., "users who triggered 'Purchased' in the last 30 days").
• Live chat triggers — initiate chat prompts based on specific user actions.

Tracking Events

Basic Events

// Simple event (name only)
_gs('event', 'Signed Up');

// Event with properties
_gs('event', 'Signed Up', {
  plan: 'Pro',
  source: 'website',
  referrer: document.referrer
});

Event naming conventions:

• Use past tense for completed actions: Signed Up, Purchased, Exported Report.
• Use present tense for ongoing states: Viewing Pricing, Browsing Category.
• Be specific: Clicked Upgrade CTA is more useful than Button Click.
• Keep names consistent — Signed Up and signed up are different events.

Common Event Patterns

// SaaS signup funnel
_gs('event', 'Visited Pricing');
_gs('event', 'Started Trial', { plan: 'Pro' });
_gs('event', 'Completed Onboarding', { steps_completed: 5 });
_gs('event', 'Upgraded', { plan: 'Pro', revenue: 49.99 });

// E-commerce
_gs('event', 'Product Viewed', {
  product_id: 'SKU-123',
  product_name: 'Blue Widget',
  category: 'Widgets',
  price: 29.99
});

_gs('event', 'Added to Cart', {
  product_id: 'SKU-123',
  quantity: 2,
  cart_value: 59.98
});

// Feature adoption (SaaS)
_gs('event', 'Used Feature', {
  feature: 'Data Export',
  format: 'CSV',
  rows_exported: 5000
});

User Identification

Events are only tied to a named person after you call identify. Without identification, events are tracked against an anonymous visitor ID.

// Identify after login or signup
_gs('identify', {
  id: 'user_12345',           // Required: unique, stable user ID
  email: 'jane@example.com',  // Recommended: enables People CRM features
  name: 'Jane Smith',
  custom: {
    plan: 'Enterprise',
    company: 'Acme Corp',
    signup_date: '2025-01-15'
  }
});

When to call identify:

• Once after authentication — GoSquared persists the identity in a cookie.
• After form submission where email is captured.
• Never with different IDs for the same visitor in one session.

Identity merging: When you identify a previously anonymous visitor, GoSquared retroactively associates all their anonymous events with the identified profile.

Updating Properties

Properties describe who the person is and persist on their profile:

_gs('properties', {
  plan: 'enterprise',
  seats: 25,
  mrr: 499,
  last_login: new Date().toISOString()
});

Transaction Tracking

GoSquared has a dedicated transaction method for revenue tracking:

// Basic transaction
_gs('transaction', {
  id: 'order_123',       // Unique ID for deduplication
  revenue: 99.99,
  quantity: 1
});

// Transaction with line items
_gs('transaction', {
  id: 'order_456',
  revenue: 249.99,
  items: [
    { name: 'Pro Annual License', price: 199.99, quantity: 1 },
    { name: 'Priority Support Add-on', price: 50.00, quantity: 1 }
  ]
});

Transaction vs. event: Use _gs('transaction') for purchases — it feeds GoSquared's revenue dashboard and per-person lifetime value. Use _gs('event') for non-revenue actions.

SPA Page Tracking

Single-page apps need manual tracking on route changes:

// Basic — tracks current URL and title
_gs('track');

// Explicit URL and title
_gs('track', '/dashboard/settings', 'Account Settings');

Framework Integration

// React Router
import { useEffect } from 'react';
import { useLocation } from 'react-router-dom';

function useGoSquaredTracking() {
  const location = useLocation();
  useEffect(() => {
    if (typeof _gs === 'function') {
      _gs('track', location.pathname, document.title);
    }
  }, [location]);
}

// Vue Router
router.afterEach((to) => {
  if (typeof _gs === 'function') {
    _gs('track', to.path, to.meta.title || document.title);
  }
});

Smart Groups (Segmentation)

In GoSquared Dashboard → People → Smart Groups, create dynamic segments based on event history:

Example segments:

• "Trial users who haven't purchased in 14 days" → churn risk.
• "Users who used Export 5+ times" → power users for upsell.
• "Visitors who viewed pricing 3+ times without signing up" → trigger live chat.

Smart groups update in real-time. Use them to trigger Slack notifications, auto-send chat messages, or sync to CRM integrations.

Live Chat Triggers

Connect events to GoSquared's live chat for contextual engagement:

1. Dashboard → Engage → Automations.
2. Trigger: "Visitor fires Viewed Pricing more than 2 times."
3. Action: Automated chat message — "I see you're exploring pricing. Can I help answer questions?"
4. Target: Only anonymous visitors not yet in conversation.

Debugging Events

// Enable debug mode
_gs('debug', true);

// Fire a test event — watch console for outbound request
_gs('event', 'Debug Test', { source: 'manual' });

// Verify GoSquared loaded
console.log(typeof _gs);  // 'function' = loaded

Real-time verification: GoSquared Dashboard → Now → Activity Feed shows events as they fire. Open your site in one tab and the dashboard in another to validate instantly.

Best Practices

• Identify users before high-value events. Events before identification are captured but attributed to anonymous IDs. Later identification retroactively links them.
• Include context in properties. _gs('event', 'Purchased') is less useful than adding plan, revenue, and source properties.
• Don't track everything. Focus on events that represent business value. Page views are automatic.
• Use transactions for revenue. The _gs('transaction') method feeds dedicated revenue reporting that _gs('event') does not.
• Test in a staging project. Create a separate GoSquared project for staging to avoid polluting production data.