Naming Conventions
Resources:
Two things you need to do
- Align on a framework for naming your events and properties (down to the casting).
- Put a process in place to enforce your company's framework
The 3 Cs
Using the above two rules, you will garner:
- Consistency: The biggest benefit of using a clear framework is data consistency. If your data is named the same way in each tool, it's easier for you to use those tools. One framework. No questions.
- Convenience: You're likely going to continue to add new tracking as your company ships new features and products. Having a standard naming convention means that each time a developer implements a new call, they won't have to think about how to do it.
- Clarity: With engineering, product, analytics, and growth teams relying on the same data, enforcing standards means everyone can easily understand what each event means. This enables your teammates to run ad hoc analyses and launch experiments using data that is organized and easy to understand.
The Object-Action Framework
First, choose your objects (e.g., Product, Application, etc.). Then define actions your customers can perform on those objects (e.g., Viewed, Installed, etc.). When you put it all together, your event reads Product Viewed or Application Installed.
The rule of thumb is to choose the objects and list how users can interact with them.
Examples include Product that can be Clicked, Viewed, Added, Favourited, or Cart that can be Viewed, Updated, Shared, Saved.
Choose the Properties to Collect With Each Object
For example, across events like Product Clicked, Product Viewed, and Product Shared, you'd want to collect a common set of properties related to products, for example:
- category
- product_id
- price
- brand