What is the Universal Tag?

The Universal Tag is a single, lightweight JavaScript snippet deployed across your site to power CJ's full measurement and attribution stack. A unified codebase serves two distinct tracking functions based on placement:

Page Tracking — When deployed across browsing pages (homepage through checkout), the tag records on-site engagement signals, enabling CJ to reconstruct the affiliate-referred customer journey and surface insights into shopping behavior.

Conversion Tracking — When deployed on the order confirmation page, the tag transmits completed transaction data — including order value, item details, and the originating cjevent — back to CJ, ensuring that contributing publishers are credited and commissioned accurately.

Why use it?

Accurate Attribution

Captures CJ's unique click ID in tandem with a server-side cookie, preserving publisher attribution even in browsers that restrict third-party cookies — including Safari, iOS, and Firefox with ETP enabled.

Cross-Channel Journey

Measures every touchpoint preceding a conversion — Affiliate, Search, Social, Email, Display, and Direct — providing full visibility into how the affiliate channel contributes to your overall marketing mix.

Privacy Compliance

Automatically handles GDPR, CCPA, and regional privacy regulations through the cjdata URL parameter — requiring no additional engineering work or consent-management integration from your development team.

Concurrent Tracking

Run the Universal Tag alongside server-side methods like S2S or the GraphQL API to maintain measurement integrity through ad blockers, cookie deprecation, and browser tracking-prevention restrictions.

Integration Steps

Integration at a Glance

5 steps

HTTP CookieCapture CJ's click ID (cjevent) from affiliate link URLs and store it in a HTTP cookie named 'cje' with a 13-month duration.

Step 1 02

Page Visit TagsAdd the CJ page visit tag to all pages but the confirmation page to track browsing activity.

Step 2 03

Conversion TagAdd the CJ conversion tag to your order confirmation page to report completed transactions.

Step 3 04

Concurrent TrackingSet up a server-side tracking method (GraphQL API, Data File Import, or S2S Postback) to run alongside the Universal Tag.

Required 05

Testing & QAWork with your CJ Client Integration Engineer to validate that tags are firing correctly and dynamic values are accurate.

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If you can't set an HTTP cookie, or to bolster your Universal Tag integration even more, add a reverse proxy to your setup.

Concurrent Tracking

How concurrent methods flow into CJ

Foundation

Universal Tag (Required)

Concurrent methods

Advertiser Tracking API

Data File Import

Server-to-Server Postback

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CJ Tracking System

Concurrent tracking runs a server-side backup method alongside the Universal Tag to capture conversions that would otherwise be lost. Ad blockers, browser restrictions, and technical outages can prevent client-side tags from firing — a secondary method fills these gaps and ensures accurate attribution.

Choose one of the three options below based on your technical setup.

Advertiser Tracking API

GraphQL · Real-time

Submit referred action events server-side via CJ's GraphQL API. Best for advertisers who want full control over event submission, rich response handling, and real-time order management including restatements and cancellations.

Learn more

New Orders Data File Import

CSV · Batch

Batch import order data directly into CJ's platform on a scheduled basis. Best for advertisers reconciling large order volumes end-of-day or working from existing data warehouse exports without per-event API integration.

Learn more

Server-to-Server Postback

POST · Real-time

Send action event data from your server directly to CJ's servers via POST at the moment of conversion. Best for lightweight stacks that need real-time event delivery without standing up a full GraphQL integration.

Learn more