Extension:Campaigns

Via a simple URL parameter, the campaigns extension logs a campaign identifier in an account creation event, identifying the source of the account registration.

How it works
When a user follows a URL to the "Create account" form with ?campaign=foo in it, Extension:Campaigns stores the campaign identifier in a session cookie (if the user is not logged-in already). If and when the user successfully creates an account during their session, the campaign is logged, along with the userid and other data collected via Schema:ServerSideAccountCreation.

Any campaign identifier attached to an account creation URL will be logged, so choose wisely. If you reuse a campaign identifier or pick something too generic, this increases the chance you will not be able to ascertain which registrations were actually associated with your campaign. The only limit is that it cannot be longer than 40 characters. Never include personally-identifiable information in a campaign parameter.

The one hurdle left in this process is getting access to the data; while we are only associating campaign identifiers with data that is otherwise public, access is limited to those with stat1 analytics server credentials.

Use cases
In order to frame our understanding of campaign tracking and who might use it, we've developed the following user stories. Our current thinking is that these and potentially many more use cases would be served by the current implementation of campaign tracking. Please speak up on the Talk page if you think this extension could be enhanced further, or file a request in Bugzilla.
 * "As a member of the fundraising team, I'm running banners after the annual fundraising campaign to raise awareness about the need for Wikipedia editors. In the banners, I'm inviting donors or readers to sign up if they're interested in helping out."
 * "As a member of the Editor Engagement group, I'm interested in know how many anonymous English Wikipedia editors end up creating an account by clicking on the invitation in the edit window."
 * "As Wikimedian, I am sending email invites to people interested in my WikiProject. I'd like to know how many end up registering, even if they fail to sign up for the WikiProject member list."

Dependencies

 * Extension:EventLogging