The SAS tag is the JavaScript snippet that enables your website to interface with SAS Customer Intelligence 360. When you add the SAS tag to your site, SAS Customer Intelligence 360 can collect data about user interactions, personalize content, and trigger events based on what users do.
In the first quarter of 2024, SAS Customer Intelligence 360 is introducing a new version of the SAS tag, which is being referred to as Ot2 (ot2.min.js). The Ot2 release is a major update that is part of SAS’s ongoing commitment to support modern web technologies.
Smaller and More Efficient
With Ot2, the SAS tag is now faster:
- The script file is approximately 50% smaller than the old script.
- The SAS tag is now a single file and no longer needs to load additional resources.
- The SAS tag’s configuration is about 80% smaller.
In addition, the SAS tag’s internal logic has also been enhanced. All internal logic is now cached, and data is sent as JSON-based payloads instead of JavaScript configurations.
Because the Ot2 version of the SAS tag is a single JavaScript file (and the configuration is JSON-based) web browsers send fewer requests and the SAS tag will start executing earlier than the previous version. This architecture change results in the script loading faster and improved event collection and content delivery.
More Secure
The SAS tag’s configuration in Ot2 is now JSON based, so no dynamic JavaScript can be injected from a response. The JSON configuration also means the response is only interpreted but not executed.
This update further protects against 3rd-party code from affecting your site.
Better Data Collection
Ot2 had improved data collection capabilities as well:
- For Single-Page Applications (SPAs), the SAS tag now collects interactions with elements that are added to the page dynamically at any point after the initial page load.
- Click events will still be collected when custom link handling does not propagate the click to subsequent listeners.
- You are now able to extract information from page elements from within the first level of a Shadow DOM.
Easier Configuration
For scenarios that rely on Page Load events, it’s now easier to configure the SAS tag to collect data. The SAS tag now detects when a URL changes and can generate page load events automatically. (This is an optional setting in the General Settings.)
This means that you no longer need to define custom logic in the user interface to detect page loads. Spots can also be defined related to that changed URL and don’t need to be configured with global selectors.
Better Personalization Options
Ot2 improves the way that you can personalize web pages through spots. The SAS tag detects spots and delivers content as soon as the spot appears on a page:
- For SPAs, user actions often change the content of page but not the URL (so there is no page load event). The SAS tag can now populate these spots as they appear.
- Automatic page load events, as mentioned in the section “Easier Configuration”, enable the SAS tag to detect spots and deliver content immediately when a page load event is detected.
- Spots can be defined in the first level of the Shadow DOM.
Production Tested
The Ot2 version of the SAS tag has been developed over the course of more than three years and is based on the technology behind version 2 of the JavaScript Events API.
This new version of the tag is already in production tenants for sas.com and three customers that are in the retail and banking space. The tag has also been in early release adoption for more than a year.
Implementing the Ot2 Tag
When you would like to take advantage of the Ot2 release of the SAS tag, you can replace the JavaScript snippet on your pages to load the ot2.min.js file instead of the ot-all.min.js file. Make sure that you use the most recent, optimized JavaScript snippet. For more information, see Adding the SAS Tag in the Help Center.
The old SAS tag will be no longer available after September 1, 2024. You must implement the new SAS tag by this date, or you will lose data collection and personalization capabilities on your site.
Note: Make sure that you verify the new SAS tag on a test environment before deploying the SAS tag to a production tenant.
