Monetate supports both tag types, so the choice of which one to use is up to you. Here are a few things to consider when making your decision:
- There's no extra cost regardless of which tag you choose.
- You can switch between the synchronous and asynchronous tag to check for differences in performance.
- Changing tags doesn't disrupt your Monetate service in any way.
- All Monetate features remain functional regardless of which tag you use.
- If you're concerned that customers might see a visual artifact from your native site, you should use the synchronous tag.
This table offers a side-by-side comparison of the two tags.
| Synchronous Tag | Asynchronous Tag |
|---|---|
| Served from Akamai CDN | Served from Akamai CDN |
| Monetate fully functional | Monetate fully functional, except for Full-Page Test experiences |
| All Monetate features available | All Monetate features available |
Two script requests (entry.js and custom.js) |
Single script request |
| Blocking tag | Nonblocking tag |
| Guarantees Monetate tag load priority | Loads independent of your site |
| Prevents visual artifacts from occurring | Visual artifacts are possible on your site |
| Use content masking for Edit and Hide actions | Cannot use content masking |
| 11 ms response time (average) | 13 ms response time (average) |
API Feature Checkboxes
Monetate doesn't collect conversion data for staging, development, testing, or QA tag instances for either version of the Monetate tag. It only collects it for production instances. You can check which tag instance each of your accounts has by looking in the account selector in the top navigation bar of the platform.
If PRODUCTION appears next to an account listed in the selector, then conversion data is collected for it.