Using Identity IDs to Track User Activities in Customer Intelligence 360

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William Shakespeare once asked, “What’s in a name?”

Well, in a time of vast technological advancement, lies a vivid tapestry that defines who we are in the virtual space. It’s in this space, that marketers now have the opportunity to expand their horizons and reach customers at a level in which Mr. Shakespeare himself could have never imagined. And it’s here where Customer Intelligence 360 plays one of its many leading roles in data collection.

 

What’s the Story?

Let’s look at the process for a typical customer visit (Figure 1).

A customer uses a laptop to access a website.

• Level 1: Because this is their first time accessing the site, the user is anonymous, so they are assigned an identity_id.
• Level 2: Because this is their first time accessing the site using their laptop, a cookie is set in their browser, and they are also assigned a visitor_id.
• Level 3: When the customer accesses the website, a session begins, and a session_id is created. Their session will continue as long as the maximum session duration and session inactivity limits do not time out.
• Level 4: When a session begins, a visit also begins, and a visit_ID is created (not to be confused with the visitOR_id).
• Level 5: During the customer’s visit, they may visit multiple pages and activate multiple events, including page loads, clicks, and filling out forms.

Figure 1

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Mobile users: To view the images, select the "Full" version at the bottom of the page.

 

What’s in an… Identity ID?

Well… many things, but we’re going to focus on visits and sessions. During this customer visit, Customer Intelligence 360 is collecting data in data tables and connecting each table using the ID’s mentioned above. Let’s look at how Customer Intelligence 360 collects the data and brings it all together.

 

Pages (Figure 2)

As stated, when a customer visits pages on a website, they perform many different activities, including clicking links, downloading documents, filling out forms, etc. When a customer visits a page on a website, a detail_id is created and stored in the Page Details tables as well as in all associated event tables for this customer visit. The events performed in one page can now all be linked together using this detail_id.

Figure 2

 

Visits (Figure 3)

A visit is an entry into a website from an external source. When a customer visits a website from an external source a visit_id is formed in the Visit Details table. This visit_id will be included in the Page Details tables and event tables with its associated detail_id and events. A visit is now linked with its pages and events. 

Figure 3

 

Sessions (Figure 4)

A session is a period of activity that begins when a visitor first accesses a website and ends when the visitor closes the browser, the session inactivity duration is exceeded, or the maximum duration is exceeded. The session can have multiple visits, pages, and events. When a session begins, a session_id is created. This session_id is stored in all other corresponding tables to link all visits, pages, and events to one session. 

Figure 4

 

Bringing it all together

Let’s quickly review:

1. Detail_id’s are created for pages and these detail_id’s are included in all associated event tables to link the events with their pages.
2. Visit_id’s are created for every visit and are included in the Page Detail tables and Event Detail tables with their associated detail_id’s and events.
3. Session_id’s are created for every session and are included in all Detail tables to link all events, pages and visits to their session.

Now, we need to link the anonymous customer to all these IDs. That’s where the identity_id comes in. As stated earlier, the identity_id is created first for the customer. This identity_id will be used in every Detail table to connect all activities with the anonymous customer.

 

But let’s take it a step further

1. The customer decides to visit the same website again using their tablet. Because this is their first time accessing this site on this device, the user remains anonymous and receives a new identity_id and visitor_id.
2. They create a login ID and password. When a user identification definition in Customer Intelligence 360 is configured to extract that new login ID, the login ID is captured and is connected with the new identity_id and visitor_id.
3. The customer now has two identity_ids, one on their laptop and one on their tablet.
4. The customer accesses the site using their laptop again. They are recognized by their original identity_id because of the cookie set on their laptop.
5. They log in and the identity_id associated with their login ID becomes their primary identity_id and the user is no longer anonymous on their laptop. This identity_id will be used to tie all their activities, past and future, together.

If you would like to learn more about the Identity Service and data collection using Customer Intelligence 360 please visit any one of these sites below:

• Customer Intelligence 360 User Guide
• Customer Intelligence 360 Administration Guide
• SAS Customer Intelligence 360 Learning Subscription for Customers
• Find more articles from SAS Global Enablement and Learning here.