Understanding User Identifiers in Metrix: Anonymous vs. Identified Users

In the world of digital marketing, understanding how users interact with your product (whether a website or application) is crucial. Metrix assists you in this regard by using a smart and precise identifier (ID) system. These identifiers allow us to track and comprehend the user’s journey, both before and after they identify themselves.

Metrix primarily serves two main purposes: Mobile Attribution and Marketing Automation. Our ID system is designed to support both, with the distinction that attribution often focuses on devices, while automation centers on users.

Broadly speaking, we categorize users and their associated identifiers into two main types:

1. Anonymous Users
2. Identified Users

Let’s take a closer look at each of these concepts and their related identifiers.

1. Anonymous Users and metrixUserId

When a user opens your application for the first time or visits your website, even before they log in or provide any personal information, we recognize them as an Anonymous User. Even at this stage, we track their activities to understand their overall behavior.

Metrix assigns a unique identifier called metrixUserId to each anonymous user.

• What is metrixUserId? It is a unique code generated by Metrix for each user’s device (for mobile applications) or browser (for web). This identifier is our primary and legacy ID from the Mobile Attribution capability, where each app installation on a device receives a unique metrixUserId. This ID allows us to track user activity on a specific device, even if we don’t yet know “who” is behind that device.

• Why is metrixUserId important? metrixUserId is the foundation for tracking user behavior, especially for attribution. Using this identifier, we can see what pages your anonymous users visit, which buttons they click, what products they view, and how much time they spend in your app/site. This information helps you:

  • Optimize the initial user experience: Display more general content or attractive offers to encourage registration.
  • Guide users toward self-identification: For example, by showing registration pop-ups or special offers.
  • Perform mobile attribution: Accurately attribute app installations and early in-app events to their source campaigns, as each installation receives a unique metrixUserId.

• metrixUserId and Marketing Automation for Anonymous Users: When a user is anonymous, their metrixUserId temporarily serves as their automationUserId. This means that even without explicit identification, you can segment and target these anonymous users based on their in-app or website behavior.

• Persistence of metrixUserId:

  • On Mobile: metrixUserId has very high persistence. Even after uninstalling and reinstalling the app on the same device, it remains linked to that device. This provides us with a continuous view of the user’s journey on that specific device over time.
  • On Web: metrixUserId is typically stored in browser cookies or Local Storage. This means that if a user clears their cookies or uses a different browser, a new metrixUserId may be generated for them. We are continuously exploring ways to enhance the persistence of metrixUserId on the web.

2. Identified Users and automationUserId

When a user provides their identity information (for example, by logging in, registering, or filling out a form), they become an Identified User. At this stage, you know “who” is behind those activities.

For each identified user, we use a unique identifier called automationUserId. This identifier is generated through the CustomUserId that you (as a Metrix client) send to us from your own system.

• What is CustomUserId? This identifier is the unique ID that you (as the developer of the application/website) have for each logged-in user in your system. This could be the user’s email address, your internal user ID, or any other unique string that represents a specific user. You send this CustomUserId to Metrix when the user logs in.

  • What is automationUserId? automationUserId is the final and unique identifier that Metrix uses for each of your identified users within our system. This identifier is generated based on the CustomUserId you provide. The automationUserId serves as the Primary Key for the comprehensive profile of each user in Metrix and forms the core of our Marketing Automation capabilities.

• Why is automationUserId important? automationUserId represents the pinnacle of user identification. With this identifier, Metrix can:

  • Create a comprehensive user profile: All user activities (both when anonymous and after login), demographic data, purchase history, and interactions across various channels are consolidated into a single profile.
  • Enable advanced personalization: You can send highly targeted and personalized marketing campaigns (such as abandoned cart emails, product recommendations based on purchase history, or welcome messages) to each user.
  • Provide a 360-degree customer view: automationUserId helps you gain deeper insights into your customers and track their journey over time, across different devices and communication channels. This is crucial for Marketing Automation, which focuses on the user rather than just the device.

Seamless Journey: From Anonymous to Identified (Profile Merging)

In Metrix, our goal is to provide a unified understanding of your users as they transition from anonymous to identified status.

When a user first interacts with your application or website, they are tracked via their metrixUserId. If they later log in, Metrix receives their CustomUserId (from which we generate the automationUserId).

Our objective is to merge the historical data collected under that metrixUserId (anonymous activities) with the newly identified automationUserId (identified activities). This process ensures you have a complete and continuous view of the user’s journey, even before they identified themselves.

Please note: The full automatic profile merging capability for anonymous (metrixUserId) and identified (automationUserId) user profiles is currently under development and will be available in an upcoming release. Until then, although we track both IDs, full historical data merging for newly identified users may require manual aggregation or specialized reporting.

Summary of IDs and Their Roles:

By understanding these identifiers, you can fully leverage Metrix’s powerful capabilities to better understand your users and execute more effective marketing campaigns.