Why and how to focus on users, not cookies. How to identify and track users across multiple devices and data sources. Why GA User-Id sucks and how to handle that. Using tools like Identity Aggregator. Slides from MeasureCamp London 2015 talk.

1. USER-CENTRIC ANALYTICS
JanTichý – @jantichy – tichy@medio.cz

2. TODAY
• Tracking cookies, not users (multiple devices, reinstall, cookie deletion)
• Multiple users on one single computer
• Losing user history, context, multichannel, Customer LifetimeValue
• Usually tracking sessions, not visitors
• Weak cross-domain and cross-site tracking
• No individual user data in Google Analytics
• No or weak link to other tracking systems
• ROPO effect, order cancellations, refunds
• Impact on remarketing, personalisation, e-mailing, customer care
• Analytics, multichannel, campaign effectiveness

3. Web 1 Web 2
Callcentrum CRM Offline store
+420123456789
JanTichý
tichy@medio.cz
Chrome
Safari
Chrome
iPhone
iPad Safari
iPhone
Chrome

4. GOOGLE ANALYTICS CID
• Stored automatically in cookies
• I can send it along with order/user info into CRM or shop
and use it for measurement protocol hits
• Unable to get data from GA for given CID
• Represents only one isolated browser, not user!
• By itself, not helpful at all for us

5. IDEAL WORLD
• Multichannel funnels, campaign evaluation
• Purchase history, user behavior, Customer LifetimeValue
• ROPO effect
• Segmentation
• Retargeting
• E-mailing
• Personalisation and recommendations

6. Web 1 Web 2
Callcentrum CRM Offline store
JanTichý
tichy@medio.cz
+420123456789
Chrome
Safari
iPad
iPhone
CRM ID: 123456
Loyalty card: 789

7. HOWTO IDENTIFY A USER
• He introduces himself – login, contacts submit…
• Submitting promo code, loyalty card
• Click through newsletter link
• Ex-post contacts acquiring on hotline or store
• 3rd party data– Google, Facebook login
• Heuristics, hints, signals, probability

8. GOOGLE ANALYTICS USER-ID
• Need to identify an user by myself
• I have to store the id and repeatedly send with each hit
• Limited to a cookie and browser
• No backward recalculation!
• Hard to get individual user data from GA

9. MY OWN COOKIE
• Generate right with first hit of the (anonymous) user
• Send to GA with each single hut
• Store to my eshop/crp along with other user/order info
• Usable for segmentation, remarketing, user data import to GA
• Getting individual info about a user from GA
• Still limited to single device, browser, cookies
• Still no overwiew across all user activities
• Still losing most of important information and context

10. IDENTITY AGGREGATOR (IDA)
• Auto creating and tracking BrowserID cookies
• Matching all browsers and devices together
• Coupling all users actions across data sources
• Signals, heuristic and probability hinting

11. IDENTITY AGGREGATOR (IDA)
Identity Aggregator
Browser: 123
GA: abc
1.2.3.4
tichy@medio.cz
Browser: 345
GA: xyz
5.6.7.8
+420123456789
CRM: 789
tichy@medio.cz
jantichy@jantichy.cz
+420123456789
JanTichý
jantichy@jantichy.cz
Hash: oijoehjveorhdw
Browser: 123, 345
GA: abc, xyz
1.2.3.4, 5.6.7.8
tichy@medio.cz
jantichy@jantichy.cz
+420123456789
CRM: 789
Hash: oijoehjveorhdw
JanTichý

12. IDENTITY AGGREGATOR (IDA)
ga('set', 'dimension1', ida.getBrowserId());
ida.init('123456');
ida.track({
'uid': '123',
'email': 'tichy@medio.cz‘
});
https://usercentrist.com/collect/1/123456/7890987
?uid=123
&email=tichy@medio.cz
&bid=abcdef
&cid=klmnopq
&fingerprint=uvwxyz

13. IDENTITY AGGREGATOR (IDA)
• Individual user data from GA across all devices and browsers
• Display user data across multiple CIDs directly on CRM card
• User data import from CRM to all GA visitors (CIDs)
• Offline conversions upload to GA
• Behavior history for personalization and recommendation (web, mailing)
• RFM segmentation, Customer LifetimeVALUE
• Unified retargeting to all browsers/devices of each user
• User identification by open e-mail

14. THANK YOU!
JanTichý – @jantichy – tichy@medio.cz