This method of identifying visitors across devices is no longer recommended. See Cross-Device Analytics in the Components user guide.
When visitor profiles are merged after being associated with the same visitor ID variable, attribution is not changed in the historical data set.
s.visitorID
is set and sent on a hit, Adobe checks for any other visitor profiles that have a matching visitor ID.When an un-authenticated customer first arrives at your site, that customer is assigned a visitor profile by Adobe Analytics. When the new profile is created, one visit ends and another visit starts.
The example below represents how data is sent to Adobe Analytics when a customer authenticates for the first time, on the first device:
eVar16
has an expiration of 1 day and evar17
expires on visit.post_visitor_id
column represents the profile maintained by Adobe Analytics. Post columns are typically seen in data feeds. See Data feeds in the Export user guide.post_evar16
and post_evar17
columns show shows the persistence of eVars.cust_visid
represents a value set in s.visitorID
.On the first data connection containing a previously unrecognized s.visitorID
value (u999
above), a new profile is created. Persistent values from the previous profile are transferred to the new profile.
car
above is not persisted.apple
is persisted.If a user is new to your site (has never visited before on this device) and authenticates within approximately 3 minutes of arriving, no values persist to the authenticated profile.
The example below represents how data is sent to Adobe Analytics when a customer authenticates on a new device, after having previously authenticated on a different device.
When the customer authenticates, they are matched to the previous ‘authenticated’ profile - 2947539300
. The profile used at the start of this visit ( 5477766334477
) is no longer used and no data persists from the file.