Visitor ID Completion

Overview

One important function the Clickstream Sessionize transformation performs is Visitor ID completion. Visitor ID completion copies the visitor ID (once known) to the other data records in the session for which the visitor ID is missing. Because every click of the session now contains a valid visitor ID, it is possible to analyze this visitor activity to determine the original referring site from which the visitor came. For example, this can be useful in determining how much revenue (during cart checkout) was generated from the referring site. This information can help determine whether advertising dollars are being well spent.

The value for the Visitor ID is configured using the Visitor ID tab of the Clickstream Parse transformation. The Clickstream Sessionize transformation then performs Visitor ID completion on any records for which Visitor ID was not assigned a value.

Process

No user steps are required, but this is how the process works:

A customer (visitor) visits Web site A, but has not logged in.
The first data record of their session contains the name of the site (site B) that referred the customer to site A, but does not contain the ID of the visitor.
After several clicks, none of which contain the visitor ID, the visitor logs in.
Most of the subsequent clicks now contain a valid Visitor ID.
The visitor checks out having made a purchase.
The visitor logs out.
The visitor clicks several more pages, but no clicks contain the visitor ID.

Visitor ID completion copies the known visitor ID to the other data records in the session where the visitor ID was missing. A complete session is created for better analysis.