Tracking Visitors Across Visits in Webtrends Analytics

Understanding Visitor History

Visitor History drives metrics that you can use to optimize campaigns and content areas and gain deeper insight into visitor behavior. Visitor History allows you to track key visitor activity, such as their purchase information, responses to campaigns, interactions with search engines, and engagement with tracked content areas throughout a visitor’s lifetime. Visitor History data enables you to report on visitor behavior across multiple visits for the following data points:

Campaigns
Collects visitor data for monitoring the performance of online marketing activities across multiple visits. For more information, see “Tracking Campaign History,” below.

Content groups of interest
Collects visitor data for tracking the performance of the top content groups. For more information, see “Tracking Content Groups of Interest,” below.

Custom visitor segments
Collects data for tracking visitor segments specific to your business. For more information, see “Tracking Pages of Interest,” below.

Pages of interest
Collects visitor data for tracking the performance of key pages. For more information, see “Tracking Pages of Interest,” below.

Purchases
Collects data for tracking online sales performance. For more information, see “Tracking Purchase History," below.

Search engines
Collects data for tracking the performance of paid and organic searches. For more information, see “Tracking Search Engine History,” below.

Visits
Collects data for tracking recency and frequency of your visitors’ visits. This data is included in many preconfigured reports that are based on Visitor History data.

Requirements for Using Visitor History

Visitor History requires that you use certain technology to collect visitor data. Because Visitor History leverages data collected using Webtrends query parameters, you must capture web activity data using the required Webtrends query parameters. You can use Webtrends On Demand, Webtrends SmartSource Data Collector, or META tags on your site to capture data using Webtrends query parameters. You must also identify your visitors using a session tracking method other than IP address and user agent. As a best practice, you should identify visitors using first-party cookies, but you can also use authenticated user IDs. For more information, see “Tracking Custom Visitor Segments,” below.

How Visitor History Works

When you enable Visitor History in a profile, Webtrends creates a Visitor History database that stores data about the behavior of each unique visitor analyzed for the profile. Using a strong session tracking method such as cookies, Webtrends identifies visitors and updates the Visitor History database each time they visit. You configure the profile to collect the type of visitor data you want to include in reports, and Webtrends generates visitor history query parameters that track the visitor behavior you specified. Webtrends uses the visitor history query parameters to identify and store unique visitor data in the profile’s Visitor History database. For example, when you enable campaign history tracking, Webtrends identifies ads that visitors view using the ad (WT.mc_id) query parameter. To track campaign history, Webtrends generates the most recent campaign (WT.vr.rac_x) query parameters and uses these parameters to store each visitor’s campaign activity throughout their visitor lifetime. During the first visit that a visitor views an ad, Webtrends stores data for the first ad they viewed. Each time the visitor views another ad, Webtrends updates the visitor’s most recent ad viewed data and maintains this data for each reporting time period. You can create custom reports that use the generated visitor history parameters to understand visitor behavior with advertisements over time.

Configuring Visitor History

Visitor History is a powerful feature that you can enable in individual profiles. The following procedure provides an overview of the steps to configure Visitor History. For more information, see the table that follows.

To configure Visitor History tracking:

1. Make sure your web site is configured with the required Webtrends query parameters.
2. Make sure you identify visitors using a session tracking method other than IP address and user agent.
3. In the left pane, click Administration > Web Analysis > Reports & Profiles.
4. Edit a Standard (Full-Featured Analysis) profile that you want to collect visitor history data.
5. Click Analysis > Visitor History.
6. Select Enable Visitor History.
7. Select Visit History and the check boxes for visitor behaviors you want to track.
8. Enable a template that includes preconfigured custom report(s) that incorporate Visitor History data. For more information, see “Custom Reports Using Visitor History,” below.

The table below shows the Webtrends query parameters that you should use for data collection and the visitor behavior profile setting that you should select to track each type of visitor behavior.

Data Collection and Visitor Behavior Query Parameters

Tracking with Visitor History

Tracking Campaign History

If you use Webtrends query parameters to track online marketing campaigns, you can use Visitor History to associate visitor activity to campaigns viewed in a previous visit. You can also specify how long your reports credit activity to each campaign, so that reports always show the most campaign-relevant data. With campaign visitor history, you have the data you need to optimize your online campaigns.

Guidelines for Creating Visitor History-Based Campaign Reports

As a best practice, you should only use campaign visitor measures in reports that contain one dimension based on most recent campaigns stored in Visitor History. You can also use campaign visitor measures in reports that contain two dimensions if both dimensions are based on most recent campaigns.

Do not use campaign visitor measures with dimensions that are not based on Visitor History.

Tracking Content Groups of Interest

If you use Webtrends query parameters to track content groups, you can use Visitor History to associate visitor activity to content groups viewed in a previous visit. Webtrends provides the preconfigured Content Groups of Interest custom report that shows how each content group performs for new visitors and for visitors in each time period. Keep in mind that because Visitor History tracks a maximum of 10 content groups for each unique visitor analyzed for a profile, and visitors are likely to interact with many content groups in the course of a year, this data is most insightful for smaller time frames, such as daily and weekly.

Guidelines for Creating Content Groups of Interest Reports

When you enable content group tracking in Visitor History, Webtrends generates Content of Interest Visitor parameters that track content group data for each unique visitor. The Content of Interest Visitor parameters provide data for content of interest measures. Do not use content of interest measures with dimensions other than the Content Groups of Interest dimension. For more information about these measures, see “Custom Reports Using Visitor History,” below.

Tracking Custom Visitor Segments

If you use Webtrends query parameters to track visitor segments specific to your business, you can use Visitor History to understand the behavior of these segments. Webtrends generates visitor segmentation parameters that you can use as dimensions in custom reports.

Guidelines for Creating Custom Visitor Segment Reports

As a best practice, you should use visitor segmentation parameters to create custom dimensions that you include in a one-dimensional custom report. For more information, see “Visitor Segmentation Parameters.”

Tracking Pages of Interest

If you use the Webtrends page of interest query parameter to track pages critical to evaluating success, you can report on visitors’ engagement with tracked pages using Visitor History. Webtrends provides the preconfigured Pages of Interest custom report that shows how each page of interest performs for new visitors and for visitors in each time period.

Guidelines for Creating Pages of Interest Reports

When you enable page of interest tracking in Visitor History, Webtrends generates page of interest visitor parameters which you can use as measures in the Page of Interest custom report. As a best practice, you should only use these measures in a report that includes the Pages of Interest dimension as the only dimension. For more information about this report, see “Custom Reports Using Visitor History,” below.

Tracking Purchase History

If you use Webtrends query parameters to track online purchases, you can report on unique visitor sales history using Visitor History. Webtrends provides many preconfigured custom reports that incorporate data, such as customer lifetime value, that is based on visitors’ purchasing behavior over time. For more information, see “Custom Reports Using Visitor History,” below.

Guidelines for Creating Visitor History-Based Purchase Reports

As a best practice, you should use purchase-related visitor metrics in reports that contain one dimension that is time-based, such as Days Before Order or Days Between Purchases.

Tracking Search Engine History

If you use Webtrends query parameters to track referrals from search engines, you can use Visitor History to determine which search engines and phrases visitors use most to find your site. You can also evaluate the effectiveness of both paid and organic searches. Because you can specify how many recent searches to track for each visitor, only the most relevant visitor data is included in search-related reports.

Guidelines for Creating Visitor History-Based Search Engine Reports

As a best practice, you should only use visitor history-generated search engine dimensions with hit-based measures. If you include measures that are visit-based, reports might include “duplicate” counts if a visitor performed multiple searches during the same visit. When creating a two-dimensional report, make sure both dimensions are visitor history-generated search engine dimensions.

Do not include visitor-related measures in these reports.

Guidelines for Using Visitor History Data in Reports

Use the following guidelines for creating custom reports that are based on visitor history data:

• Use visitor and buyer Visitor History measures with time-based dimensions.
• Use campaign visitor measures with campaign-related dimensions.
• Use page of interest visitor measures with the Page of Interest dimension.
• Use content of interest visitor measures with the Content of Interest dimension.

Managing Visitor History Data

The profile’s Visitor History database maintains a history of unique visitor activity over time. You can optimize the performance of profiles that use Visitor History by enabling visitor history trimming and configuring trimming settings to retain the visitor data most valuable to your business. You can qualify the visitors to trim based on their number of visits, lifetime value, visit recency, and purchase recency. Keep in mind that if trimming is not enabled, the memory required to process a Visitor History-enabled profile may not be sufficient, which prevents Webtrends from analyzing the profile.

To configure visitor history trimming:

1. In the left pane, click Administration > Web Analysis > Reports & Profiles.
2. Edit a Standard (Full-Featured Analysis) profile that you want to collect visitor history data.
3. Click Analysis > Visitor History.
4. Select Enable Visitor History Trimming.
5. In the Minimum number of visitor to store... text box, specify the number of visitors to store before any visitors are removed from the database.
6. In the Maximum number of visitor to store... text box, specify how many visitors to store at most in the visitor history database.
7. Under Primary Trimming Criteria, specify the criteria to use for removing visitors from the database once the minimum trimming limits are met.
8. Under Secondary Trimming Criteria, specify the criteria to use for removing visitors from the database once the maximum trimming limits are met.

Exporting the Visitor History Database

You can integrate visitor history data with your proprietary customer data using a business tool such as Microsoft Excel. You can configure Visitor History to export a profile’s visitor history data to a CSV file at regular intervals. Webtrends exports the data at the end of the specified analysis and stores the CSV file in the location identified in Application Settings > System Management > Storage Locations. Because Webtrends overwrites the existing CSV file each export, consider using the post-processing profile settings to copy the CSV file from the storage location before it is overwritten.

To export visitor history data:

1. In the left pane, click Administration > Web Analysis > Reports & Profiles.
2. Edit a Standard (Full-Featured Analysis) profile that you want to collect visitor history data.
3. Click Analysis > Visitor History.
4. Select Export Visitor History database (as .csv file)
5. Specify how often and when to export.

Custom Reports Using Visitor History

If you enable the Visitor History feature in the profile settings, you can incorporate Visitor History data using preconfigured custom reports. Each behavior category you enable corresponds to preconfigured Visitor History reports. For example, to use the Sales By Most Recent Campaign reports in your profile, enable Visitor History in the profile, and select the Campaign History behavior. Then edit the profile and apply the Sales By Most Recent Campaign report on the Reports dialog.

The following table shows the generated Visitor History query parameters, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that are affected when you select that behavior category in the Visitor History dialog. For more information about using these query parameters in your own custom reports, see “Query Parameter Reference.”

Preconfigured Visitor History-Based Campaign Reports

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable campaign history tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Visitor History-based Query Parameters

Preconfigured Content Group of Interest Reports

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable content group unique visitor tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Content Group Query Parameters

Preconfigured Page of Interest Reports

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable page of interest unique visitor tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Page of Interest Query Parameters

Preconfigured Visitor History-Based Purchase Reports

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable purchase history tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Visitor History-based Purchase Query Parameters

Preconfigured Visitor History-Based Search Engine Reports

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable search engine history tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Search Engine Tracking Query Parameters

Preconfigured Visitor History-Based Reports Using the Visit Behavior

The following table shows the query parameters generated when you enable visit history tracking, how the generated query parameters are used, and the preconfigured custom reports that use these query parameters.

Visitor History Tracking Query Parameters