Adobe plug-in: getTimeSinceLastVisit

The getTimeSinceLastVisit plug-in allows you to track how long a visitor has taken to return to your site after their last visit.

Install the plug-in using the Adobe Experience Platform Launch extension

Adobe offers an extension that allows you to use most commonly-used plug-ins.

1. Log in to launch.adobe.com using your AdobeID credentials.
2. Click the desired property.
3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click on the Catalog button
4. Install and publish the Common Analytics Plugins extension
5. If you haven’t already, create a rule labeled “Initialize Plug-ins” with the following configuration:
   • Condition: None
   • Event: Core – Library Loaded (Page Top)
6. Add an action to the above rule with the following configuration:
   • Extension: Common Analytics Plugins
   • Action Type: Initialize getTimeSinceLastVisit
7. Save and publish the changes to the rule.

Install the plug-in using Launch custom code editor

If you do not want to use the plug-in extension, you can use the custom code editor.

1. Log in to launch.adobe.com using your AdobeID credentials.
2. Click on the desired property.
3. Go to the Extensions tab, then click the Configure button under the Adobe Analytics extension.
4. Expand the Configure tracking using custom code accordion, which reveals the Open Editor button.
5. Open the custom code editor and paste the plug-in code provided below into the edit window.
6. Save and publish the changes to the Analytics extension.

Install the plug-in using AppMeasurement

Copy and paste the following code anywhere in the AppMeasurement file after the Analytics tracking object is instantiated (using s_gi). Preserving comments and version numbers of the code in your implementation helps Adobe with troubleshooting any potential issues.

/******************************************* BEGIN CODE TO DEPLOY *******************************************/
/* Adobe Consulting Plugin: getTimeSinceLastVisit v2.0 */
function getTimeSinceLastVisit(){if(arguments&&"-v"===arguments[0])return{plugin:"getTimeSinceLastVisit",version:"2.0"};var h=function(){if("undefined"!==typeof window.s_c_il)for(var c=0,b;c<window.s_c_il.length;c++)if(b=window.s_c_il[c],b._c&&"s_c"===b._c)return b}();"undefined"!==typeof h&&(h.contextData.getTimeSinceLastVisit="2.0");window.formatTime=window.formatTime||function(c,b,d){function f(b,d,c,e){if("string"!==typeof d)return!1;if("string"===typeof b)b=b.split(c||",");else if("object"!==typeof b)return!1;c=0;for(a=b.length;c<a;c++)if(1==e&&d===b[c]||d.toLowerCase()===b[c].toLowerCase())return!0;return!1}if(!("undefined"===typeof c||isNaN(c)||0>Number(c))){var e="";"string"===typeof b&&"d"===b||("string"!==typeof b||!f("h,m,s",b))&&86400<=c?(b=86400,e="days",d=isNaN(d)?1:b/(d*b)):"string"===typeof b&&"h"===b||("string"!==typeof b||!f("m,s",b))&&3600<=c?(b=3600,e="hours",d=isNaN(d)?4:b/(d*b)):"string"===typeof b&&"m"===b||("string"!==typeof b||!f("s",b))&&60<=c?(b=60,e="minutes",d=isNaN(d)?2:b/(d*b)):(b=1,e="seconds",d=isNaN(d)?.2:b/d);e=Math.round(c*d/b)/d+" "+e;0===e.indexOf("1 ")&&(e=e.substring(0,e.length-1));return e}};window.cookieWrite=window.cookieWrite||function(c,b,d){if("string"===typeof c){var f=window.location.hostname,e=window.location.hostname.split(".").length-1;if(f&&!/^[0-9.]+$/.test(f)){e=2<e?e:2;var k=f.lastIndexOf(".");if(0<=k){for(;0<=k&&1<e;)k=f.lastIndexOf(".",k-1),e--;k=0<k?f.substring(k):f}}g=k;b="undefined"!==typeof b?""+b:"";if(d||""===b)if(""===b&&(d=-60),"number"===typeof d){var h=new Date;h.setTime(h.getTime()+6E4*d)}else h=d;return c&&(document.cookie=encodeURIComponent(c)+"="+encodeURIComponent(b)+"; path=/;"+(d?" expires="+h.toUTCString()+";":"")+(g?" domain="+g+";":""),"undefined"!==typeof cookieRead)?cookieRead(c)===b:!1}};window.cookieRead=window.cookieRead||function(c){if("string"===typeof c)c=encodeURIComponent(c);else return"";var b=" "+document.cookie,d=b.indexOf(" "+c+"="),f=0>d?d:b.indexOf(";",d);return(c=0>d?"":decodeURIComponent(b.substring(d+2+c.length,0>f?b.length:f)))?c:""};h=new Date;var m=h.getTime(),n=cookieRead("s_tslv")||0,l=Math.round((m-n)/1E3);h.setTime(m+63072E6);cookieWrite("s_tslv",m,h);return n?1800<l||cookieRead("s_inv")?(cookieRead("s_inv")&&(l=cookieRead("s_inv")),cookieWrite("s_inv",l,30),"0"!==l?formatTime(l):"New Visitor"):"":(cookieWrite("s_inv","0",30),"New Visitor")};
/******************************************** END CODE TO DEPLOY ********************************************/

Use the plug-in

The getTimeSinceLastVisit method does not use any arguments. It returns the amount of time elapsed since the visitor last came to the site, bucketed in the following format:

• Time between 30 minutes and an hour since the last visit is set to the nearest half-minute benchmark. For example, "30.5 minutes", "53 minutes"
• Time between an hour and a day is rounded to the nearest quarter-hour benchmark. For example, "2.25 hours", "7.5 hours"
• Time greater than a day is rounded to the nearest day benchmark. For example, "1 day", "3 days", "9 days", "372 days"
• If a visitor has not visited before or the time elapsed is greater than two years, the value is set to "New Visitor".

This plug-in creates a first-party cookie called "s_tslv" set to a Unix timestamp of the current time. The cookie expires after two years of inactivity.

Example Calls

Example #1

If a brand-new visitor comes to the site and the following code runs on the first page of the visit …

s.prop1 = s.getTimeSinceLastVisit();
s.linkTrackVars = s.apl(s.linkTrackVars, "prop1") //ensures that prop1 will be included on the first hit of the visit

…the value of s.prop1 will be set equal to “New Visitor”.

If the same code runs on the same domain after 35 minutes of inactivity, the value of s.prop1 will be set equal to “35 minutes”.

If the same code runs on the same domain after 4 days of further inactivity the value of s.prop1 will be set equal to “4 days”.

Version History

2.0 (March 19, 2021)

• Added version number as context data.

1.0 (April 16, 2018)

• Point release (recompiled code and smaller size).
• Code derived from the getDaysSinceLastVisit plug-in (now deprecated and renamed).
• Now uses formatTime and inList plug-ins for the return value.