Identifying Visitors

Last update: July 17, 2023

CREATED FOR:

  • Developer

There are multiple ways in which a visitor can be identified within Adobe Target.

Target uses three identifiers:

Field NameDescription
tntIdThe tntId is the primary identifier in Target for a user. You can supply this ID or Target will auto-generate it if the request doesn’t contain one.
thirdPartyIdThe thirdPartyId is your company’s identifier for the user that you can send with every call. When a user logs in to a company’s site, the company typically creates an ID that is tied to the visitor’s account, loyalty card, membership number, or other applicable identifiers for that company.
marketingCloudVisitorIdThe marketingCloudVisitorId is used to merge and share data between different Adobe solutions. The marketingCloudVisitorId is required for integrations with Adobe Analytics and Adobe Audience Manager.
customerIdsAlong with the Experience Cloud Visitor ID, additional customer IDs and an authenticated status for each visitor can be utilized.

Target ID

The Target ID or tntId can be seen as a device ID. This tntId is generated automatically by Target if it isn’t provided in the request. Thereafter, subsequent requests need to include this tntId in order for the right content to be delivered to a device used by the user.

curl -X POST \
'https://demo.tt.omtrdc.net/rest/v1/delivery?client=demo&sessionId=10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc#1555632114' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
-d '{
  "context": {
    "channel": "web",
    "browser" : {
      "host" : "demo"
    },
    "address" : {
      "url" : "http://demo.dev.tt-demo.com/demo/store/index.html"
    },
    "screen" : {
      "width" : 1200,
      "height": 1400
    }
  },
    "execute": {
    "mboxes" : [
      {
        "name" : "SummerOffer",
        "index" : 1
      }
    ]
  }
}'

The example call above demonstrates that a tntId does not need to be passed in. In this scenario, Target generates a tntId and provide it in the response, as shown here:

{
  "status": 200,
  "requestId": "5b586f83-890c-46ae-93a2-610b1caa43ef",
  "client": "demo",
  "id": {
      "tntId": "10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc.28_20"
  },
  "edgeHost": "mboxedge28.tt.omtrdc.net",
  ...
}

The generated tntId is 10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc.28_20. Please note this tntId needs to be used when calling the Adobe Target Delivery API for the same user across sessions.

Marketing Cloud Visitor ID

The marketingCloudVisitorId is a universal and persistent ID that identifies your visitors across all solutions in the Experience Cloud. When your organization implements the ID service, this ID lets you identify the same site visitor and their data in different Experience Cloud solutions like Adobe Target, Adobe Analytics or Adobe Audience Manager. Please note that the marketingCloudVisitorId is required when leveraging and integrating with Analytics and Audience Manager.

curl -X POST \
  'https://demo.tt.omtrdc.net/rest/v1/delivery?client=demo&sessionId=10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc#1555632114' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
  -d '{
  "id": {
    "marketingCloudVisitorId": "10527837386392355901041112038610706884"
  },
  "context": {
    "channel": "web",
    "browser" : {
      "host" : "demo"
    },
    "address" : {
      "url" : "http://demo.dev.tt-demo.com/demo/store/index.html"
    },
    "screen" : {
      "width" : 1200,
      "height": 1400
    }
  },
    "execute": {
    "mboxes" : [
      {
        "name" : "SummerOffer",
        "index" : 1
      }
    ]
  }
}'

The above example call demonstrates how a marketingCloudVisitorId that was retrieved from the Experience Cloud ID Service is passed to Adobe Target. In this scenario, Target generates a tntId since it was not passed in to the original call which will be mapped to the provided marketingCloudVisitorId as seen in the response below.

Third Party ID

If your organization uses an ID to identify your visitor, you can use thirdPartyID to deliver content. However, you must provide the thirdPartyID for every Adobe Target Delivery API call you make.

curl -X POST \
  'https://demo.tt.omtrdc.net/rest/v1/delivery?client=demo&sessionId=10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc#1555632114' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
  -d '{
  "id": {
    "thirdPartyId": "B234A029348"
  },
  "context": {
    "channel": "web",
    "browser" : {
      "host" : "demo"
    },
    "address" : {
      "url" : "http://demo.dev.tt-demo.com/demo/store/index.html"
    },
    "screen" : {
      "width" : 1200,
      "height": 1400
    }
  },
    "execute": {
    "mboxes" : [
      {
        "name" : "SummerOffer",
        "index" : 1
      }
    ]
  }
}'

The example call above shows a thirdPartyId, which is a persistent ID that your business utilizes to identify an end user regardless of whether they are interacting with your business from web, mobile, or IoT channels. In other words, the thirdPartyId will reference user profile data that can be utilized across channels. In this scenario, Target generates a tntId, since it was not passed in to the original call, which will be mapped to the provided thirdPartyId as seen in the response below.

{
    "status": 200,
    "requestId": "55de9886-bd14-4dee-819c-7d1633b79b90",
    "client": "demo",
    "id": {
        "tntId": "10abf6304b2714215b1fd39a870f01afc.28_20",
        "thirdPartyId": "B234A029348"
    },
    "edgeHost": "mboxedge28.tt.omtrdc.net",
    ...
}

Customer ID

Customer IDs can be added and associated with an Experience Cloud Visitor ID. Whenever sending customerIds the marketingCloudVisitorId must also be provided. Furthermore, an authentication status can be provided along with each customerId for each visitor. The following authentication status can be taken into consideration:

Authentication StatusUser Status
unknownUnknown or never authenticated. This state can be used for scenarios like a visitor that has landed on your site by clicking on a display advert.
authenticatedThe user is currently authenticated with an active session on your website or app.
logged_outThe user was authenticated but actively logged out. The user intended and meant to disconnect from the authenticated state. The user no longer wants to be treated as authenticated.

Please note that only when the customer id is in authenticated state will Target reference the user profile data that is stored and linked to the customer id. If the customer id is in unknown or logged_out state, the customer id will be ignored, and any user profile data that may be associated with it will not be leveraged for audience targeting.

curl -X POST \
  'https://demo.tt.omtrdc.net/rest/v1/delivery?client=demo&sessionId=d359234570e044f14e1faeeba02d6ab23439914e' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
  -d '{
      "context": {
        "channel": "web",
        "browser" : {
          "host" : "demo"
        },
        "address" : {
          "url" : "http://demo.dev.tt-demo.com/demo/store/index.html"
        },
        "screen" : {
          "width" : 1200,
          "height": 1400
        }
      },
      "id": {
        "marketingCloudVisitorId" : "2304820394812039",
        "customerIds": [{
          "id": "134325423",
          "integrationCode" : "crm_data",
          "authenticatedState" : "authenticated"
        }]
      },
      "property" : {
        "token": "08b62abd-c3e7-dfb2-da93-96b3aa724d81"
      },
        "execute": {
        "mboxes" : [
          {
            "name" : "homepage",
            "index" : 1
          }
        ]
      }
    }'

The example call above demonstrates how to send a customerId with an authenticatedState. When sending a customerId, the integrationCode, id, and authenticatedState as well as the marketingCloudVisitorId are required. The integrationCode is the alias of the customer attributes file you provided through CRS.

Merged Profile

You can combine tntId, thirdPartyID, and marketingCloudVisitorId in the same request. In this scenario, Adobe Target will maintain the mapping of all these IDs and pin it to a visitor. Learn how profiles are merged and synced in real time using the different identifiers.

curl -X POST \
  'https://demo.tt.omtrdc.net/rest/v1/delivery?client=demo&sessionId=d359234570e044f14e1faeeba02d6ab23439914e' \
  -H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  -H 'cache-control: no-cache' \
  -d '{
      "context": {
        "channel": "web",
        "browser" : {
          "host" : "demo"
        },
        "address" : {
          "url" : "http://demo.dev.tt-demo.com/demo/store/index.html"
        },
        "screen" : {
          "width" : 1200,
          "height": 1400
        }
      },
      "id": {
        "marketingCloudVisitorId" : "2304820394812039",
        "tntId": "d359234570e044f14e1faeeba02d6ab23439914e.28_78",
        "thirdPartyId":"23423432"
      },
      "property" : {
        "token": "08b62abd-c3e7-dfb2-da93-96b3aa724d81"
      },
      "experienceCloud": {
        "analytics": {
          "supplementalDataId" : "23423498732598234",
          "trackingServer": "ags041.sc.omtrdc.net",
          "logging": "server_side"
        }
      },
        "execute": {
        "mboxes" : [
          {
            "name" : "homepage",
            "index" : 1
          }
        ]
      }
    }'

The example call above demonstrates how you can combine tntId, thirdPartyID, and marketingCloudVisitorId in the same request. All three IDs are also returned in the response.

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