Analyze your visitor across multiple sets of data sets

In the world of digital analytics, the challenge of aligning multiple data sets is something we deal with every day. We’re always looking for a way to tie system X to system Y, system Y to system Z, and all of these systems to our web analytics data. Finding, or creating, a common key to tie these systems together can be, at best, challenging. At worst, it is nearly impossible.

With Adobe’s Marketing Cloud Visitor ID Service (MCVID), this effort can be greatly simplified. The need to come up with a common ID/key is covered, and the API needed to tap into it already exists. Best of all, if you’re already using MCVID, you can start using the ID right away!

Assuming the MCVID service is up and running on your website, the visitor ID can be accessed using the code below:

Visitor.getInstance(‘YOUR-UNIQUE-ORG-ID@AdobeOrg’).getMarketingCloudVisitorID();

The above API call returns the MCVID, which matches the “mid” value in calls to Adobe Analytics. Adobe Analytics is not required for this solution to work. Once the ID is retrieved, it can be passed to any system where a common ID/key is needed. For example:

• Third-party advertising
• Third-party analytics services
• Testing platforms
• Internal databases
• Voice of the Customer (VOC) tools

Once captured, the ID can be used to merge datasets to generate a complete view of customer activities. Marketing efforts can be tied to conversions. In-product activities can be associated with VOC data. Any two (or more) sets of data can be aligned at the Visitor level!

This obviously isn’t the only way to achieve this. So, my question to you is; What’s your approach? How do you make use of the data? I’d love to hear your thoughts! You can reach me on Twitter @bcj19.