Cross-device visitor identification helps you connect visitors across multiple devices.
This feature works by associating the visitor profiles across each device where a user is uniquely identified. After association, the visitor profile records are merged and visits from each device are considered to be from the same user. This feature allows campaigns from one device, such as a mobile device, to receive credit from conversion events made from another device, such as a desktop. This feature is commonly referred to as 'visitor stitching'.
Some data is not persisted across authentication from the unauthenticated profile to the authenticated, including:
With the increasing number of devices used by the same visitor, it can be difficult to accurately gauge unique visitors and correctly attribute first-touch marketing channels. For example, a potential customer clicks a link in a marketing email and views your site for the first time:
This customer is considered a unique visitor and the first-touch email channel is incremented. The next day, this same customer visits your site from a laptop at his office:
Since the device is new, the customer is considered a unique visitor and the first-touch direct channel is incremented. A few days later, this same customer visits from a mobile device:
The customer is again treated as a unique visitor.