This article explains how Act-On uses cookies and tracking pixels to collect user data and behavior.
Cookies
The Beacon Tracker works by placing a cookie on a user's browser. The cookie identifies and stores all behaviors that the user takes on your website, Act-On landing pages, and forms, and anywhere else you have placed your tracking beacon code.
- The tracking beacon shares the cookie data with the Act-On application, which aggregates it and displays it to you.
- If a user clears their cookies, it's possible that they would show up as anonymous for a period of time. However, certain behaviors on your site (e.g. form submission) allow the application to connect their new cookie to their existing contact profile.
- The Act-On beacon code originates from and is managed by Act-On, so this is considered a third-party cookie and Act-On is the cookie provider.
- Finally, the cookie name is prefixed with 'wp' followed by your account number. So if your account number is '12345' your cookie would be named 'wp12345'.
Tracking Pixels
When messages are prepared for sending, Act-On adds an invisible 1px image to your message that acts as the tracking code.
- This pixel is customized for each recipient. If the image loads for a particular recipient, we are able to gather basic data about their open or click behavior.
- We can often identify the IP address (and through that geolocation data) based on this data.