Visitor Tracking FAQs

How does Act-On track visitors? 

Act-On’s Beacon Tracker drops a cookie into the browser when a visitor loads a page. The cookie stays in the browser and tracks the visitor’s activity as they click around the site. Every browser gets its own cookie, so a cookie on their phone’s browser will track activity from their phone, while the cookie on their desktop browser will track activity from their desktop. The information tracked by the cookies is used to create a Contact Report that provides you with a comprehensive view of that visitor’s engagement and activity history.

Everything in Act-On can drop a cookie in the browser! They allow us to track metrics on: 

• Anonymous website visits
• Form views
• Landing Pageviews
• Media downloads
• Media link clicks
• ...and more! 

What are conversion actions and points? 

Conversion actions are instances where visitors may perform a transaction or take some other action to indicate an interest in your product or service. Signing up for your newsletter, downloading your app, and making an online purchase are all examples of conversion actions that add value to your business. 

Conversion points are places where a successful conversion action takes place. Email click-throughs and form submission pages are the two of the most important conversion points because they tie valuable conversion actions to an email address, allowing you to identify anonymous visitors as potential customers.

Why did a visitor's Contact Report disappear when I changed their email address?

Act-On’s Contact Report identifies each unique visitor by their email address. The Contact Report will treat the new email address as a new visitor and separate their engagement and activity history from the old email address.

Why am I seeing fewer Known Visitors after changing my CNAME?

Cookies are tied to the account CNAME to keep cookies for multiple Act-On customers and accounts separate. When the CNAME is changed, Act-On stops searching for the old cookie. To avoid this issue, we recommend choosing a CNAME that you won’t want to change in the future. However, if you’re looking to make a fresh start, changing your CNAME would be the right way to go. 

Why is my Contact Report not logging visits from my phone and home computer?

You may need to perform a conversion action that links your Contact Report to your email. Try clicking on an email link or submitting a form through the device you wish to log visits from, and then check to see if your Contact Report has logged that activity.

Why is the activity of one person being logged as another person? 

Cookie-crossing may have occurred. To avoid this situation, we recommend that users fill out their own forms and refrain from forwarding Act-On emails to others.  

Cookie-crossing can occur when you submit a form on behalf of another person, resulting in the Contact Report tracking activity using the submitter’s cookie and associating it with the email address of the person whose form you submitted. 

Cookie-crossing may also occur when forwarding an Act-On email to an unintended recipient. When you click on a link in an Act-On email forwarded to you, your email address may become associated with the cookie of the person the email was intended for. The intended recipient can uncross their cookie from your email by clicking on a link or submitting a form in an email that has been sent directly to them. This action will overwrite your email address in their Contact Report with the correct address.

Our salespeople filled out forms on behalf of new customers at a tradeshow recently. Why do we see activity discrepancies in the Contact Report for these customers? 

Cookie-crossing is the likely culprit! Cookie-crossing can be prevented on forms intended for a tradeshow or internal usage by suppressing cookie logging.