get cxid - Person Identification - Archive
The get CXID was updated in January 2023 to simplify the tagging and rule setup process. New instructions on the use of the updated get CXID Template can be found here.
Alterian have created a Public Template called “Get CXID” (Get Customer Experience ID). This Template should be pulled into any Rule where the identity of the person exposed to it or utilising the Rule “could” be identified.
The Get CXID Template takes up to three elements of identifying information( known as Channelagentids), saves these values, compares these to any values recorded before and either provides back a new CXID to identify this person or presents back the optimal CXID that was previously assigned to this person. Any new identifiers are linked to the same CXID so any use of these values in the future will match back to the original CXID. The CXID can be used to bring other information into the Rule flow and in the key identifier in Alterian CX.
Over time as People interact with Alterian CX we will build up a comprehensive list of identifiers. With these we can track a Persons interaction with your brand across multiple channels.
Where we successfully match an existing CXID with another existing CXID via newly added values we will pass a match flag through in the event data so old records can be updated with the correct CXID.
The Get CXID Tile automatically records whether the Person was newly exposed to your brand. This is useful when looking at customer journeys, allowing you to filter journeys for new visitors only.
The final purpose of the Get CXID is to create CX “conversations”. Alterian define a conversation as one or more interactions with DDE with no gap between interactions of more than 30 minutes. Customer Journeys can be viewed using conversations. The conversation shows a series of interactions capturing one or more specific actions the person was trying to achieve.
For some Alteiran CX customers billing will be linked to the number of conversations created and therefore accurate identification of a person is important. It improves the information you hold in Alterian Cx and importantly it also allows for more accurate calculations of conversations helping to reduce your costs.
Placing the GET CXID Template
If you have a “Conversations” contract with Alterian, you will need to add the Get CXID Tile into every Rule you create.
For each Rule we would recommend the Get CXID Tile is added directly after your Input Tile. This allows the identification information to be passed directly into the Get CXID Tile and for the information provided by it to be available for the full flow of the Rule.
The Get CXID requires the following information to work correctly.
Fields Required by Get CXID | Commonly mapped Fields | What is required | Mandatory or Not? |
AlterianCX_channelagentid1 | AlterianCX_channelagentid1 | First identification value | Mandatory* |
AlterianCX_channelagentid2 | AlterianCX_channelagentid2 | Second identification value | Not Mandatory* |
AlterianCX_channelagentid3 | AlterianCX_channelagentid3 | Third identification value | Not Mandatory* |
AlterianCX_isknown | AlterianCX_isknown | Is this identification value for a person known to the brand? | Mandatory |
AlterianCX_referrer | AlterianCX_referrer | The referrer for the Invocation of this Rule. Where a location is provided we will use the referrer domain. If the parse campaign tracking tags is used we will use the AlterianCX_inboundMedium field as a the channel and AlterianCX_inboundSource as the Channel Source and Direct is used in the location if one is not provided in the call.
| Not Mandatory** |
AlterianQueue_location | urlPath | Where the Rule is being called from. For website tracking rules it’s often the urlPath taken from the page URL that should be used. | Mandatory |
Is Control | Is Control | Identifies whether the individual is in the Control Group for this Rule. | Automatic |
AlterianQueue_channel | AlterianQueue_channel | What Channel is using this Rule in this specific call | Mandatory |
AlterianQueue_position | AlterianQueue_position | Where within the Location the rule is being used. Top Banner, Hero banner, Footer banner all on the home page using the same rule. Rule Position identifies which one was using the Rule in this specific call. | Not Mandatory |
ChannelAgentID Mapping*
Please map in at least one Channel Agent Id. A Channel Agent Id is simply any piece of information you have available through that channel that could adequately identify a user. Good examples would be Cookie id on a website, Phone number with a call centre, App Identifier through an app.
Up to three Channel Agent Ids can be provided in each call. The more you supply the better the chance that you will match a previous value and by providing them in one call you automatically add and link these values for checks in the future. If you have more than three possible Channel Agent Ids, we would recommend providing the most accurate and what could be considered the less accurate identifiers.
Customer ID will successfully identify a specific person and providing Cookie ID, which is less accurate will match a specific cookie to a known accurate user.
Please add the channelagentIDs is order of identification quality. This will help when merging the data. For example if you have available:
Cookie ID
Customer Number
Email Address
We would recommend
AlterianCX_channelagentid1 | Customer Number |
AlterianCX_channelagentid2 | Email Address |
AlterianCX_channelagentid3 | Cookie ID |
Due to this ordering we will look to merge any information with the Customer number if matches occur.
If you do not provide a Channel Agent Id the Get CXID Tile will generate its own random value to provide a conversation metric. This will have an impact on the number of conversations generated, increasing numbers significantly and therefore providing an accurate alternative identification value should be a focus.
Rule Designer will highlight where you have created a Rule but have not included a Get CXID Tile. You will not be able to start the Rule until the Get CXID Tile has been included in a sensible position.
If you only have a single low quality value like below
Cookie ID
We would recommend adding the value to AlterianCX_channelagentid2. In some cases where multiple Channel Agent Ids are present we can knock anything in Channel Agent Id 3 off. So adding to Channel Agent Id 2 reduces this risk.
AlterianCX_channelagentid1 |
|
AlterianCX_channelagentid2 | Cookie ID |
AlterianCX_channelagentid3 |
|
Further example GetCXID configurations can be found here.
**
AlterianCX_referrer **
The referrer is marked as not mandatory. In many cases it is not needed or provided. As users moving through your website page by page may provide a referrer each time but this is of little value.
However where you want to record which campaign or creative started a journey or a specific originator for a journey the referrer automaically provides this information.
The standard track web rules for example will include the Identify Email Clickthrough which requires the querystring elements from the referrer to work and will identify which Alterian email was involved in your journeys
The parse campaign tracking tags public template will identify UTM query strings in the referrer allowing you to use these in the flow of the rule and to improve the accuracy of your reporting.
Please include the referrer where this is possible.
Control Groups
The Get CXID Public template is pivotal in highlighting to a Rule whether someone being exposed to the Rule is in a Control group or not. As such we have built into the Get CXID some Rule level setting related to Control Groups.
Control Groups are turned on and off at an Initiative level. Here the Control group percentage is set as is whether success growth is a good or bad result.
Further changes can be made at a Rule level.
Test Iteration
Where significant changes are made to a Rule, the previous results gathered for that Rule are no longer relevant when measuring current success. The Get CXID Public Template in each Rule now allows the setting of a “Test Iteration”. Test Iterations are optional, they restart the Control Group for this specific rule. Anyone who was in the Control Group for the previous Test Iteration is removed from the Control Group. Everyone who is exposed to the Rule moving forwards is retested to see if they should now fall into the Control Group for the new Test Iteration. Our expectation is that once significant changes have been made to a rule the iteration should be increase by one allowing future calculations on success specific to this iteration of the Rule.
Control Group Lifespan
By default, individuals remain within a Control Group for 180 days. After this they are automatically removed. This Control Group lifespan can be changed on a Rule by Rule basis by changing the Control Group Lifespan Parameter within the Get CXID within each Rule. This parameter is based on days to remain in the Control Group and will apply to those individuals added to the Control Group after the change is made.