Can Analytics function at any level without user identification?

[evan9]

How does Analytics act without an ECID or identification system?

Are page views still able to be reported upon in a workspace project?

Are data feeds still able to export server call data?

If I don't use any ID system for my analytics implementation, is there ANY value to using analytics?

[m_nakayama]

Hi,

Adobe Analytics has multiple ways to identify visitors with priority. If you doesn't implement ECID (Visitor ID Service), Adobe Analytics will use s_vi cookie to store the ID by default. For the details, please refer to the following document.

https://experienceleague.adobe.com/docs/analytics/components/metrics/unique-visitors.html?lang=en

Hope this helps.

[nilotpal]

All hits are uniquely identified to a user. ECID is just one of the ways to uniquely identify a user.

Some of the ways are listed below:

Order	Query Parameter (collection method)	Present when
1	vid	The visitorID variable is set.
2	aid	Visitor has an existing s_vi cookie. Set on implementations without or prior to implementing the Visitor ID service.
3	mid	Visitor has an existing s_ecid cookie. Set on implementations using the Adobe Experience Cloud Identity service.
4	fid	Visitor has an existing s_fid cookie, or if aid and mid could not be set for any reason.
5	IP Address, User Agent, Gateway IP Address	Last resort to identify a unique visitor if the visitor’s browser does not accept cookies.

Therefore, the hits will be linked to a visitor based on available identifying methods. For learning more on these methods visit here.

Therefore if you are seeing a server call and all other implementation is correct, you will have data present in data feed. Likewise, data will be also present in Workspace if the hits qualify for reporting.

Hope this helps!

[yuhuisg · Accepted solution]

As implied by the other replies, Adobe Analytics requires a visitor ID in one way or another (or falling back to the IP address). That's just how it works: it must be able to tie the collected hits to a visitor/user.

If you're trying to avoid setting a visitor ID e.g. due to privacy reasons, then you'll still have to provide an ID, e.g. setting s.visitorID to a pseudo ID. You could end up setting a different pseudo ID for every page view / link click, so be aware of what you're doing here.