Betreff: Relationship between cookies, segments and exper...

[Amigo1989]

Hey guys,

i have one important questions for my understanding of segments and being part of a segment:

Suppose i have a segment and some users qualified himself for this segment by e.g. reading article XY between 2020-01-01 and 2020-01-08.

Now all these users delete their cookies and : are these users still part of the segment for the selected date range ( 2020-01-01 - 2020-01-08)? if yes, is the reason, because adobe analytics stores this information. if yes, where? in the experience cloud id?

but then: is it correct, that these users are not part of the segment, if the date range of the report is after he had deleted his cookies (so, e.g 2020-01-10)? if yes, why? what happens technically, that this informations is not stored anymore, because there is a daily request? does it have anything to do with the experience cloud id, where this information is not anymore part of and does the experience cloud id store all this information?

thank you

[EricMatisoff · Accepted solution]

Hola Amigo!

Your guesses are all correct:

• The visitors, even after deleting their cookies on 2020/1/9, will still be in the range of 2020/1/1-2020/1/8 because Adobe Analytics has no way of knowing that they've deleted their cookies (and because the data is permanent). The identifier that is used, as you guessed correctly, is the Experience Cloud ID. Which, since the cookies were deleted, won't be seen again.
• The visitors that deleted their cookies will not be a part of the segment if your date range is after the cookies were deleted. This is because those Experience Cloud IDs were not seen during your panel's date range.

Hope that helps!

[Amigo1989]

Hey, thanks for responding

But just one thing, which i do not get: why the users are still in the old date range, if they delete their cookies? is this information stored in the experience cloud id an will not be deleted, is this the reason? so i it is captured one time, it stays in the data?

And why they are still part in the old date range, but they are not part of the segment after the date range, if they delete their cookies, what is the technical reason behind it or what happens in the background? because there is a daily cookie match and the experience cloud id can not match that cookie? i hope you understand my question.

Best regards

[Amigo1989]

Hey, thanks for responding

But just one thing, which i do not get: why the users are still in the old date range, if they delete their cookies? is this information stored in the experience cloud id an will not be deleted, is this the reason? so i it is captured one time, it stays in the data?

And why they are still part in the old date range, but they are not part of the segment after the date range, if they delete their cookies, what is the technical reason behind it or what happens in the background? because there is a daily cookie match and the experience cloud id can not match that cookie? i hope you understand my question.

Best regards

[Amigo1989]

Hey, thanks for responding 

But just one thing, which i do not get: why the users are still in the old date range, if they delete their cookies? is this information stored in the experience cloud id an will not be deleted, is this the reason? so i it is captured one time, it stays in the data?

And why they are still part in the old date range, but they are not part of the segment after the date range, if they delete their cookies, what is the technical reason behind it or what happens in the background? because there is a daily cookie match and the experience cloud id can not match that cookie? i hope you understand my question.

Best regards

[EricMatisoff]

Correct - the data associated with the ID will not be deleted in Adobe just because they deleted their cookies. The data is tied to the ECID, even after the ECID cookie is deleted (or if it expires).

Think of it like a library card - the library has your library number tied to your information. But if your wallet is stolen, the library doesn't know that it was stolen, so they still have your data thinking that it's tied to your original library number.

The reason the deleted cookie doesn't show in the current date range is because that ECID didn't send any server calls to Adobe during that date range.

It's no different than if you perform a purchase last week, you're in the segment of users that have purchased. But if you apply that segment to a project that is limited to just yesterday's data, then your purchase wouldn't show up - because it happened last week. Whether or not the cookie was deleted has nothing to do with this. What's important is the visitor was not seen during that timeframe.

[Amigo1989]

Hey, thank you. ok, so there is no daily cookie matching behind the cookie and the ecid? because i try to figure out, why - after deleting cookies - the information is not stored in ecid for the current data? what i exactly mean: when i am part of a segment because of a a criteria like "making a purchase, i get an ecid because of a cookie match and now i am deleting my cookies. why am i not part of the segment in the current data. because also my ecid will be deleted and not just my cookies? because there is a difference between cookies and ecid, isn't it?

[EricMatisoff]

The value stored in the cookie *is* the ECID. Perhaps that's the confusion?

[Amigo1989]

Ok, so just to be on the right track: A User qualified himself for a segment by reading article XY or by making a purchase and a cookie is set. The ECID is part of that cookie, which store this information, in which segment the user is located. Now after 1 week he deletes his cookies.

[EricMatisoff]

Hm, I think your response got cut off

[Amigo1989]

Ok, so just to be on the right track: A User qualified himself for a segment by reading article XY or by making a purchase and a cookie is set. The ECID is part of that cookie, which stores the information, in which segment the user is located. Now after 1 week he deletes his cookies. So what is confusing me now: once he qualified for the segment, he is part of it, he don't have to qualify again and again, so why deleting cookies results in the fact, that Analytics recognize that this user is not part of the segment. Is the reason, because once the ecid in the cookie is set, Analytics tracks this user for this segment day for day. And if he deletes his cookies (and so the ecid which is part of that cookie) the user will not be anymore part of this segment, because this ecid is deleted. is this correct?

[Amigo1989]

Ok, so just to be on the right track: A User qualified himself for a segment by reading article XY or by making a purchase and a cookie is set. The ECID is part of that cookie, which stores the information, in which segment the user is located. Now after 1 week he deletes his cookies. So what is confusing me now: once he qualified for the segment, he is part of it, he don't have to qualify again and again, so why deleting cookies results in the fact, that Analytics recognize that this user is not part of the segment. Is the reason, because once the ecid in the cookie is set, Analytics tracks this user for this segment day for day. And if he deletes his cookies (and so the ecid which is part of that cookie) the user will not be anymore part of this segment, because this ecid is deleted. is this correct?

[EricMatisoff]

Once the user is in the segment, they're always in the segment. But if you change your reporting timeframe during a time that user didn't have any activity (regardless of whether they deleted their cookies) then the user won't show in the data. As we discussed, the data is permanently in Adobe, so deleting the cookie won't remove it. The only way data would be removed for the user is via GDPR request. Otherwise, if on Monday they read an article, then that user is forever in the segment of article readers. But if you're looking at data from Tuesday, then they wouldn't show up in the data because they read the article on Monday

[Amigo1989]

Ok, thank you. But are these two facts correct: 1.: Analytics stores all information in a database so this is the reason why i can see that the user was part of a segment before deleting his cookies. 2.: analytics considers me in the segment as long as this ECID (and so my cookie) is valid, i.e. until it expires or until I delete my cookies and thus also the ECID i am not anymore part of this segment?

[EricMatisoff]

Unfortunately you don't have it right. 1.: Analytics stores all information in a database so this is the reason why i can see that the user was part of a segment - ALWAYS. The data does not get deleted when the cookie is deleted! 2.: analytics considers me in the segment ALWAYS. The data does not get deleted when the cookie is deleted!

[EricMatisoff]

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[Amigo1989]

@ericmatosoff, thx i got it! just one thing that you described the following way.

You said: What's important is the visitor was not seen during that timeframe, if he deletes his Cookies. So the process that a user will be seen is Cookie matching? What i mean: He deletes his Cookies and in the timeframe after he deletes his Cookies, he will be not part of the Segment, because Analytics Can not find this user. Is the technical reason Cookie matching, so is there a realtime or daily check? because somehow Analytics get to know, why this user will not be part of the Segment after deleting his Cookies.

so what happens technically in Analytics that this user will not be identified for this Segment after deleting Cookies and Can not be found?