Identifying guests in Sitecore CDP

Abstract

Provides a definition of guests and the different guest types that Sitecore CDP uses to categorize identified and anonymous site visitors.

A guest is any person that interacts with your brand, regardless of whether they are identified.

The guest is the core entity of Sitecore Customer Data Platform (CDP). Each guest has a unique guest profile that contains all relevant transactional and behavioral data that is sent to the platform through Sitecore CDP APIs.

The data available in the guest profile depends on your organization's requirements and identity rules. Sitecore CDP refers to the process of identifying guests as identity resolution.

Most organizations configure identity rules to check for a matching unique identifier that is internal to your organization, for example, a loyalty number or unique ID from a Customer Relationship Manager (CRM) system. This could also be a browser reference or guest reference, which is a unique identifier that Sitecore CDP assigns the guest.

Some organizations that use the 2.0 data model can use Personally Identifiable Information (PII) to identify guests. Only these organizations use guest types. After Sitecore CDP identifies a guest, it updates the Guest Type on the guest profile from Visitor to Customer. The following image contains guests with different guest types:

Guest list in Sitecore CDP

The following describes the guest types:

  • Customer

    A customer is a guest that has provided enough identity information according to your organization's identity rules.

  • Visitor

    A visitor is a guest who has not provided enough identity information or has provided partial identity information but not enough to meet the organization's identity rules.

  • Retired

    A retired guest profile is archived because it contained data that was migrated to another guest profile. You cannot access a retired guest profile.

    Note

    Travel organizations use an additional guest type, Traveller. A Traveller guest type is a guest who is a consumer of a flight order but has not provided enough identifiable information, usually because they did not purchase the ticket. Only travel organizations use the Traveller guest type.