Overview
The User Identification feature allows you to send precise user IDs for your end-users, ensuring a consistent experience for a user across different browsers or devices.
How does User Identification impact the Monthly Active Users (MAU) count?
User Identification removes the dependency on unique browser sessions for MAU calculation. Instead, you define your exact MAU count (user base) by sending user IDs. For example, if you send 2000 unique IDs, your MAU count will be 2,000.
Enabling User Identification provides perks like having persistent user data at UserGuiding, detecting event history for specific users, and accessing the user API.
How to Enable User User Identification
User Identification can be enabled in UserGuiding Panel > Settings > Installation.
Click on Enable Identification.
There you'll find the directions to start and complete this process successfully.
Please note that the code provided on this page is just an example. You need to create your own.
The recommended code (with the identify method) should be added to your JavaScript file. However, it should not be added inside your UserGuiding Container Code; instead, place it right after the container.
Once you add it successfully, click on the Enable Identification button (at the bottom) to see if your implementation is done correctly.
Pro Tip: Click on the publish changes button and visit the embedded pages as an end-user to initialize the process successfully.
To test if the implementation is done successfully, you can follow the steps given here.
Establishing the User Identification Feature
This part of the implementation requires technical knowledge and access to your source code. You may ask for the help of your developer colleague.
More information can be found here if you want to implement user identification with Google Tag Manager.
What does the "window.userGuiding.identify" method do?
The "window.userGuiding.identify" method is used to establish User Identification. The first argument inside the method should be the user's ID, and custom attributes can be sent as optional parameters.
1st row in the example below is a sample ID sent with the identify method. The 2nd implementation includes custom attributes being sent after the user ID (the first argument)
window.userGuiding.identify('1Ax69i57j0j69i60l4')
window.userGuiding.identify('1Ax69i57j0j69i60l4', {
name: 'John Lennon',
email: '[email protected]',
created_at: 123456789,
})What data types are supported for user attributes?
User attributes can be strings, numbers, booleans, and specific date formats. Arrays, lists, or nested objects are not accepted as valid user attributes.
Notes
The "user_id" is stored as a string, so any data type that can be converted to a string can be used.
The method can be added to any suitable place in the JS file, but it should not be added to the provided UserGuiding Container Code.
Active guides will stop showing until the user ID is correctly set when User Identification is activated.
The MAU calculation is based on the user IDs set using the User Identification feature.
UserGuiding history is independent of the browser's local storage, so clearing cookies or application data won't affect it.
User Identification ensures that users see guides only once, even when accessing them from different browsers or devices.