Tracking Users

Identifying Users

At Growlytics we start detecting users as soon as you integrate your platforms through our SDKs. Each time a user visits your website, the Growlytics SDK automatically creates a unique ID (LUID) for them. This helps us record users in our backend and create an anonymous profile. All their behavioral data and session data (System Events, Custom Events, System User Attributes and Custom User Attributes) are stored under the anonymous profile.

You can assign a unique ID (CUID) to each user to identify them. We recommend that you assign a CUID at any of the following moments in their lifeycle:

• On signup.

• On login.

• On page views where user's identity becomes known.

• When the user context changes.

Whenever a CUID is assigned to a user it means that:

• The user is identified (they become Known Users in your dashboard).

• A new, Known User Profile is created for them that contains all their data.

• All their previous anonymous profiles are merged with the new Known User Profile to create a single unified view of your users. (This means that data from their first visit to your website to their latest interactions can all be found under a single user profile!)

​

Guidelines

Here are a few things to keep in mind when assigning a unique ID (CUID) to identify your users:

• All user related APIs are part of Growlytics iOS SDK's WEGUser object. You get an instance of Growlytics WEGUser object as follows:

let growUser: GROWUser = Growlytics.sharedInstance().user

GROWUser* growUser = [Growlytics sharedInstance].user;

• An ID can have of maximum 100 characters.

• A user ID cannot be changed once it has been assigned.

• Although ID can be any String that uniquely identifies users in your system, we recommend using system generated user IDs from your database instead of information that can change over time such as email addresses, usernames or phone numbers.

On Login

You can assign an ID by calling the login method. All attributes, events and session information accumulated before this API has been called get associated to an anonymous user created by default.

• Once login is called, all of this stored information is attributed to this identified user.

• Make sure you call login as soon as the user logs in to your application, or whenever earliest you are able to identify the user.

growUser.login("9SBOkLVMWvPX")

[growUser login:@"9SBOkLVMWvPX"];

On Logout

Make sure you call logout when the logged-in user logs out, or you do not want to attach any future event, session or user data with this user, until login is called again.

growUser.logout()

//Available >= 3.4.12
[growUser logout];
​
//Deprecated >= 3.4.12, use login instead
[growUser loggedout];

​

User Attributes

Several addtional details like a user's name. email address, location and so on can be associated with their user profile. All such details are referred to as User Attributes which can be of 2 types - System User Attributes and Custom User Attributes. (All user attributes are tracked for both, anonymous and known users.)

Growlytics provides setters for assigning values against each attribute for your users. These attributes can be used to segment users, configure campaign targeting and personalize messages sent through each channel of engagement.

Each session has its own user attributes that get copied from one session to the next. This is in contrast to event parameters, which may take on different values in each session. For this reason, we recommend that you use user attributes for recording details that don't change with each session or details with which you want to entire session to be associated.

​

Setting System User Attributes

Please note that the value of NSString type attributes vmust be less than 1000 characters long. Additional characters will be truncated.

Email

growUser.setEmail("[email protected]")

[growUser setEmail:@"[email protected]"];

Hashed Email

Many businesses are averse to sharing contact details of their users with third-party platforms like Growlytics. This is why, we've made it possible for you to pass encrypted email IDs of your users as the system user attribute we_hashed_email.

growUser.setHashedEmail("144e0424883546e07dcd727057fd3b62")

//(Available >= 3.4.2)
[growUser setHashedEmail:@"144e0424883546e07dcd727057fd3b62"];

You can set up a private ESP API endpoint at your end to decrypt the email addresses and pass the data on to your ESP for final delivery.

Birth Date

var comps = DateComponents()
comps.day = 19
comps.month = 08
comps.year = 1996
​
let date: Date? = Calendar.current.date(from: comps)
growUser.setBirthDate(date)

var comps = DateComponents()
comps.day = 19
comps.month = 08
comps.year = 1996
​
let date: Date? = Calendar.current.date(from: comps)
growUser.setBirthDate(date)

Birth Date in yyyy-mm-dd Format

growUser.setBirthDateString("1986-08-19")

[growUser setBirthDateString:@"1986-08-19"]; //yyyy-mm-dd

Phone Number

growUser.setPhone("+551155256325")

[growUser setPhone:@"+551155256325"];

Hashed Phone Number

Many businesses are averse to sharing contact details of their users with third-party platforms like Growlytics. This is why, we've made it possible for you to pass encrypted phone numbers of your users as the system user attribute we_hashed_phone.

growUser.setHashedPhone("e0ec043b3f9e198ec09041687e4d4e8d")

//(Available >= 3.4.2)
[growUser setHashedPhone:@"e0ec043b3f9e198ec09041687e4d4e8d"];

You can set up a private SSP API endpoint at your end to decrypt the phone numbers and pass the data on to your SSP for final delivery.

Gender

growUser.setGender("male")

[growUser setGender:@"male"];

First Name

growUser.setFirstName("John")

[growUser setFirstName:@"John"];

Last Name

growUser.setLastName("Doe")

[growUser setLastName:@"Doe"];

Company

growUser.setCompany("Alphabet Inc.")

[growUser setCompany:@"Alphabet Inc."];

Opt In Status

You can set the subscription preference of your users for SMS, Web Push, Email and WhatsApp using setOptInStatusForChannel, as shown below.

growUser.setOptInStatusFor(GROWEngagementChannel.push, status: true)

[growUser setOptInStatusForChannel:GROWEngagementChannelPush status:YES];

WEGEngagementChannel is an enum and can have the following values:

• GROWEngagementChannelPush

• GROWEngagementChannelInApp

• GROWEngagementChannelSMS

• GROWEngagementChannelEmail

• GROWEngagementChannelWhatsapp

Setting setOptInStatusForChannel to false for a particular channel opts the user out of that channel, preventing them from receiving further messages through it.

By default, all users who have shared their email address and phone number are opted in to Email and SMS, respectively.

WhatsApp opt-in is set to false by default. You will need to explicitly set it to true as and when users opt into the channel. (Detailed Read)​

Location

To set user location manually, use this method. If auto location tracking is enabled, Growlytics SDK will manage location updates on its own. However, you can call this method to set user location if you have disabled auto location tracking, or to manually set the location.

growUser.setUserLocationWithLatitude(19.0822, andLongitude: 72.8417)

[growUser setUserLocationWithLatitude:@19.0822 andLongitude:@72.8417];

Deleting System User Attributes

You can easily delete System User Attributes if you no longer need them. Here's how you can go about it:

growUser.deleteAttribute("email")

[growUser deleteAttribute:@"email"];

WEGUserProfileAttribute is an enum and can have following values:

Setting Custom User Attributes

You can use the weUser.setAttribute method of our iOS SDK to track custom attributes for a user.

Guidelines for Tracking User Attributes

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• User Attribute names are case sensitive and must be less than 50 characters long. NSString type attribute values must be less than 1000 characters long. Additional characters will be truncated.

• You can create a maximum of 25 Custom User Attributes of each data type.

• userAttributeName must not start with we_. Names starting with we_ are reserved exclusively for internal use at Growlytics. Thus, to avoid data contamination for your account, such data will be ignored if used for your Custom User Attributes.

• The first datapoint synced to Growlytics defines the data type for that user attribute. Thus, data types must be consistent with the value that you want to store against the attribute. If the data type is changed at a later date, then Custom Users Attribute data will stop flowing to your Growlytics dashboard.

Simple Custom User Attributes

User attributes of the data types NSString, NSNumber and NSDate are called simple custom user attributes. They can be used to both create user segments as well as to personalize campaigns.

1. NSString Attribute

growUser.setAttribute("Twitter username", withStringValue: "origjohndoe86")

[growUser setAttribute:@"Twitter username" withStringValue:@"@origjohndoe86"];

2. NSNumber Attribute

growUser.setAttribute("Points earned", withValue: 78732)

[growUser setAttribute:@"Points earned" withValue:[NSNumber numberWithInteger:78732]];

3. Boolean Attribute

growUser.setAttribute("Subscribed to email", withValue: true)

[growUser setAttribute:@"Subscribed to email" withValue:[NSNumber numberWithBool:YES]];

4. NSDate Attribute

var comps = DateComponents()
comps.day = 19
comps.month = 8
comps.year = 1996
​
let date: Date? = Calendar.current.date(from: comps)
growUser.setAttribute("Last order date", withDateValue: date)

NSDateComponents *comps = [[NSDateComponents alloc] init];
[comps setDay:19];
[comps setMonth:8];
[comps setYear:1996];
​
NSDate *date = [[NSCalendar currentCalendar] dateFromComponents:comps];
[growUser setAttribute:@"Last order date" withDateValue:date];

Complex Custom User Attributes

User attributes of NSArray and NSDictionary data types are called complex custom user attributes. As shown below, you can use this data to personalize your campaigns. However, you will not be able to use these data types for creating segments.

NSArray Attribute

NSArray values must be one of the simple or complex attribute types.

growUser.setAttribute("Brand affinity", withArrayValue: ["Hugo Boss","Armani Exchange", "GAS", "Brooks Brothers"])

[growUser setAttribute:@"Brand affinity" withArrayValue:@[@"Hugo Boss",@"Armani Exchange", @"GAS", @"Brooks Brothers"]];

2. NSDictionary Attribute

Values in the NSDictionary must be one of the simple or complex attribute types.

let userAddress = ["Flat": "Z-62", "Building": "Pennant Court", "Locality": "Penn Road", "City": "Wolverhampton", "State": "West Midlands", "PIN": "WV30DT"]
​
growUser.setAttribute("Address", withDictionaryValue: userAddress)

NSDictionary *[email protected]{
  @"Flat":@"Z-62",
  @"Building":@"Pennant Court",
  @"Locality":@"Penn Road",
  @"City":@"Wolverhampton",
  @"State":@"West Midlands",
  @"PIN":@"WV30DT"
};
​
[growUser setAttribute:@"Address" withDictionaryValue:userAddress];

Deleting Custom User Attributes

You can easily delete existing Custom User Attributes if you no longer need them. Here's how you can go about it:

growUser.deleteAttribute("Points earned")
growUser.deleteAttributes(["Twitter username", "Subscribed to email", "Points earned"])

[growUser deleteAttribute:@"Points earned"];
[growUser deleteAttributes:@[@"Twitter username", @"Subscribed to email", @"Points earned"]];

Please feel free to drop in a few lines at [email protected] or get in touch with your Onboarding Manager in case you have any further queries. We're always just an email away!