Personalization ID

The Personalization ID identifies a user and allows WebSphere Commerce to present them with personalized content when the user interacts with the business, throughout the business lifecycle.

The WebSphere Commerce user ID is not suitable for this purpose, as the same user can have generic, guest, and registered user IDs at different times during their interaction with the business. The persistent session cookie Universally Unique Identifier (UUID) alone cannot accomplish this task, as it differs from computer to computer.

The WebSphere Commerce personalization ID has the following behavior:

  • The personalization ID is unique for different registered users.
  • Each guest and registered user ID is associated with a personalization ID.
  • Once the personalization ID is assigned to a user ID, it is permanent and does not change over time.
  • A personalization ID can belong to multiple guest users and only one registered user.
  • Personalized content can be displayed before the user registers and before the user logs on if the user is reusing a machine with the same persistent session.
  • A guest user is assigned a personalization ID until the user logs on or registers, at which time this personalization ID is linked to their registered user ID.

How WebSphere Commerce uses the personalization ID

WebSphere Commerce uses the personalization ID when displaying content associated with a Web activity created in the IBM Management Center for WebSphere Commerce. The personalization ID is used to determine which content to display in an e-Marketing Spot based on customer segment or order purchase history. When determining if a user belongs to a customer segment, WebSphere Commerce tries to find a registered member ID associated with the current personalization ID. If no registered member ID is found, it tries to find the guest member ID used from the last log on associated with the personalization ID. Purchase history and other user behaviors are recorded against the personalization ID and are used to determine what content to display to the shopper.

Note: The personalization ID is not used by any marketing activities created in WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.

When a customer enters the site for the first time as a generic user, a unique personalization ID is placed in their cookie. If this customer becomes a guest user, the personalization ID is associated with their guest member ID. If the customer becomes a registered user, the personalization ID is associated with the registered member ID. If the customer leaves the site as a guest user, and later returns to the site, they are assigned a new guest member ID. However, the same personalization ID is now associated with the previous guest user ID, and the new guest user ID.

The key benefit of this functionality is that WebSphere Commerce can target marketing to a customer throughout the customer lifecycle. WebSphere Commerce identifies users who interact with the business by their personalization ID, regardless of their user ID at the time they performed the interactions. When a customer returns, WebSphere Commerce identifies previous sessions -- regardless of whether the previous member IDs are generic, guest or registered.

Example 1:
  1. User A buys a shirt as a guest user
  2. User A closes the browser.
  3. User A returns as generic user.
  4. The order purchase history target can target marketing based on the shirt purchased as a guest.
Example 2:
  1. User A buys a shirt as a guest user.
  2. User A closes the browser.
  3. User A returns to the site and buys shoes as a guest user (User A now is assigned a different guest user ID than in Step 1).
  4. The order purchase history target can target marketing based on the shirt purchase made under the previous guest user ID.
  5. User A closes the browser.
  6. When user A returns to the site as a generic user, the order purchase history target can target marketing based on both the shirt and shoes purchases, although they were made as different guest users.
Example 3:
  1. User A registers on the site, makes a purchase of socks.
  2. User A closes the browser.
  3. When User A returns to the site as a generic user, the customer segment target can target marketing based on the registration information of the user. The order purchase history target can target marketing based on the socks purchase.
  4. User A adds an item to the cart, and gets a new guest member ID. The customer segment target can target marketing based on the registration information of the user. The order purchase history target can target marketing based on the socks purchase.
Note: By default, the persistent session and personalization ID features are disabled. If not enabled, the customer segment and order purchase history targets are only able to target based on the current member ID of the customer.

Forgetting shoppers after logging off

Each machine is typically used by one person, using the same web browser. Therefore, It is not expected by default that they register multiple times in the storefront. In this scenario, the shopper is not completely forgotten after they have logged out of the store.

The logoffRefresh flag ensures that a shopper is forgotten after logging off. That is, when set to true, the personalization ID is cleared when a shopper logs off, and a new personalizationID is created in the WC_PERSISTENT cookie.