Editing Sites (section)

== How contacts are identified ==

There are three ways to identify contacts who visit your page:

=== 1. When contacts click on a link in a campaign ===
The link the contact clicks must go to a page on your website that is whitelisted and has site tracking code installed. We add some information to the link in a way that lets us identify the contact who clicked your campaign link and visited your web page. This additional link information should not be visible to the end user. Site tracking is not supported in 1:1 emails.

=== 2. When they submit a form created in ActiveCampaign ===
When a contact submits your ActiveCampaign form, they need to redirect to a page on your website that has site tracking code installed. The default "Thank you" page for ActiveCampaign forms will not generate a tracking cookie for your contacts. Note that if the form has double opt-in enabled, page views will not be tracked for visitors until they complete the opt-in process. We are not able to identify visitors who submit a third-party form.

When a contact submits an ActiveCampaign form, previously anonymous site visits may be associated with their new contact record. The system will check site visits in the past 30 days. In some instances, it could be up to a year if a contact's cookies exist. If a contact uses different browsers, incognito mode, or clears their cookies, past site visits may not pull.

=== 3. By dynamically inserting the email address of known visitors into the tracking code ===
If you've already identified a contact by their email address, you can insert their email address into the site tracking JavaScript code. For instance, if you have a membership site, you might be able to identify them after they log in. 

To do this, you will need to add the following line to the tracking code:
```
vgo('setEmail', 'Email_Address_Goes_Here');
```
above this line:
```
vgo('process');
```
If this is too technical for you, note that you do not need to use this option—you can still identify contacts with form submits and link clicks. However, if you are technical enough, this is an additional option available to you. Once the code is on your site, and you've whitelisted your domains, ActiveCampaign will begin collecting data and adding it to your contact records as contacts are identified.