Sitecore Experience Profile And The “Anonymous” Records Problem - Part 1

In a recent project I worked on a question came from client is why we see “Anonymous” records when we open experience profile from the launch pad? So, I started to dig into this and I found a lot of useful information, none of them was a complete solution to my problem, so after completing this I thought I should share a full package that contains the problem and the solution.

But before we dive to the specific problem I have I though it would be a chance to give a useful overview of what really is Experience Profile? Why I need it? And How I can use it?

So, in this blog post we will talk about Experience profile and in the next I will show you how to overcome the “Anonymous” profile issue within your Sitecore Experience profile.

What is Sitecore Experience Profile?

Sitecore Experience Profile is one of the core applications that comes out of the box when installing Sitecore instance, although some configuration is needed to get benefit from this application. This application will give you the ability to monitor your Site visitors or CONTACTS which the word used by Sitecore for anyone visiting your website.

The experience profile will provide you with all information you need to understand the your contacts experience, so you will be able to understand their interest as example based on goals and events they triggered during their visit.

What are the configuration needed to get benefit of Sitecore Experience Profile?

Sitecore Experience Profile on its own will not give much useful information, you need a smart planning by using many features on Sitecore marketing side like goals and engagements, following are main steps that you need to follow as provided by Sitecore:

1. Evaluate your website 
2. Create personas in the Sitecore Marketing Center 
3. Create and configure profile cards
4. Allocate profile values to the content on your website
5. Create and configure a set of pattern cards
6. Create goals
7. Create campaigns 
8. Configure personalization
9. Create automation plans
10. Collect visits on your website

So, what exactly is a Sitecore Contact?

A contact represents an individual who interacts with or may potentially interact with your organization. The contact, or contact entity, contains all the information that you collect about an individual from their interactions across channels, devices and websites.

Sitecore though xDB will save the following information about each contact:

1. An individual's name
2. E-mail addresses
3. Phone numbers
4. Profile picture
5. Behavior profile
6. Interaction history
7. Outcomes
8. Engagement automation states

The above has been taken from Sitecore Documentation, but is that accurate?! If yes why we are seeing an “Anonymous” records when opening the experience profiles? You want to know the answer --> go to the next post 😊