You might have parts of your application that don't require a login. This article provides guidance on how Pendo can deliver value for usage analytics and guides with anonymous users (Visitors). Anonymous Visitors aren't currently supported in Pendo Feedback.
For more information about anonymous Visitors in Pendo, watch the Anonymous Visitors video in Pendo Academy.
Anonymous Visitor IDs
Pendo relies on your application to provide a Visitor ID value. When a Visitor ID isn't provided in the Pendo install script ("snippet"), for example, when an empty string is the set value, Pendo provides an anonymous Visitor ID in the following format: "_PENDO_T_ID" (for example, "_PENDO_T_mvugjpoysuT").
Enable anonymous visitor data
Only Admins can enable anonymous visitor data in Pendo.
Navigate to Settings > Subscription Settings, scroll down to General, and select Show Anonymous Visitor Data.
There's also an option to show guides to anonymous visitors here.
Pendo then shows anonymous Visitors in two default filters:
- Everyone shows both identified and anonymous users.
- Everyone (Anonymous Visitors Only) shows only anonymous users.
You can also create custom segments to include anonymous users.
If you don't want anonymous data, send the Visitor ID metadata through the install script ("snippet"). The install script should be available on all URLs that you intend to have Pendo installed on. For more information about the install script, see the Developer's guide to installing Pendo.
Anonymous visitors count towards the subscription’s MAU total if you select Show Anonymous Visitor Data in your Subscription Settings.
Show guides to anonymous visitors
You can also show guides to anonymous visitors by enabling the application-level setting:
1. Navigate to Settings > Subscription Settings.
2. Hover over the application you want to show guides on and select View App Details.
3. In App Details, select Show Guides to Anonymous Visitors.
Once enabled, you can see Anonymous Visitors as part of your segment selection. Show Guides to Anonymous Visitors also increases your Monthly Active Users (MAU), which are calculated by adding up all unique Visitor IDs in a 30-day period.
4. Open and re-save the segment for each guide you want to show to anonymous users.
Frequently Asked Questions
How are anonymous Visitors tracked?
Pendo saves and tracks anonymous Visitors at the browser level, using local storage and cookies. If the same person comes back to your application, Pendo attempts to use the same anonymous Visitor ID for them.
It's possible for a single visitor to be associated with multiple anonymous IDs because a new ID is generated if Pendo can't access the saved anonymous ID or when a cookie isn't present.
To maximize Pendo's ability to track anonymous Visitors, we recommend that you don't disable agent cookies or agent user identification persistence in application-level settings or in the Pendo install script ("snippet").
Can you use the same anonymous ID across subdomains?
You can use the same anonymous ID across subdomains by adding cookieDomain"
'.example.com' to the Pendo install script ("snippet").
This only works for subdomains. The same anonymous ID won't be reused across multiple domains. If your application has multiple domains, the same person visiting both sites is represented by different anonymous Visitor IDs.
Can you connect anonymous Visitor IDs to identified Visitor IDs?
You can't connect anonymous Visitor IDs to identified Visitor IDs. If a person visits your site first as an anonymous user, and then signs in, the user's activities is split between two Visitors IDs: one anonymous, and one identified.