Anonymous Tracking

TL;DR

Most visitors browse your site anonymously before signing up or logging in. Outlit tracks their behavior from the first pageview and automatically connects that history to their profile when they identify themselves. This gives you complete visibility into the customer journey—from first touch to conversion.

The Anonymous Phase

When someone visits your website for the first time:

Visitor ID generated - A UUID stored in localStorage and cookies
Session begins - First-touch attribution captured (UTM, referrer)
Events tracked - Pageviews, form views, button clicks
Stored as AnonymousVisitor - Ready to be linked later

What’s Captured?

Automatic Attribution

On first visit, Outlit captures:

Data	Source	Example
UTM Source	URL params	`utm_source=google`
UTM Medium	URL params	`utm_medium=cpc`
UTM Campaign	URL params	`utm_campaign=spring_2024`
First Referrer	HTTP header	`https://google.com`
First Landing Page	URL	`/pricing?plan=pro`
IP Address	Request	For company enrichment

Events Stored

All events are stored for anonymous visitors and will be linked when they identify:

// All these are tracked for anonymous visitors
outlit.track('pricing_viewed', { plan: 'enterprise' })
outlit.track('demo_video_played', { duration: 120 })
outlit.track('feature_explored', { feature: 'integrations' })

Form Data

Form submissions are captured with automatic sanitization:

{
  "type": "form",
  "formId": "contact-form",
  "formFields": {
    "email": "jane@acme.com",
    "name": "Jane",
    "company": "Acme Inc"
  }
}

Sensitive fields (password, credit_card, SSN, etc.) are automatically removed from form data.

What Triggers Identity Resolution?

When identify() is called, the anonymous history is linked:

// This triggers identity resolution
outlit.identify({
  email: 'jane@acme.com',
  traits: { name: 'Jane Doe' }
})

Here’s what happens:

Find or create contact with the provided email
Link the anonymous visitor to the contact
Historical events are processed:
- All previous events are added to the customer timeline
- Original timestamps are preserved
- The complete journey is now visible

Timeline After Resolution

Jane Doe (jane@acme.com) - Customer Timeline
├── Mar 1, 10:00am - First visited /pricing (anonymous)
├── Mar 1, 10:05am - Viewed enterprise plan (anonymous)
├── Mar 1, 10:10am - Watched demo video (anonymous)
├── Mar 3, 2:00pm  - Returned, viewed /features (anonymous)
├── Mar 3, 2:15pm  - Submitted contact form ← IDENTIFIED
├── Mar 3, 2:20pm  - Viewed /signup
└── Mar 3, 2:25pm  - Created account

How Does Cross-Device Tracking Work?

Anonymous tracking is per-browser. The same person on different devices has different visitor IDs until identified. Once someone calls identify() with the same email on multiple devices, all those histories merge into a single unified profile.

Edge cases: If visitors clear cookies, use incognito mode, or share browsers, they may generate new visitor IDs. Call identify() immediately after login—even for returning users—to ensure continuity and accurate tracking.

Company Enrichment

For B2B companies, knowing which companies are visiting your website—even before anyone fills out a form—is valuable sales intelligence. Outlit can automatically identify the company behind anonymous visitors.

How It Works

When a visitor lands on your site:

IP address is captured with the first pageview
Company lookup runs in the background using IPinfo
If a company is identified, a new customer record is created in your dashboard
Browsing activity is linked so you can see what pages they viewed

What You’ll See

When enrichment succeeds, you’ll find a new customer in your dashboard with:

Company name and domain from the IP lookup
First landing page showing where they entered your site
Attribution data like referrer and UTM parameters

This gives you visibility into companies showing interest—before they’ve even reached out.

Privacy by Design

We intentionally do not deanonymize individual visitors. Company enrichment tells you “someone from Acme Inc visited your pricing page”—not who that person is. This approach:

Respects individual privacy - No attempt to identify the specific person
Focuses on company-level signals - Which is what matters for B2B sales
Filters out noise - ISPs, VPNs, and low-confidence matches are excluded
Only uses IP for company lookup - The raw IP address is not stored after enrichment

Since enrichment only reveals company-level information, no individual contact is created. A contact is only created when someone actively identifies themselves (form submission, signup, etc.).

When Enrichment Happens

Not every visitor can be enriched. Outlit only creates a customer record when:

The IP address maps to a business, education, or government network
The match confidence is high enough to be reliable
The company has a valid domain we can associate

Visitors from residential ISPs, coffee shops, VPNs, or hosting providers are intentionally excluded to avoid false positives.

Company enrichment is available on certain plans. Contact us to enable it for your workspace.

Device Tracking (Non-Browser)

For native apps without browser storage (desktop apps, mobile apps, CLI tools), use fingerprint instead of visitorId. A fingerprint is a device identifier that you generate and manage.

When to Use Fingerprint

Environment	Use
Desktop apps (Tauri, Electron)	`fingerprint`
Mobile apps (React Native)	`fingerprint`
CLI tools	`fingerprint`
Browser/Webview	`visitorId` (automatic)

How It Differs from visitorId

	visitorId	fingerprint
Generated by	SDK (automatic)	You (manual)
Stored in	localStorage + cookies	Your app (you decide)
SDKs	Browser SDK	Rust SDK, Node SDK

Generating a Fingerprint

Use any persistent, unique identifier for the device or installation:

Device UUID - Hardware identifier
Installation ID - Generated on first app launch, stored in app data
Keychain/Secure storage - For sensitive apps

The fingerprint must be:

Consistent across app sessions
Unique per device/installation
Stored persistently by your app

Rust (Tauri)
Node.js (React Native)

use outlit::{Outlit, fingerprint, email};

// Get or generate device fingerprint (store in app data)
let device_id = get_or_create_device_id();

// Track anonymously
client.track_by_fingerprint("feature_used", fingerprint(&device_id))
    .property("feature", "export")
    .send()
    .await?;

// Later, when user signs in
client.identify(email("user@example.com"))
    .fingerprint(&device_id)
    .send()
    .await?;
// ^ All previous fingerprint events are now linked to this user

import { Outlit } from '@outlit/node'

// Get or generate device fingerprint
const deviceId = await getOrCreateDeviceId()

// Track anonymously
outlit.track({
  fingerprint: deviceId,
  eventName: 'feature_used',
  properties: { feature: 'export' }
})

// Later, when user signs in
outlit.identify({
  email: 'user@example.com',
  fingerprint: deviceId
})
// ^ All previous fingerprint events are now linked to this user

Events tracked with only a fingerprint are stored but not visible in customer timelines until linked via identify(). Once linked, they appear with their original timestamps.

Privacy Considerations

Anonymous visitor data is retained for 90 days (configurable) for unidentified visitors. Once identified, data is linked to the customer and retained per your policy. For GDPR compliance: anonymous data can be deleted on request, visitor IDs are pseudonymous (not directly identifying), IP addresses are used only for company lookup and not stored afterward, and there is no cross-site tracking. To respect opt-out preferences, check for consent before initializing:

if (!hasTrackingConsent()) {
  return // Don't initialize tracker
}

outlit.init({ publicKey: 'pk_xxx' })

Getting Started

Concepts

Browser SDKs

Server SDKs

AI Integrations

TL;DR

The Anonymous Phase

What’s Captured?

Automatic Attribution

Events Stored

Form Data

What Triggers Identity Resolution?

Timeline After Resolution

How Does Cross-Device Tracking Work?

Company Enrichment

How It Works

What You’ll See

Privacy by Design

When Enrichment Happens

Device Tracking (Non-Browser)

When to Use Fingerprint

How It Differs from visitorId

Generating a Fingerprint

Privacy Considerations

Next Steps

Identity Resolution

Browser Tracking

Getting Started

Concepts

Browser SDKs

Server SDKs

AI Integrations

​TL;DR

​The Anonymous Phase

​What’s Captured?

​Automatic Attribution

​Events Stored

​Form Data

​What Triggers Identity Resolution?

​Timeline After Resolution

​How Does Cross-Device Tracking Work?

​Company Enrichment

​How It Works

​What You’ll See

​Privacy by Design

​When Enrichment Happens

​Device Tracking (Non-Browser)

​When to Use Fingerprint

​How It Differs from visitorId

​Generating a Fingerprint

​Example: Tracking Before Sign-In

​Privacy Considerations

​Next Steps

Identity Resolution

Browser Tracking

TL;DR

The Anonymous Phase

What’s Captured?

Automatic Attribution

Events Stored

Form Data

What Triggers Identity Resolution?

Timeline After Resolution

How Does Cross-Device Tracking Work?

Company Enrichment

How It Works

What You’ll See

Privacy by Design

When Enrichment Happens

Device Tracking (Non-Browser)

When to Use Fingerprint

How It Differs from visitorId

Generating a Fingerprint

Example: Tracking Before Sign-In

Privacy Considerations

Next Steps