Why does ConvertFlow use cookies?
Due to the recent changes to how browsers handle third-party cookies, ConvertFlow only relies on first-party cookies. This means the tracking cookie is limited to the scope of a root domain (example: company.com), so the profiling won't carry over to another root domain.
Because first-party cookies are critical to the functionality of most websites, there's no worry about Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge changing their privacy stance, which isn't the case for third-party "cross-domain" cookies that advertisers use for web retargeting.
This doesn't mean cross-domain personalization isn't possible with ConvertFlow. It still is.
A third-party contact database such as MailChimp, ActiveCampaign, HubSpot, etc. can be connected to each "website" sub-account implementation in ConvertFlow, and once the visitor is identified as a contact on either website, ESP/CRM targeting conditions will then apply for them to that website.
To stay compliant with GDPR, it's possible to collect consent for both domain names in the site's privacy policy when collecting the visitor's data.
If they become identified on the other website, the same ESP/CRM data could be used for targeting. There are multiple ways to identify contacts, especially if their information is already available.
First-party Cookies in ConvertFlow
The list of First-party cookies used by ConvertFlow are found in the following table:
Cookie Name | Cookie Type | Purpose | Duration |
cf_WEBSITEID_id | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Has the unique visitor token identifier | 1 Year |
cf_WEBSITEID_logged_in | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Stores your login status | 1 Year |
cf_WEBSITEID_cta_CTAID | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Stores the variant ID that succeeded in the split test | 1 Year |
cf_WEBSITEID_person_time | Strictly Necessary Cookies | When the visitor's tracking record was last fetched from our tracking database | 1 Year |
cf_WEBSITE_person_storage_prevent | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Forces CF to fetch the visitor’s tracking record from the tracking database upon the next page hit | 1 Year |
viewedcta_CTAID | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Marks that the campaign has been closed out so it can be suppressed for the set number of days | 1 Year |
cf_ctas | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Timestamp of when we stored the campaign's info in local storage after loading it from our CDN | 1 Year |
cf_WEBSITEID_person | Strictly Necessary Cookies | Tracking record of the visitor stored locally | 1 Year |
These cookies are necessary for the proper functioning of the ConvertFlow script and all ConvertFlow campaigns.
WEBSITEID: Is the ConvertFlow ID number assigned to a website in a ConvertFlow account. It can be found in the install code or the account URL after "websites/"
CTAID: Is the campaign ID number assigned to each ConvertFlow campaign that is found in the second part of the URL when in the campaign after "cta/"
