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Visit Number

What Is a Visit Number?

The visit number is a unique number assigned to each visitor by the Roistat tracking code installed on the site.

When a client visits the site for the first time, the tracking code creates a cookie with the visit number (the cookie is stored in the user's browser). This cookie is called roistat_visit.

All cookies used by Roistat are specific to the domain you are working with and are not considered third party cookies. Restrictions related to the use of third-party cookies do not affect the operation of the service.

Also, if promo code is enabled in the Roistat settings, the visit number will be displayed on the site as a promo code. It is used when the visit number value is not passed to the deal (for example, when making a direct call). You can learn more about this feature in the Promo Code article.

If you transfer the visit number to a deal created manually, the lead in Analytics will be distributed to the channel.

What Information Is Transmitted Along with the Visit Number?

The visit number is transferred to CRM along with the following information:

  1. Date and time of the visit;
  2. Visit source – advertising channel or site the client came from;
  3. Referrer – the page the client came from;
  4. Landing page – page visited by the client;
  5. Browser and OS – information about the browser, device and operating system of the client;
  6. Region – IP, city and country of the client. The location is determined by IP based on databases that are regularly updated.

After being transferred to CRM, the visit number is sent to the Roistat analytics.

In many CRMs and CMSs, the visit number value is displayed in the roistat field.

How Is the Visit Number Value Stored and Transmitted?

The visit number changes to a new one in the following cases:

  • If the user visited the site from another advertisement;
  • If the user visited the site 2 weeks after being assigned the previous visit number (the user's visit history will be saved).

Please note:

Within one browser, the user's visit history will be tracked forever.

The visit number remains the same in the following cases:

  • If the user visited the site from the same advertisement;
  • If the user visited the site directly within 2 weeks after they clicked on the ad.

A new visit number does not mean that the user will be considered new. The Roistat system tracks users and connects visit numbers of one person. Therefore, if a user visited the site at different times from different sources, then a history of visit numbers will be created for this user in chronological order from the first to the last visit. This history is used in multi-channel analytics to track ad performance.

A direct visit is not taken into account if it was preceded by a visit from any advertising channel and 14 days have not passed since the date of the last advertising visit. For example, a visit from Google Ads was recorded under the number 12846. After 5 days this user made a direct visit by entering the site address in the browser. Google Ads will be considered the source of this deal, since a direct visit is not taken into account after a visit from an advertising channel. If the direct visit was the only one in the history of visits, it is taken into account like any other visit.

If you would like to reduce the period during which direct visits are attributed to an advertising channel, contact Roistat support. For example, this can be useful if you want to understand which channels bring sales immediately, and which ones bring sales after a certain period of time. If you reduce the standard period, it may seem that advertising channels are not effective, and customers are more likely to make purchases after direct visits. Therefore, we recommend that you do not change the standard interval of 14 days in order to always receive reliable information about the source of the deal and the effectiveness of the channel.

Please note:

If a redirect is configured on the site, different visit numbers can be assigned on the landing page and the redirect page. To avoid this, you need to configure the transmission of the cookie value using this instruction.

Visit History Example

  1. Jane visited the site from a Google Ads advertisement. The Roistat tracking code assigned her the visit number 1112 and saved it in Jane's browser cookie. By the visit number, you can see that Jane visited the site:

    • At 12 PM on February 5;
    • From Google Ads advertisement;
    • From the search page (a link to the page is added);
    • To the main page of the site (a link to the page is added).

  2. After 3 days, she saw your Facebook ad and clicked on it. After that, her visit number was updated to 1134 because she clicked on a different ad link. Information about the second visit will also be transmitted with this visit number.

  3. This time, Jane was convinced that the service provided by your site suits her, and she made a request for a call back. This information was transferred to CRM and Roistat along with the deal and visit information. The manager saw it and called Jane back.

  4. Jane talked to the manager on the phone, entered the name of your site in the address bar of the browser and went to the site directly. After that, the visit number remained 1134, since the transition was direct.