When it comes to marketing, knowing who your audience is and tracking their interactions is vital. That's why Zoho Marketing Automation has taken a significant leap forward with its enhanced profile stitching feature. With this update, you can track your leads' activities when they're engaging with a form created with Zoho Forms and link them directly to their contact profiles. This ensures that your marketing efforts are powered by complete, unified data. Let's take a closer look at how it all comes together!

The old way: Zoho Forms submissions and profile linking

Previously, connecting Zoho Forms submissions to website activity required extra steps:

1. You'd created a form in Zoho Forms and embedded it in a website with a tracking snippet.

2. As visitors interacted with your site, their presence would be logged as Anonymous Visitors in Web Analytics.

3. When a visitor submitted a form, their details created a contact in Zoho Marketing Automation—but their website activity remained disconnected.

4. To tie everything together, visitors had to fill out a Signup form or Popup forms or fill a form in a landing page created in Zoho Marketing Automation. This additional step is what linked their web activity to their contact profiles.

5. After identification, their web activity history would be updated, and they will be considered as "Known Visitors".

The new way: Simplified and smarter profile stitching

The updated flow for Zoho Forms and Zoho Marketing Automation integration removes these barriers, making the process seamless:

1. When a visitor interacts with a form created using Zoho Forms embedded on a tracked website, their activity is recorded as anonymous in Web Analytics.

2. Once they submit the form, Zoho Marketing Automation automatically identifies them using a unique visitor ID stored in their cookies and links it to their contact profile.

3. Their web activity now shows up in the contact timeline without needing extra forms or manual identification.

4. From that point forward, their activities are recognized, and they will be considered "Known Visitors" in the Web Analytics reports. 

Note: This applies only to users who have integrated their each distinct form with Zoho Marketing Automation from Zoho Forms. The reverse scenario is not applicable. 

This enhancement gives you a clear, complete picture of their journey, which in turn helps you understand them better and connect with them more effectively.

How email-based profile stitching works

1. First, a tracking snippet is added to your website to monitor visitor activity.

2. Visitors start off as anonymous users in your Web Analytics data.

3. Once a visitor becomes a contact (via .csv imports, manual entries, or CRM integration), their web activity isn't automatically linked.

4. If you send an email campaign to your contacts with a web link (tracking snippet embedded site) and recipients click these links and land on your site, their visitor IDs (from the cookies) and contact IDs are then paired up and they're identified as known visitors.

5. This new update maps their past web activities to their profiles and increases your "Known visitors" count in Web analytics to help you better understand their journeys. 

Why this matters

• Save time and effort: Say goodbye to manual mapping or relying on multiple forms.

• Get the full picture: Instantly see your contacts' website behaviors alongside their other interactions.

• Enhance personalization: With a complete view of each lead, you can deliver tailored campaigns and experiences.

 
What's next: 

• We’re extending this update to SMS and WhatsApp channels, enhancing communication capabilities.

• Additionally, we are planning to integrate with Zoho SalesIQ, allowing seamless access to engagement data directly through the integration.