How does Lighthouse capture visitor emails?
Any time a visitor submits a form on your site containing an email field, the Lighthouse script binds that email with the Google Analytics Client ID stored in the Google Analytics browser cookie.
What types of forms are compatible with Lighthouse?
Lighthouse is compatible with the following types of forms with a few known limitations:
- Email signup forms
- Donation forms
- Volunteer signup forms
- Registration and login forms
- Application submission forms
- Sales lead forms
Known limitations: Lighthouse is not compatible with
- Embedded iframe forms
- Forms that live on a hosted page where Lighthouse script does not exist
What if visitors submit forms with errors?
Lighthouse is still able to capture emails of visitors who click submit without having filled out all required fields.
How does the MailChimp integration work?
The MailChimp integration was built to help you retroactively capture emails of visitors who have already subscribed to your list before Lighthouse was set up.
When an email subscriber in your Mailchimp list opens your newsletter and clicks on a link in the newsletter that leads them to your website, their email will get captured in Lighthouse.
Note that Mailchimp is not a requirement for Lighthouse to work.
Can I send visitors in Lighthouse my organization’s newsletter?
You should always cross reference with your email marketing list to make sure visitors have opted in for your newsletter befores sending. Note that visitor emails captured in Lighthouse can come from forms other than email subscription, which means that not every email is mailable.
How far back can I see a visitor’s activity on my site?
You can see a visitor’s activity on your site as far back as 2 years regardless of when Lighthouse was configured. For example, if you configured Lighthouse on May 1st, 2018 and viewed the activities associated with [email protected], a visitor email captured in your account, on May 30th, 2018 then you would be able to see web activities for that visitor as far back as May 30th, 2016 because the Google Analytics cookie retains information for up to 2 years.
How does Activity Segmentation work?
Activity Segmentation allows you to query visitors based on their activity on your site. Currently, you can create segments based on page visit and goal completion pattern. Lighthouse uses the Google Analytics API to run the match patterns you set up against the database of visitors to then return a list of visitors who match the criteria.
Some helpful use cases
- Persona matching: if you have an activity pattern for unique types of audiences, you can create segments using those activities as match patterns to generate a list of visitors who fall into those user personas.
- Recover “abandoned” donors: sending a message to users who leave items in their cart lead to purchases. Similarly, you can increase donation conversion rate by following up with visitors who showed an intent to donate to your organization but have not completed the action.
- Move supporters up the ladder of engagement: generate a list of visitors who are likely to take the next action based on their past behavior on your site so that you can message them and move them closer to taking that action.
How do I set up an activity segment?
You can create an activity segment with one or more match patterns. Each match pattern needs to have one of the following user action types:
- Visited: enter the relative URL of the page that users have visited (i.e. “/donate”). This is an exact URL match.
- Has not visited: enter the relative URL of the page that users have not visited (i.e. “/thank-you”). This is an exact URL match.
- Completed goal: select the goal that users have completed from the dropdown.
- Has not completed goal: select the goal that users have not completed from the dropdown.
If you have more than 1 match pattern in a segment, the sequence will not matter. Lighthouse will only display visitors that fulfill all of the match patterns.
Are there nonprofit discounts?
Yes, Lighthouse was built for nonprofits. We offer a 15% discount to nonprofits.
What about privacy, is this GDPR compliant?
Lighthouse by Whole Whale uses data collected by Google Analytics to show the web behavior taken by users that submit emails through newsletters, forms on a site, and select links in newsletters that are tracked. Google Analytics is committed to allowing users to control their privacy and is GDPR compliant. GetLightHouse.io only tracks user behavior on the home site where Google Analytics is installed and does not sell or transfer data between accounts. To remove a tracked email from the database either remove tracking cookie from Google Analytics (recommended) or send an email to [email protected] with the information you would like removed.