How to set up extended ID cookie tracking

You will learn

Learn how to set up extended ID to compliantly capture and track subscriber interactions with your brand for longer. Extended ID is a first-party identity graph feature that allows you to track and replace cookies, allowing you to re-identify users so you can create more robust profiles. These interactions and behaviors captured in the profiles allow you to target, segment, and automate marketing messages more effectively.

Before you begin

Please note the following items related to the extended ID:

• Extended ID is available on all Klaviyo paid plans. You need permission to edit data preferences to change these settings.
• Klaviyo’s onsite tracking JavaScript must be installed on your website.
• Extended ID does not provide integrations with conversion APIs (CAPIs) and support for probabilistic identifiers (i.e., identifiers like IP address, device data, click ID, location, or user agent).
• Extended ID does not support re-identification across different companies, devices, or browsers.
• Extended ID does not use fingerprinting technology.

How does extended ID work?

Extended ID uses deterministic identifiers (exact, unique identifiers) that have already been associated with a visitor’s Klaviyo profile on your site. When the visitor returns after their Klaviyo cookie expires, Extended ID can use a matching identifier to re-identify them and replace the cookie. For other platforms or solutions, you will need to set up custom identifiers.

Turning on extended ID

1. Click on the account menu in the lower left of your account.
2. Choose Settings from the menu.
   

3. Navigate to the Data tab.
4. In Onsite identification, select the Extended ID checkbox. The setting saves automatically and opens the setup screen.
5. Click Close to finish setup, or select Add custom identifiers to configure additional identifiers using the steps below.

Adding custom identifiers

Do not use essential cookies as custom identifiers.

1. Click Manage next to Extended ID to open the identifier form. If you selected Add custom identifiers during setup, continue with the next step.
2. Click Add. In Key, enter the identifier’s key. For example, in the cookie user_id=12345, “user_id” is the key and “12345” is the value; enter user_id. Under Location/source, select Cookie, Local storage, or Query param, depending on where the identifier is stored.
3. To add more custom identifiers, click Add again and enter each identifier’s key and location.

4. Click Save to save your changes and return to Data settings. Click Manage next to Extended ID to check identifier statuses. New custom identifiers show Verifying while Klaviyo checks them, which can take up to 2 weeks.

Once your custom identifier has been verified, its status changes to Active, and it can be used for re-identification. A Failed status means Klaviyo could not verify the identifier, either because there was not enough data or because its values were associated with multiple profiles too often. Klaviyo blocks failed identifiers from re-identification to avoid overlapping data across profiles.

Disabling extended ID or removing specific identifiers

If you no longer want Extended ID to use a particular identifier, you can remove it. You can also disable Extended ID completely across all of your tools.

1. Click on the account menu in the lower left of your account.
2. Choose Settings from the menu.
   

3. Navigate to the Data tab.

Choose one of the following options:

• To remove one identifier, click Manage next to Extended ID, then click the identifier’s Delete icon. Click Remove to confirm, then Save to apply the change.
• To turn off Extended ID completely, clear the Extended ID checkbox, then click Disable in the confirmation dialog.

Measuring the impact of extended ID

To view the impact of extended ID on your brand's ability to identify visitors, you can leverage the Active on Site event.

1. Navigate to Analytics > Metrics > Active on Site.
2. On the Chart tab, choose the date range you want to review and set Measurement to Total. Set Filter to By, then select extended_id.

This chart shows Active on Site events recorded with Extended ID. Extended ID events have a value of 1.0 (true), while 0.0 means false. Events without the extended_id property are not automatically marked false, so do not treat the 0.0 group as a complete count of all activity recorded without Extended ID.

Additional resources