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The Snitcher Identity Layer connects anonymous website visitors to known users by linking their email address to all past and future browsing sessions. When a visitor provides their email (through a form, login, or email link click), Snitcher retroactively associates their previous anonymous sessions with that identity—giving you complete visibility into the buyer journey from first touch to conversion.

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Why Identity Matters

Company-level identification tells you “someone from Acme Corp visited pricing.” User-level identification tells you “Sarah Chen, VP Marketing at Acme Corp, visited pricing for the third time this week.” Benefits of identified traffic:
  • 100% accurate: No guessing—you know exactly who visited
  • Privacy-friendly: Users opted in by providing their email
  • Perfect match rate: Identified users stay identified across sessions
  • Person-level detail: See individual behavior, not just company aggregates
Snitcher does not use third-party cookies or any third-party data in our Identity Layer. All identification comes from first-party interactions on your website.

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How Users Get Identified

Snitcher captures user identity through several methods:

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1. Automatic Form Tracking

When enabled, Snitcher automatically detects form submissions containing email addresses. This includes:
  • Demo request forms
  • Newsletter signups
  • Gated content downloads
  • Contact forms
  • Webinar registrations
No code changes required—Snitcher observes the form and extracts the email automatically.

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2. Manual Identification via identify()

For logins, signups, and non-standard flows, call Snitcher.identify(): 
// After user logs in
Snitcher.identify("[email protected]", {
  name: "Sarah Chen",
  title: "VP Marketing",
  company: "Acme Corp"
});
Call identify() whenever a user:
  • Signs up for your product
  • Logs in
  • Provides their email in a form you control
  • Completes onboarding

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3. OAuth and SSO Logins

For Google Sign-In, GitHub OAuth, SSO, and similar flows, you’ll need to call identify() manually after successful authentication: 
// After OAuth callback
async function handleOAuthSuccess(user) {
  // Identify to Snitcher
  Snitcher.identify(user.email, {
    name: user.name,
    auth_provider: "google"
  });
}
Install the tracker on your logged-in application pages and call identify() on every page load for authenticated users. This ensures sessions are always linked to the correct user.
When you send outbound emails, you can embed identification parameters that reveal who clicked through. Snitcher supports both plain email and base64-encoded formats: 
# Plain email
https://yoursite.com/[email protected]

# Base64 encoded (recommended for privacy)
https://yoursite.com/pricing?sn_eid=c2FyYWhAYWNtZS5jb20=
When the recipient clicks, Snitcher captures the email and identifies them automatically. This works with:
  • Sales outreach emails (Outreach, Salesloft, Apollo)
  • Marketing campaigns (HubSpot, Mailchimp, Marketo)
  • Transactional emails
You can also pass additional traits via URL parameters like sn_trait_first_name and sn_trait_company.

Identify Email Recipients

See the complete guide with platform-specific setup instructions for HubSpot, Apollo, Salesloft, and more.
Only use email link tracking for emails you send directly. Don’t expose email addresses in public links.

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Cross-Session Identity Persistence

Once a user is identified, their identity persists across sessions (as long as cookies aren’t cleared):
SessionStatusActivity
Week 1AnonymousVisited blog, read 3 articles
Week 2AnonymousReturned, viewed pricing
Week 3IdentifiedFilled out demo form as [email protected]
Week 4IdentifiedReturned, viewed case studies
After identification in Week 3, all four sessions are linked to Sarah’s profile in Snitcher.

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Profile Merging

Snitcher automatically handles complex scenarios:

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Same Person, Multiple Devices

When Sarah visits from her laptop and phone, she creates two device IDs. Once she identifies on both devices (e.g., logs in), Snitcher merges the activity: 
Laptop sessions → [email protected]
Phone sessions  → [email protected]

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Company + User Linking

If Sarah visits from Acme Corp’s office, we identify both:
  • Company: Acme Corp (from IP intelligence)
  • User: [email protected] (from identification)
The session shows both, giving you company context and individual detail.

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Improving Your Identification Rate

Want more identified traffic? Try these strategies:
When users log in to your product, call identify(). This links their in-app behavior with website visits, giving you a complete picture of the customer journey.
Require email for high-value content: ebooks, webinars, industry reports. Use progressive profiling to collect more data over time.
Connect Snitcher with Intercom, Drift, or other chat tools. When visitors provide their email in chat, identify them in Snitcher.
Host valuable webinars and capture emails at registration. Install Snitcher wherever registrations happen.

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Privacy Considerations

The Identity Layer is built on first-party data and user consent:
  • No third-party cookies: All data comes from your website
  • User-initiated: Identification only happens when users provide their email
  • Transparent: Users know they’re submitting a form or logging in
  • GDPR-compatible: Works with consent management when configured
If you use cookie consent: 
// Only identify after consent
if (hasMarketingConsent()) {
  Snitcher.identify(user.email, { name: user.name });
}

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Next Steps

Identify Users

Implementation guide for identify()

Email Recipients

Track clicks from outbound emails

Cookie Consent

GDPR-compliant tracking setup