Visitors, responses, segments, and contact fields

You can use someone's answers to personalize your website before you know their email address. Once you identify them, you can also send eligible saved answers to your email platform. Recording an answer and updating a contact are separate steps.

A browser needs identification to become a known contact

RightMessage can record activity for an anonymous browser. That visitor can answer questions and join behavior-based segments without an email address.

Identification connects the browser to a person or provider contact through a form, an identifying email link, or another supported method. Connecting your email platform doesn't identify all your subscribers when they visit.

The debugger's Visitor tab shows identity separately from visits and device information. Here, the browser has activity but isn't identified.

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Visitor debugger overview showing anonymous identity, browser and location details, visit counts, and the Full profile linkOriginalOriginal

An answer isn't always a segment

Our example business, WorkForge (opens in a new tab), asks "Do you work with a team?" A Multiple choice answer can put someone in a segment that WorkForge uses to show team-focused copy.

A Number question asking for team size saves a numeric answer instead. It doesn't create a segment for every number. You can compare the answer in a condition, such as checking whether team size is at least 10.

Responses holds typed input answers and Other write-ins, not every multiple-choice click. Opening Responses requires Scale or Pro. Choice-question reports show how people answered those questions. Segment membership shows which audience categories they belong to.

See segments, questions, and responses and input-answer conditions.

A mapping tells RightMessage where an answer belongs

A sync mapping connects an answer to a destination in your email platform. WorkForge might map its team answer to a custom field called manages_others.

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Question sync destination and mappings from team answers to Acme CRM custom-field valuesOriginalOriginal

To update the contact, the browser needs the correct identity. The destination must accept the mapped value, and the integration must have permission to write it. A saved mapping alone doesn't confirm that the provider accepted an update.

An email question's Identify the visitor setting controls identification, not every sync operation. If identification is off, a configured field mapping can still send the answer to a contact who's already identified.

For an identifying email question with a consent checkbox, leaving the box unselected prevents both identification and that answer's sync. RightMessage still records the answer.

Earlier answers and later identification

RightMessage can remember answers in the same browser before identification. Once it identifies a contact, configured mappings can use eligible saved answers. This doesn't bulk-import all anonymous responses into your email list.

A newly submitted answer is an active update. Passive synchronization uses saved answers, but doesn't overwrite an existing provider field with an older saved input answer. That protects fields that have changed outside RightMessage.

For example, someone tells WorkForge their team has 8 people. Later, their CRM field changes to 12. Passive synchronization won't replace 12 with the browser's remembered 8.

A queued active submission works differently. If RightMessage couldn't send a submission before identification, it can send that queued value once it identifies the contact. The protection for passive updates doesn't prevent that pending active submission.

Cleared browser storage, missing identity, consent settings, incompatible mappings, or provider errors can prevent an update. A saved response tells you RightMessage recorded the answer. Check the contact record to see whether the later sync succeeded.

Check each part of a contact update

For a test contact, check the browser's identity, the saved answer or segment, and the destination contact record. The field or tag on that destination record confirms the writeback.

To set this up, follow Map answers to contact fields and tags. If something is missing, see anonymous visitors and missing updates.