I left items in my shopping cart and then I got an email asking if I’m still interested in buying them. On a course registration page I filled out the form but didn’t click submit and deleted some information. Then I got an email saying I should finish the form and enroll. It seemed creepy since I didn’t submit my email to them at all
In: Technology
1. You click to start the form or add something to your shopping cart.
2. Website says to its server, “Hey this guy just started his form, by the way.” The server saves this information. It knows who you are because you are logged into the site. This happens without you doing anything.
3. You leave without finishing the form or buying the item.
4. After some time (determined by the designer of whatever app you are using), the server will look up unfinished items -> then look up who they belong to -> then look up which email they have on file -> then send you a reminder.
If you completed the item or finished the form, then your name would be cleared from the “pending orders” data.
These days, no matter what site you visit, they’ll check your other tabs to see what your logged in to, and use those accounts and that data to see who you are.
Tracking pixels and tag management allow marketers to collect huge amounts of data and increase conversion rates. On mobile so not going to try to explain but you can google this question and get a solid idea.
You know how when you start googling something, it immediately autocompletes your search query? That’s because it doesn’t wait until you click submit to send your query; it listens to every character you enter and sends it to the server, so the server can immediately respond with autocomplete options.
Did you fill out the e-mail and then delete it? The same thing that happens with Google happened when you wrote your e-mail.
One possibility is that you’ve previously submitted your email to a “partner” or “affiliate” entity, and the TOS of that entity permits them to share your info with whatever site you partially completed. Then when you partially complete a form on that site, it’s already found your info, and knows all about you (it actually knew already, but now it can match what it knows to an on-line visitor). Almost no one reads the TOS, and they are usually more expansive than restrictive.
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