Identify Users

The identify() function is the most important part of Atribu's tracking. It connects an anonymous website visitor to a real person -- and that connection is what makes attribution possible.

Why identification matters

Without identification, Atribu sees two disconnected worlds:

• Website side: An anonymous visitor clicked a Facebook ad, viewed 3 pages, and left
• Business side: Jane Smith paid $500 through Stripe

The identify() call bridges this gap. Once a visitor is identified (usually through a form fill), Atribu can trace the entire journey from ad click to payment.

How it works

Automatic identification

In most cases, you do not need to call identify() yourself. Atribu's auto-capture handles it for you:

• Form submissions -- email and phone are extracted from form fields and identify() is called before the lead_submitted event fires
• Booking widgets -- GoHighLevel, Calendly, and Cal.com widget completions extract contact info and call identify() automatically

If your site uses standard HTML forms or supported booking widgets, identification happens without any extra code.

Manual identification

For custom forms, login flows, or other scenarios where auto-capture does not apply, call identify() directly.

document.querySelector("#my-form").addEventListener("submit", function () {
  var email = document.querySelector("#email-field").value;
  var name = document.querySelector("#name-field").value;

  window.atribuTracker.identify({
    email: email,
    firstName: name.split(" ")[0],
    lastName: name.split(" ").slice(1).join(" "),
  });
});

async function onLoginSuccess(user) {
  window.atribuTracker.identify({
    email: user.email,
    firstName: user.firstName,
    lastName: user.lastName,
    userId: user.id,
  });
}

window.atribuTracker.identify({
  phone: "+1-555-123-4567",
  firstName: "Jane",
});

Accepted fields

Identity priority

When matching visitors to customer profiles, Atribu uses this priority order:

1. Email -- the strongest identifier. If two events share the same email, they are the same person.
2. Phone number -- used when email is not available.
3. External IDs -- provider-specific IDs like Stripe customer IDs or GHL contact IDs.

Atribu normalizes all identifiers before matching (lowercasing emails, stripping phone formatting), so [email protected] and [email protected] are treated as the same person.

Safe to call multiple times

Calling identify() more than once is safe and encouraged. If a visitor fills out a form with their email and later provides their phone number, calling identify() again adds the phone number to the existing profile without overwriting the email.

// First form: email only
window.atribuTracker.identify({ email: "[email protected]" });

// Later: phone number captured from a different form
window.atribuTracker.identify({ phone: "+1-555-123-4567" });

// Both identifiers are now linked to the same customer profile

Next steps