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In this article, you’ll learn: |
Why Does VWO Use Cookies?
VWO uses persistent visitor-level and local storage cookies to understand visitor’s behavior and track visitor journeys on the website to deliver the best experience. The cookies track the variation a visitor views and help serve the same variation to the visitor consistently, track their goals, and determine whether they are part of a campaign, and so on.
VWO uses different cookies, each storing a different set of data. The cookies do not interfere with the loading or functioning of the website.
It helps distinguish one visitor from another. This means no individual or consumer can be tracked or identified by VWO.
Let’s have a look at the different cookies stored by VWO.
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Types |
Description |
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These cookies are created on your visitor’s browser (corresponding to your domain) whenever they land on your website. The VWO SmartCode creates these cookies. To learn more about these cookies, refer to First-party cookies in VWO. |
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These cookies are created on your visitor’s browser (corresponding to your domain) only when cross-domain tracking is enabled. It allows VWO to track your visitors across multiple domains. NOTE: VWO will never store your visitor’s personal information.
To learn more about these cookies, refer to Third-party cookies in VWO. |
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These cookies are only created for VWO account owner/holder (not for website visitors) while previewing or viewing heatmaps. NOTE:
To learn more about these cookies, refer to Cookies created while previewing or viewing heatmaps in VWO.
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First-party Cookies in VWO
The list of First-party cookies is present in the following table.
|
Cookie Name |
Cookie Type |
Purpose |
Duration |
Applicable for Product(s) |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_ goal_{GOALID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a campaign goal is triggered. This cookie, when created, will always have a value of 1 |
100 Days |
Testing, Personalize |
|
_vis_opt_test_cookie |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created to detect if the cookies are enabled on the visitor’s browser or not. It also helps in tracking the number of browser sessions a visitor has gone through. The value of this cookie is always 1 |
Expires on browser close |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_ combi |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor is chosen for a particular variation for a test. This cookie makes sure that visitors see the same variation when they revisit the page in the future. Here the Control has a value of 1, Variation #1 has a value of 2, Variation #2 has a value of 3, and so on |
100 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights (Surveys) |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_ exclude |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor has been excluded from a Test Campaign due to the traffic percentage specifications. The value is always 1 |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights (Surveys) |
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_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID}_ split |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when one of the variations is chosen for the visitor, but the visitor is not yet redirected to the variation page. It exists so that VWO can verify that the variation page corresponds to the chosen variation after landing on the page. The value is >=2 (as 1 corresponds to Control and it’s not created in case the Control is chosen) NOTE: This cookie is created only for Split URL campaigns.
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100 days |
Testing |
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_vis_opt_s |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie tracks session created for a visitor, i.e., the number of times the browser was closed and reopened. The value is >=1, followed by a pipe sign. For example, the value of 2 indicates that the visitor restarted the browser once while 3 means twice |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vis_opt_out |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie indicates that the visitor should not be made part of any campaign. Its value is 1 |
10 years |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vwo_uuid |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie generates a unique id for every visitor and is used for the report segmentation feature in VWO, and it also allows you to view data in a more refined manner |
10 Years |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights, Engage |
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_vwo_uuid_{CAMPAIGNID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created for each cross-domain campaign. It generates a unique id for every visitor and is used for the report segmentation feature in VWO, and it also allows you to view data in a more refined manner |
10 Years |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
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_vwo_ds |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores persistent visitor-level data for VWO Insights |
Depends on the retention period of the account |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vwo_sn |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores session-level information |
30 mins and reset again to 30 mins on visitor activity |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vwo_uuid_v2 |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie calculates unique traffic on a website |
366 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _combi_choose |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the chosen combination. It’s a temporary cookie that gets deleted when the campaign changes are applied |
Persists until campaign changes are applied |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
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_vwo_referrer |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores referral info allowing VWO to identify the original Traffic source in case of the Split URL campaign NOTE: This cookie is created only for Split URL campaigns but can be read by all campaign types.
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15 secs |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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_vwo |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is a jar of all the cookies. It is currently created only for the Safari browser. In the future, it would replace all the cookies. The actual expiry of a cookie doesn’t matter as it stores the expiry of cookies set in it and keeps on expiring them |
Expires in 2096 Years
|
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
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wingify_push_db_status |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscription sync status of the subscriber with VWO Engage’s Server |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_push_subscription _id |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscription ID to uniquely identify the subscriber generated by the browser |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_push_subscription _endpoint |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscription endpoint of the subscription object specific to the browser(Chrome/Firefox) |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
pushcrew_opt_out |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is used for opting-out |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
wingify_push_do_not_show _notification_popup |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the information if the first-step opt-in should show up or not. Valid only for 2 Step Opt-in |
14 Days |
Engage |
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pshcrw_update_subId |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is used for retrying the storage of subscriptions with VWO Engage’s Server. Used only in cases when the server is not reachable due to network issues |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_push_subscription _status |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the information if the visitor is subscribed or unsubscribed to VWO Engage |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_push_subscriber _lang |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscriber's browser language |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_donot_track _actions |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie persists the information that subscriber actions should be tracked |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
wingify_do_not_show _chicklet |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is used to decide if the chicklet for opting to notifications should be shown or not |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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_wingify_pc_uuid |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscriber ID to uniquely identify the subscriber. VWO generates this randomly |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingifyEcomData-* |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is persisted when the subscriber becomes part of Shopify segments created through VWO Engage App |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingify_push_gcm_id |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the FCM ID of the customer to identify which FCM key was used for subscribing |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
wingifyRetrySegment-* |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is persisted when wingifySegment-* cookie cannot be synced with VWO Engage Server |
10000 Days |
Engage |
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wingifySegment-* |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is persisted only when the subscriber is part of a segment that the visitor creates from the VWO Engage App |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
pshcrw_v_k |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the public VAPID Key of the customer to identify which VAPID key was used for subscribing |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
_pc_fb (The Facebook Messenger feature has been deprecated) |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores Facebook messenger-specific information. Page ID, Count of times the messenger opt-in was shown, and the state of FB Messenger subscription is stored |
10000 Days |
Engage |
|
wingify_push_subscriber _id |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the subscriber ID to uniquely identify the subscriber. VWO generates this randomly |
10000 days |
Engage |
|
_vwo_global_opt_out |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is persisted when a visitor opts out of vwo on all websites in a given browser. |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
|
_vwo_ssm |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is used for testing and is created only on sites that use the HTTP protocol. This is used to check if VWO can create cookies on them, post which this cookie is deleted. |
3650 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
Third-party Cookies in VWO
VWO also uses certain third-party cookies for tracking purposes. The list of third-party cookies is present in the following table.
|
Cookie Name |
Cookie Type |
Purpose |
Duration |
Applicable for Product(s) |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _goal_{GOALID}_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a campaign goal is triggered. When created, this cookie always has a value of 1 |
100 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _combi_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor is chosen for a particular variation of a test. It ensures that visitors see the same variation when they revisit the page. Here the Control always has the value of 1, Variation #1 always has the value of 2, Variation #2 has the value of 3, and so on |
100 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _exclude_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor has been excluded from a campaign due to the traffic percentage specifications. The value of this cookie is always 1 |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
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_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _split_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when one of the variations is chosen for the visitor, but the visitor is not yet redirected to the variation page. Using this, VWO verifies that the variation page corresponds to the chosen variation after landing on the page. The value will always be >=2 as it won’t be created in case the control is chosen |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
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_vwo_uuid_{CAMPAIGNID} _{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created for each cross-domain campaign. It generates a unique id for every visitor and is used for the report segmentation feature in VWO. It also allows you to view data in a refined manner |
10 Years |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _combi_choose_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the chosen combination. It’s a temporary cookie that gets deleted when the campaign changes are applied |
Persists until campaign changes are applied |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
_vwo_global_opt_out |
Strictly Necessary Cookies
|
This cookie is persisted when a visitor opts out of vwo on all websites in a given browser. |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
Cookies Created While Previewing or Viewing Heatmaps
The list of cookies created while previewing or viewing heatmaps is present in the following table.
|
Cookie Name |
Cookie Type |
Purpose |
Duration |
Applicable for Product(s) |
|
debug_vis_opt_exp_ {CAMPAIGNID}_goal _{GOALID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a Test Campaign goal is triggered. This cookie, when created, will always have a value of 1 |
100 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
debug_vis_opt_test _cookie |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created to detect if the cookies are enabled on the visitor's browser or not. It also helps in tracking the number of browser sessions a visitor has gone through. The value of this cookie is always 1 |
Expires on session expiration |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, |
|
debug_vis_preview_{ACCOUNTID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is generated when you switch variations in preview mode |
Expires on session expiration |
Testing, Deploy, and Personalize |
|
debug_vis_opt_exp _{CAMPAIGNID}_combi |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor is chosen for a particular variation for a test. This cookie ensures that visitors see the same variation when they revisit the page in the future. Here the Control always has the value of 1, Variation #1 always has the value of 2, and Variation #2 has a value of 3, and so on |
100 Days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights (Surveys) |
|
debug_vis_opt_exp_ {CAMPAIGNID}_exclude |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when a visitor has been excluded from a Test Campaign due to the traffic percentage specifications. The value is always 1 |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, |
|
debug_vis_opt_exp_ {CAMPAIGNID}_split |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie is created when one of the variations is chosen for the visitor, but the visitor is not yet redirected to the variation page. It exists so that VWO can verify that the variation page corresponds to the chosen variation after landing on the page. The value is >=2. As 1 corresponds to control and it’s not created if control is chosen |
100 days |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
|
debug_vwo_uuid |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie generates a unique id for every visitor and is used for the report segmentation feature in VWO, and it also allows you to view data in a more refined manner |
10 Years |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, |
|
debug_vwo_ds |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores persistent visitor-level data for VWO Insights |
Depends on the retention period of the account |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, |
|
debug_vwo_sn |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores session-level information |
30 mins and reset again to 30 mins on visitor activity |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
|
_vis_opt_exp_{CAMPAIGNID} _combi_choose_{ACCID} |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores the chosen combination. It’s a temporary cookie that gets deleted when the campaign changes are applied |
Persists until campaign changes are applied |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, Insights |
|
debug_vwo_referrer |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie stores referral info allowing VWO to identify the original Traffic source in case of the Split URL campaign |
15 secs |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize, |
|
debug_vis_opt_variation _page |
Strictly Necessary Cookies |
This cookie persists the selection by the person using previews |
Expires on session expiration |
Testing, Deploy, Personalize |
* represents the segment id, which is created for every e-commerce segment event. This is an internal ID and could be any number.
CAMPAIGNID: This refers to the ID of your campaign (also known as the Test ID).
GOALID: This refers to the goal ID in your campaign.