Setting User Properties

The window.zeotap.setUserProperties() function allows you to send specific user attributes to Zeotap as a dedicated event named set_user_properties. This is useful for capturing and transmitting user-level information that might not be directly tied to a specific page view or action, but is still valuable for understanding the user.

PII Behaviour

PIIs (like cellno, email, loginid) sent via setUserProperties are always hashed by the SDK before being sent to the backend. This behavior is similar to Scenario 3. SDK Perform Hashing of the setUserIdentities function.

Key Characteristics:

Immediate Event: Calling setUserProperties immediately triggers an event with the name set_user_properties.
Non-Persistent: The properties sent via this method are associated with this specific set_user_properties event. They are not automatically persisted in the browser's local storage or cookies by the SDK, nor are they automatically included with subsequent, different events (like page views or custom events triggered by setEventProperties).
Distinct from setUserIdentities: This function is different from setUserIdentities, which is used for establishing and persisting core user identifiers. setUserProperties is for sending additional, often more dynamic or contextual, user-level attributes.

Parameters

properties (Object): An object containing key-value pairs representing the user properties.
- Keys should be strings.
- Values can be strings, numbers, or booleans.

Usage Example

Sending user segment and a custom preference

window.zeotap.setUserProperties({
  userSegment: 'loyal_customer',
  communicationPreference: 'email_only',
  lastPurchaseCategory: 'electronics',
  email: 'user@example.com'
});

Verification

Event properties in payload
            "events": [
                {
                "event": {
                    "id": "m9Tva77fUH4ILi3SPBBVn",
                    "eventName": "set_user_properties", //set_user_properties event name,
                    "eventTimestamp": 1745959356443
                },
                "user": {
                    "zs": "xxxxxxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxx-xxxxxxxxxxxx",
                    "zi": "aaaaaaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaa-aaaaaaaaaaaa",
                    "zi_domain": ".zeotap.com",
                    "userSegment": "loyal_customer",
                    "communicationPreference": "email_only",
                    "lastPurchaseCategory": "electronics",
                    "email": {
                        "sha256_lowercase": "sha256_hash_of_user@example.com", // SDK generated
                        "sha256_uppercase": "sha256_hash_of_USER@EXAMPLE.COM", // SDK generated
                        "md5_lowercase": "md5_hash_of_user@example.com",   // SDK generated
                        "md5_uppercase": "md5_hash_of_USER@EXAMPLE.COM",   // SDK generated
                        "sha1_lowercase": "sha1_hash_of_user@example.com",  // SDK generated
                        "sha1_uppercase": "sha1_hash_of_USER@EXAMPLE.COM"   // SDK generated
                    }
                },
                "page": { 
                    "path": "/products",
                    "referrer": "https://test.zeotap.com/",
                    "url": "https://test.zeotap.com/product1"
                },
                "version": "4.4.3"
                }
            ]

To verify that user property setting is working:

Open your browser's Developer Tools (F12 or right-click → Inspect).
Go to the Network tab.
Trigger a page view in your application.
Look for a network POST request sent to https://spl.zeotap.com/fp?.
Check for the request with eventName: set_user_properties.
The payload should contain a user object with the key-value pairs you passed to setUserProperties.
After the setUserProperties call, trigger a different event (e.g., using setEventProperties('another_event', { some_data: 'value' })).
Inspect the network request for this new event.
Verify that the properties sent via setUserProperties are not present in the payload of this subsequent event, confirming their non-persistent nature for other event types.

Use Cases

Capturing User Preferences: Sending user-defined preferences like "newsletter_opt_in: true" or "preferred_language: 'en'".
Demographic Information: Transmitting demographic data like "age_group: '25-34'" or "gender: 'female'" if collected with consent.
User Segmentation Data: Sending segment information derived from your system, e.g., "customer_tier: 'Gold'".
Profile Updates: Updating specific attributes about a user that are not core identifiers.

setUserProperties vs setUserIdentities

Feature	setUserProperties	setUserIdentities
Triggers Event?	Yes, immediately (set_user_properties event)	No, updates internal state
Persistence	Not persisted in browser storage	Persisted in browser storage (session/local/cookie)
Event Association	Sent with its own `set_user_properties` event	Sent with all subsequent events until cleared/updated
Primary Use	Sending specific, non-persistent user attributes	Establishing and maintaining stable user identifiers