What Is Merkle?

Merkle is a global performance marketing agency specializing in delivering personalized customer experiences across digital channels. With expertise in data, technology, and analytics, Merkle helps brands drive growth through data-driven marketing strategies, customer relationship management (CRM), and media services. It offers solutions in areas like customer experience management, loyalty programs, and performance marketing.

Product Type: Advertising
Integration Type: Starter Kit & ID Sync
Event Source Type: Web
Event Scope: Full-Funnel Events

Capabilities

MetaRouter Anonymous ID – Passes the MetaRouter-generated anonymous ID for user tracking.
Sends Event Data – Can be mapped to forward various event types, including page views, user interactions, and conversions, to Merkle.
- By default, the starter kit is mapped to the "page" event. Contact your Merkle representative for guidance on mapping additional events.
User Information – Captures details like IP address, user agent, and email (if available) from event data.
Event Metadata – Forwards event details such as timestamps, message IDs, and original event properties.
Enriches Event Data – Adds contextual details like page URL and event properties before sending to Merkle.
Optional Identity Sync – Retrieves the Merkury ID and confidence score, which can be used for additional third-party integrations.

Identity Sync

Sync Available: Yes
Required for Starter Kit: No
Prerequisites: None
Documentation: See Additional Merkle Sync Documentation

Sync Details

The Merkle ID Sync retrieves a unique Merkury user identifier (hmid) and a confidence score for identity resolution.
The hmid is not required for event-based use cases, so the Identity Sync is optional for event tracking.
If accepted by third-party vendors, the hmid and confidence score can be used for additional integrations.

Starter Kit Setup Guide

1. Deploy the Merkle Sync (Optional)

The Merkle sync is optional for event tracking. To collect the sync values (e.g., hmid), you must implement a Merkle ID sync. Refer to the following documentation to complete the setup: Merkle - ID Sync Guide.

2. Gather Credentials

Contact your Merkle representative to obtain your Account ID.

3. Add a Merkle Integration

From the integration library, add a Merkle integration. Then, fill out the Connection Parameters:

Connection Parameter	Description
`ACCOUNT_ID`	Your account ID gathered from your Merkle representative.

4. Configure Event Mapping

MetaRouter provides all of the event mappings that Merkle integrations typically require. You may add custom events, parameters, or mappings in accordance with Merkle's API documentation.

5. Deploy to Pipeline

In the Pipelines tab, add your Merkle integration.
Select the correct integration revision.
Click Add Integration to finalize deployment.

Event Mappings

Global

Global mappings will be applied to all events. If your parameter names do not match the Expected Inputs provided, you will need to overwrite the Inputs provided with your own.

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`anonymousId` Required	String: Unique identifier for a user.	`anonymousId`
`type`	String: Type of event being tracked.	Expression – returns `'viewpage'` when type is `page`, otherwise `input.type`
`userAgent`	String: User agent string from the browser.	`context.userAgent`
`pageUrl`	String: URL of the page being visited.	Expression – returns `properties.url` or `context.page.url`
`ipAddress` Required	String: IP address of the user.	`context.ip`
`rawEmail`	String: Raw email address of the user if available.	`traits.email`
`messageId`	String: Unique identifier for the event.	`messageId`
`event`	String: Name of the event being tracked.	`event`
`originalTimestamp`	Timestamp: Original timestamp of the event.	`originalTimestamp`
`receivedAt`	Timestamp: Timestamp when the event was received.	`receivedAt`
`sentAt`	Timestamp: Timestamp when the event was sent.	`sentAt`
`timestamp`	Timestamp: Main event timestamp.	`timestamp`
`properties`	Object: Event-specific properties.	`properties`
`context.page`	Object: Contextual information about the page.	`context.page`
`context.library`	Object: Metadata about the library used for tracking.	`context.library`
`context.userAgent`	Object: User agent forwarded in the context object.	`context.userAgent`
`context.ip`	Object: IP address forwarded in the context object.	`context.ip`
`context.providers.merkle`	Object: Merkle provider data from the sync (such as `hmid`).	`context.providers.merkle`

Event Specific

Page

Output Key	Description	Expected Input
`event`	String: Indicates that a page has been loaded.	Enrichment – `'Loaded a Page'`

Required & Recommended Identifiers

These identifiers must be mapped to Merkle in order for successful user matching to occur. Without these IDs, any events sent to Merkle may not be accurately reflected in reporting. For your convenience, required and recommended IDs are mapped as Global parameters to ensure they are added to every event.

Attribute	Example	Sync Injector Required?
`anonymousId` Required	`4b0d3f5a-879c-4c8d-a2fa-0a12a1e5e3b4`	No
`ipAddress` Required	`192.168.1.100`	No
`userAgent` Recommended	`Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64)`	No
`rawEmail` Recommended	`[email protected]`	No

Integration Validation

Coordinate with your Merkle representative to confirm that events are being received and processed correctly on their backend.