Location Detection
Configure location detection and use geolocation IP lookup to gather and store location data.
When a click or open event is processed, PostUp performs a geolocation IP lookup on the recipient’s IP address. Event and location data is stored with the option to overwrite or use Smart Merge to update to the latest known values.
This data is stored in the following location data fields:
- City
- State
- Postal Code
- Country
Configuration
You can choose one of three options for managing the geolocation IP lookup data (Location Detection options for each site in the Settings tab.)
- None - we don't look up location data upon open or click. No data is saved.
- Overwrite - we overwrite the Recips location fields with the new lookup data every time we perform a lookup (on clicks or opens).
- Smart Merge - we merge the location lookup data into the existing recipient’s location fields without overwriting any user specified location data.
Smart Merge Scenarios
Data you enter or import is not overwritten by the Smart Merge Location Detection process.
-
If the IP lookup data matches existing user input data, any missing data will be added.
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If the IP lookup data does not match pre-existing data supplied by the end user, no updates will be made.
-
Data supplied by a previous IP lookup can be updated by additional IP lookups.
The following examples illustrate different outcomes for Smart Merge based on data input.
Scenario 1
You specified the state and country for a recipient but left city and postal code empty.
The lookup results match what you specified at the lowest levels of detail (state and country).
Since these are in agreement, Smart Merge will populate the higher level of details (city and postal code) and mark those fields as set by the lookup.
| Stored Location | Geo IP Lookup | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | 78672 | |
| Austin | Austin | |
| TX | TX | TX |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 2
You specified the country for a recipient but the state was previously populated by a geolocation IP lookup. The postal code and city are empty.
The lookup results match what you specified at the lowest level of detail (country) but do not match the previous lookup data.
The smart merge results show that all of the new lookup data is recorded since the country matches what you specified and the previous state value was set by a lookup.
The country is not marked as set by the lookup as it is user input data.
| Stored Location | Geo IP Lookup | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | 78672 | |
| Austin | Austin | |
| AK | TX | TX |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 3
You specified the country and city for a recipient. The state was previously populated by a geolocation IP lookup.
The lookup results match what you specified at the lowest level of detail (country) but do not match the highest level (city).
Since the new IP lookup of the city does not match the user data, Smart Merge will not update any of the lookup fields. We leave the previously populated geolocation IP lookup flagged as such.
| Stored Location | Geo IP Lookup | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | ||
| Little Rock | Austin | Little Rock |
| AK | TX | AK |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 4
None of the stored fields were set by a lookup.
The lookup results do not match the highest level level of detail (city).
Smart Merge cannot take the lookup result for postal code since the cities do not match.
| Stored Location | Geo IP Lookup | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | ||
| Houston | Austin | Houston |
| TX | TX | TX |
| USA | USA | USA |
Importing with Smart Merge activated
When an import is performed, the new, imported data takes precedence over any geolocation lookup results.
If the data being imported by the end user matches what the Location Detection returned, the geolocation IP data will remain.
If the data contained in the import file does not match what was supplied by geolocation lookup, any fields not being imported will be cleared out of the lookup data.
If the import has an empty value where a previous smart merge populated it, we don't overwrite with an empty value as long as the lower detail levels align.
The following examples illustrate different outcomes for Smart Merge based on data input.
Scenario 1
The data provided by the import matches the data pulled in by IP lookup.
All data is kept, but the data is no longer marked with the lookup flag.
| Stored Location | Import | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| Little Rock | Little Rock | |
| AK | AK | AK |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 2
The data provided by the import does not match the data identified by geolocation IP lookup.
The data provided by the import does not match the previous user input data.
The lookup data is removed.
The user input data is updated.
| Stored Location | Import | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | ||
| Austin | ||
| TX | AK | AK |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 3
The import includes every location field.
Smart merge overwrites all data and flags it as user input data.
| Stored Location | Import | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| 78672 | 78672 | |
| Houston | Austin | Austin |
| TX | TX | TX |
| USA | USA | USA |
Scenario 4
The import includes the country and state locations.
The existing data matches what is included in the import and the city field has data with an IP lookup state.
Smart Merge keeps the Location Detection value for city and the city lookup flag remains.
| Stored Location | Import | Smart Merge Result |
|---|---|---|
| Houston | Houston | |
| TX | TX | TX |
| USA | USA | USA |