LeafprintComparison guide
Person-level vs. company-level visitor identification
Both try to answer who is on your site, but at different levels of detail. The right choice depends on who you sell to and how much risk you are ready to manage.
| Person-level | Company-level | |
|---|---|---|
| What it shows | A possible individual | The business behind a visit |
| Typical method | Pixel plus identity graph | Reverse IP lookup and firmographic data |
| Best fit | Consumer retail and B2B follow-up research | B2B sales and account marketing |
| Main weakness | Uncertain matches | No individual, weak outside office networks |
| Privacy exposure | Higher, since it concerns individuals | Lower, though still worth review |
How company-level identification works
When a visit comes from a network registered to a business, a lookup can connect it to that organization. Add firmographic data, such as industry and size, and a sales team gets a useful prompt: this company looked at our pricing page. It will not tell you who at the company was reading, and it has grown less complete as more people work from home.
How person-level identification works
A pixel gathers signals from the visit and compares them to a graph of identity data from providers. If there is a likely match, the visit may be tied to a profile with a name, contact details, and sometimes a job title. This reaches consumers, who rarely browse from a business network, which is why retail teams tend to care about it.
Which one do you need?
Selling to consumers. Company data is close to useless for a dispensary, because shoppers browse from home or on a phone. Person-level data is what can show who is interested, along with the responsibility that comes with it.
Selling to businesses. A cannabis brand, distributor, or vendor can get a lot from company-level data, since one interested retail group may justify a sales call. Person-level matches can add context about who to speak with.
Doing both. Many businesses have a retail side and a wholesale side. Leafprint shows people in Visitor Data and businesses in Company ID, and companies only appear once your pixel records visits from business networks.
Accuracy and coverage
Vendors in both groups publish wide-ranging figures, and they often measure different things. A company match rate says nothing about individuals, and a rate limited to one country or to business traffic will not apply to everyone. Ask how each figure was calculated. Then measure on your own site by checking results against accounts and customers you already know.
Privacy differences
Person-level data concerns identifiable individuals, so it generally carries more exposure under privacy laws. Disclosure, opt-outs, deletion handling, and limits on staff access all matter more. Company-level data is often treated as lower risk, but it can still include personal details such as IP addresses, so do not exclude it from review. Ask counsel what applies to you.
Neither type creates permission to market to anyone. Email and text rules still apply to the people you contact, and a matched phone number is not SMS consent.
Questions to ask before buying
- Does the tool separate people and companies clearly in its reporting?
- Which regions does each level cover?
- How do you charge for each kind of result?
- What happens when a visitor asks to opt out?
Our vendor evaluation guide has the complete list, and our identity resolution guide covers the fundamentals.
Who at your company should see it
Limit access to match the sensitivity. Sales may need company names, while far fewer staff need to see an individual's profile.
A cannabis example
Picture a company with one brand site serving two audiences. Budtenders and shoppers read product pages, while dispensary buyers read the wholesale section. Company-level results might show that a retail group spent time on wholesale pricing, which gives a rep a sensible reason to follow up through normal channels. Person-level results on the consumer pages might show that visitors from a certain source are mostly outside any market where the brand sells, which is a reason to change the campaign. Neither finding requires messaging a single consumer. The two levels answer different questions, and the same site can benefit from both.
Before you act, check the rules that apply in each state where you operate, since advertising limits can differ even where a product is legal.
The takeaway
Start from your customer. If you sell to shoppers, you will be looking at people, so plan for the privacy work that follows. If you sell to businesses, begin with companies and add person-level detail where it helps your sales team. Whichever you pick, judge it on the decisions it changes, not on how many records it produces.
See it on your own traffic
We will walk through the portal, the pixel, and how consent works, then answer questions about your stores and systems.