How to create and map a Universal Pixel to an audience in illumin


Overview

This article explains how to create a Universal Pixel within illumin and map it to an audience for tracking and activation purposes.

Learn how how to:

  1. Create or open a Universal Pixel tracker.
  2. Map a specific URL.
  3. Map all website pages using a wildcard URL.
  4. Create an audience for each mapping.

Each mapping must have an associated audience to activate targeting and reporting.

Different articles show marketers how to create page event trackers and an Image Pixel.

Best practices

If you’re new to pixels and tracking, here are some best practices.

  1. Create a page-specific audience mapping for one or more key pages (e.g. Home page and a product page) to enhance segmentation, improve reporting, and optimize retargeting.
  2. Create one audience mapping to capture traffic on every website page. 
  3. Create page event code snippets to capture audience activity that does not generate a unique URL (and therefore can’t be captured by a pixel). Snippets are useful for ROAS reporting because revenue and order ID macros cannot be loaded into a URL.

Prerequisites

  1. Access to Library > Trackers.
  2. A website URL.
  3. Decision on whether to map a specific page or all pages.

Open the tracker page

Start by creating a new tracker or opening an existing one

Create a new Universal Pixel tracker
  1. Go to the top menu.
  2. Click the Library link.
  3. Click the Trackers menu option.
  4. Click the New Tracker button.



In the pop-up window:

  1. Enter a unique name.
  2. Select Universal Pixel.
  3. Click the Create button. The Overview page displays.



To open an existing tracker:

  1. Go to the top menu bar.
  2. Click the Library link.
  3. Click the Trackers menu option.
  4. Click a tracker name. The Overview page displays. 

Map a specific page

Create a page-specific mapping
  1. Click the Mapping tab in the left-hand menu.
  2. Click the New button.


Go to the side panel:

  1. Click the URL tile.
  2. Enter a unique mapping name (e.g. Home Page).
  3. Enter the page URL. 
  4. Leave the Action(s) field blank.
  5. Click the Create button.



illumin adds the record to the Mapping table.



Add additional URLs to the same mapping (optional)
  1. Click the plus icon.
  2. Enter an additional URL.
  3. Repeat as needed.

A mapping supports up to three URLs.

Map another single page
  1. Click the New button.
  2. Repeat the steps in Create a page-specific mapping.
Edit a mapping
  1. Locate a mapping row.
  2. Click the three-dot icon.
  3. Select the edit option.

Map all website pages (wildcard mapping)

Wildcard mapping tracks all pages under a root domain.

Create an all-pages mapping
  1. Click the Mapping tab on the left-hand menu. 
  2. Click the New button. 
  3. Click the URL tile.
  4. Enter a unique mapping name (e.g. All pages).
  5. Enter the home page URL.
  6. Add a slash and an asterisk (*). 
  7. Click the Create button. 

The wildcard format tracks all pages under the same root domain.

Create add an audience to mapping

Each mapping requires an audience.

Add an audience to a mapping
  1. Click the Actions tabs on the left-hand menu.
  2. Click the New button. A side panel displays.
  3. Click the Audience tile.
  4. Enter an action name (e.g. Home page).
  5. Click the Mapping field and select an option.

 

Click the Audience field.

  1. Select New Audience. Two fields display. 
  2. Enter an audience name (e.g. the action name).
  3. Click the Create button.

🟪  In most cases, leaving the start and end date fields blank is recommended. If you extend a campaign beyond the original end date and forget to update the End Date field, illumin stops adding data to the audience pool even though your campaign continues.
Add audiences to other mappings

Repeat the steps in Add an audience to a mapping for each mapping record.

Add an audience to all page mapping

Follow the same steps to create an audience for the mapping that captures user data on all website pages.

Results

  1. Go to the Actions page.
  2. Review the table.

The table displays:

  1. Action names
  2. Associated mappings

To modify an action:

  1. Locate the row.
  2. Click the three-dot icon.
  3. Select edit or delete.

FAQs

What does the Universal Pixel do in illumin?

The Universal Pixel tracks website activity and connects page visits to audience records for targeting and measurement. It enables segmentation, retargeting, and performance analysis across campaigns. Marketers use one pixel with multiple mappings instead of deploying separate pixels for each page.

How does page-specific URL mapping improve audience segmentation?

Page-specific URL mapping isolates traffic from key pages to create focused audiences. This approach improves reporting clarity and retargeting precision. Marketers often map pages such as the Home page or product pages to analyze intent and optimize downstream media decisions.

What is wildcard URL mapping and when should marketers use it?

Wildcard URL mapping captures visits across an entire domain using an asterisk after the root URL. It supports broad audience creation and baseline measurement. Marketers use this mapping to track all site traffic and compare page-specific performance against total visits.

Why is an audience required for each pixel mapping?

An audience links a pixel mapping to a usable targeting or reporting object. Without an audience, illumin records no actionable data. Each mapping needs an associated audience so marketers can activate, analyze, and retarget users based on that behavior.

Why does an audience stop populating after a campaign extension?

An audience stops populating when an end date remains set after a campaign extension. The platform respects the audience date range even if media delivery continues. Marketers avoid this issue by leaving start and end dates blank unless a fixed collection window is required.

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