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Attributes are the foundation of your implementation and are used to help you understand your customers' behavior and interaction with your brand. Attributes define data associated to the properties of a visitor, the characteristics of a visitor's session, and any event data collected in real-time. Common examples of attributes include Email Address, Member ID, Product Category, Date of Last Visit, and Active Browser.
This article provides an overview of how attributes are used and steps to add, duplicate, or remove an attribute.
In this article:
Attributes are the building blocks of your solution. They define the data that flows from your sources of data through to your vendor integrations. They are used in rule definitions, audience creation, and connector settings. Attributes have the following properties, which are set when you define them: Scope, Data Type, Enrichment, and Rule.
Scope refers to how long an attribute persists in real-time.
The following table lists supported scopes:
Scope | Description / Examples | Uses |
---|---|---|
Event |
Attributes associated with individual events that describe the page, content, and real-time actions being taken by a customer. Examples: Page Name, Product Price, Event Name, Order Total, etc. |
Attribute Sources Event attributes are sourced from the following values:
|
Visit |
Attributes about a particular visit (or session). Data persists for the length of the visit. Examples: Visit Duration, Browser Used, Referring URL, and Carted Products. |
These attributes represent visitor activity from the current session on a single device. Visit attributes persist for the length of the session. See Session Length for more detail. |
Visitor |
Attributes about a particular visitor across all visits. Examples: Email Address, Member ID, Lifetime Order Total, and Category Views. |
This data follows a visitor from session to session and across different devices. Visitor data persists even after the current visit ends. |
Omnichannel |
For importing offline data via the Omnichannel service. This scope does not require a data type. |
Omnichannel attributes are defined when you define your file imports. |
In AudienceStream, session length is set based on the platform of the events:
The platform is based on the reserved attribute named platform
according to the following values:
platform
is set to web
or not set.android|ios|win|bb10|native_mobile
.To customize the session length set the data layer variable _dc_ttl_
to a value in milliseconds on the first event of a session. The session length cannot be changed once the session has commenced. The following example sets the session length to 30 minutes (180000 milliseconds):
"_dc_ttl_": 1800000
Attributes come in a variety of types, from a basic number to the more powerful tally and badge. The data type determines the format in which the attribute value is stored.
The following data types are supported:
Data Type | Description |
---|---|
Number | Stores numerical values such as order total, lifetime event count, or number of days since last visit. |
String | Stores text values such as first/last name, address, favorite product, and page name. |
Boolean | Stores only one of two values: 'true' and 'false'. Boolean can be used for indicating the status of a visitor action or visit. |
Array of Numbers | Stores multiple numeric values as an array. The array may contain unique or duplicate numeric values. |
Array of Strings | Stores multiple string values as an array. The array may contain unique or duplicate string values. |
Array of Booleans | Stores multiple Boolean (true/false) values as an array. The array may contain unique or duplicate Boolean values. |
Tally | Stores one or more key-value pairs. |
Set of Strings | Stores a collection of unique string values as a Set. |
Date | Stores the date of an event, a visitor event, or particular visit. |
Funnel | Tracks the status of every step in a multi-step event, such as payment funnel and registration. |
Timeline | Records all occurrences of a visitor action within a time range. |
Badge | Assigns a visual mark or symbol to visitors who meet certain criteria or browsing behavior. |
Visitor ID | Stores visitor's unique traits as their secondary identifier. |
This matrix shows which data types are available for each scope.
Data Type | Event Scope | Visit Scope | Visitor Scope |
---|---|---|---|
Number | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
String | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Boolean | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Array of Numbers | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Array of Strings | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Array of Booleans | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Tally | ✔ | ✔ | |
Set of Strings | ✔ | ✔ | |
Date | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Funnel | ✔ | ✔ | |
Timeline | ✔ | ✔ | |
Badge | ✔ | ||
Visitor ID | ✔ |
Most attributes for EventStream and AudienceStream have storage capacity limits and specific behaviors for when those limits are exceeded. Note that the entire visitor profile has a limit of 400K compressed.
*No limits, but the attribute is still limited by the maximum size of the profile after encryption and compression.
Attribute | Storage Capacity Limits | Exceeded Limit Behavior |
---|---|---|
Strings | 1,500 characters | Strings are truncated to 1,500 characters if they are longer than the limit. |
Arrays of any type |
No limits* |
|
Dates |
Min: “-292275055-05-16T16:47:04.192Z” Max: “+292278994-08-17T07:12:55.807Z” |
|
Numbers | Represented with java.lang.Number, which has dynamic precision. |
Attribute | Storage Capacity Limits | Exceeded Limit Behavior |
---|---|---|
Strings | 1,000 characters | If an enrichment results in a string larger than 1,000 characters, the value wil not be saved. |
Timelines | 100 entries |
Earliest entries are discarded when the limit is reached (First-In, First-Out). For example, the 101th entry will be added to the timeline and the 1st entry will be deleted when a timeline has 100 entries. |
Tallies | No limits* | |
Arrays of any type | No limits* | |
Set of Strings | No limits* | |
Dates |
Min: “-292275055-05-16T16:47:04.192Z” Max: “+292278994-08-17T07:12:55.807Z” |
|
Numbers | No limits* | |
Funnel | No limits* |
An enrichment is the use of custom logic to transform an attribute from a static value to a dynamic one. This is used to create new data values or modify incoming data. Pre-built enrichments are available for each data type. For example, the ability to increment or decrement a numeric value is available to number attributes. (Learn more)
A rule provides additional logic for the purpose of triggering an enrichment.
Creating a new rule through the enrichments dialog box automatically applies it to the enrichment.
This property is used to identify attributes that contain data that should not be sent out of the system, such as third-party Connectors or DataAccess. Learn more about Restricted Data.
From the left navigation bar, go to AudienceStream > Visitor / Visit Attributes to view your attributes. You can optionally filter your view by clicking on any the available options on the left. Click the desired attribute to view the details.
Use the following steps to add an attribute:
In AudienceDB, you can use any ASCII character for an attribute name other than double quotes. For EventDB, you are limited to ASCII characters 0 through 127, excluding double quotes.
The name of an event attribute must match the name of the variable implemented.
Use the following steps to add an enrichment:
An imported attribute is a variable that was originally created in the corresponding Tealium iQ profile. These variables are automatically detected and pulled in as event-scoped attributes. When you modify a variable in Tealium iQ (and publish), the changes are instantly applied to the matching attribute in EventStream.
Imported attributes are not editable. You must use Tealium iQ to manage them.
Use the following steps to edit an attribute:
Use the following steps to duplicate an attribute:
Use the following steps to delete (or remove) an attribute:
If the attribute you attempt to delete is currently in use by a rule, enrichment, or an audience, the action will be prevented by not displaying the trash icon. A message displays that instructing you to remove the dependent element and retry.
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