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Building multidimensional customer segments with segment filters

Real-time customer segmentation with the BlueConic CDPSegments are at the core of how you use BlueConic to unify, collect, store, and activate customer data. With segment filters you can shape how your multidimensional customer segments are defined and used.

BlueConic uses filtering to determine which customers or visitors belong to a segment. BlueConic segment filters come in three varieties: Text filters, Range filters, and Date filters. The option available depends on the profile property you are filtering.

  • Text filters contain one or more selectable options. The selectable options that appear in text filters are retrieved from all the profiles that have a value for the specified profile property.
  • Range filters allow you to specify a numerical range to match visitors who belong to a segment. For example, you can create a segment of all visitors who have between 10 and 20 page views.
  • Date filters allow you to define a time period within which website visitors have performed some action. For example, you can specify that a visitor belongs to a segment if their last visit was between January 1, 2023 and April 30, 2023.

Your Customer Success Manager may have added custom filters to BlueConic; these filters are not covered in the description below. If you have questions about a custom filter, contact your Customer Success Manager.

For basic information on using segmentation with BlueConic, see Creating dynamic customer segments.

The sections below dive into more detail for each type.


Defining customer segments using Text filters

A text filter allows you assign profiles to a segment based on whether they have or don't have a value or values for a specific profile property. You can select from a list of existing profile properties values (which are present in one or more visitor profiles), or you can add a new profile property value that you expect to present in one or more properties in the future.

When you select a profile property of type "Text" in the Segment Filter overview, the text filter appears at the right-hand side of the page. The filter displays values that have been retrieved from that profile property in all visitor profiles. Select the values that you want your segment to filter on. Once you save the segment, all current and future visitors whose profile property matches the values you selected in the filter will automatically belong to the segment.

For example:
Real-time dynamic customer segmentation with the BlueConic CDP
The profile property "Favorite Sport" is of the type "Text", so a text filter is displayed when you click it. You see values gathered from visitor profiles and the number of profiles that contain each value. The list shows the 1000 values that occur most. In the example above "nba" and "golf" are selected. You can also filter by another value by clicking "Filter by another value" and entering its name (lowercase only).

Note that in some cases where data is unavailable, BlueConic pre-populates obvious choices for certain filters (for example: "high," "medium," and "low" for Engagement).

When there are multiple values, you can select multiple values (up to 40) at once, or only a few.

Using text filter operators

Text filters have operators that you can use to define whether or the selected values should be included or excluded, and the relationship between the selected values. By default BlueConic uses "contains any of." Select the word "contains" to open a selection menu with other options:

How do I shape the definition of multidimensional customer segments in the BlueConic CDP?

Select the option you prefer:

  • contains any of: In order to match, profiles must contain any value you selected in the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" contains "nba" or "golf" or both would match.
  • does not contain any of: In order to match, profiles must not contain any of the values you selected in the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" does not contain either "nba" or "golf" would match.
  • must be empty: In order to match, profiles must not have a value for the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" is empty would match.
  • must not be empty: In order to match, profiles must have a value for the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" has any value would match.
  • contains all: In order to match, profiles must contain all values for the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" contains both "nba" and "golf" would match.
  • does not contain all: In order to match, profiles must not contain all values for the profile property. In the previous example: profiles where "Favorite Sport" does not contain both "nba" and "golf" at the same time would match.



Defining customer segments using Range filters

A Range filter allows you to segment profiles based on having profile property values that fall within or outside a numerical range. Click on a numeric profile property in a segment and a Range filter will open on the right-hand side. For example, the profile property "Visits" is of type numeric. (See Profile properties for information on profile property data types.) Clicking on a numeric profile property shows something like this:

Customer segment filtering and dynamic range filtering with the BlueConic CDP

In the Range filter, you can define the following:

  • Minimum and maximum values for the profile property
  • Range value must be empty
  • Range value must not be empty

Minimum and maximum values: Enter the minimum value in the left input field and the maximum value in the right input field. If you leave a value blank, it is undefined, which means that there is no minimum and/or maximum value. The implications of leaving a value undefined are shown below:

Value Description
Minimum undefined All profiles with a value up to and including the maximum will be part of the segment.

Maximum undefined All profiles with a value higher than and including the minimum will be part of the segment.

Minimum and maximum undefined All profiles will be part of the segment.
Tip: To add all profiles that have a value for the numeric profile property to a segment, use the Profile Property Has Value Range filter. This will only include profiles that have a value for a profile property without the need to specify a certain range.

Must be empty: In order to match, profiles must not have a value for the profile property.

Must not be empty: In order to match, profiles must have a value for the profile property.

Negating the range

The range selection can be negated by clicking the word "in range" in the sentence "Number in range". The sentence will change to "Number not in range" and the filter will update accordingly. To switch back, click the words "not in".

Range filter graph

A line graph shows the distribution of the values taken from the profile property over all profiles. On the horizontal axis the values are shown. On the vertical axis, the number of profiles with that value is shown.

The values of the minimum and maximum value fields (i.e. the actual range) are reflected in a highlighted area in the graph.

Zooming in and out of a Range filter graph

You can zoom in on a Range filter in order to more clearly view selected parts of it. The zoom in/zoom out scale appears below the horizontal axis. On the far left and far right parts of the zoom in/zoom out scale there are sliders that you can drag left and right to zoom in.

When you zoom in on a portion of the line graph, the entire graph changes to accommodate the range you select. The minimum and maximum values of the horizontal and vertical axes and the graph itself scale to fit the available screen property.

 


Defining customer segments using Date filters

A Date filter allows you segment profiles based on having profile property values that fall within a date range.

How do I use date filters in multidimensional customer segmentation definitions and cdp customer segmentation in BlueConic?

You can set a date filter using the following options:

Time Period Description

Date in range / Date not in range

 

Use these settings to indicate if the date has to be in or not in the date range.

Date must be empty / Date must not
be empty

Use these settings to indicate if the date must be empty or not empty.

Period (enter start and end date) Select a start and end date from a calendar in order to define a specific time period. Leave the start date empty to signify "all values before the end date." Leave the end date empty to signify "all values after the start date." If both the start date and end date are empty, it means "all values."

Last x days Enter a value in a numeric field to define a specific number of days preceding the current date. If you enter "0" (zero), all values are counted from today starting at midnight (0:00). If you enter "1," that means all values from yesterday and today. Entering "2" would count all values from 2 days ago up to the present moment, etc.

Next x days Use this setting to define a specific number of days following the current date. If you enter "0" (zero), it presents all values from today. If you enter "1," that means all values from today and tomorrow. Entering "2" selects all values from the present moment up to 2 days in the future, etc.

All profiles with a profile property having a date that falls within the specified time period belong to the segment. For example, if the profile property is "Last Visited Date" and the date range is in "Last 30 days," then all customers or visitors who have visited your channels within the last 30 days belong to the segment. If you enter "0" (zero) in the "Last x days" field, all values from today starting at midnight (0:00) are included. If you enter "1," all values from yesterday and today are included. If you enter "2" all values from 2 days ago up to the present moment are included, and so on.

Date filter graph

For Date filters, a line graph that shows the distribution of the values taken from the profile property is shown on the right-hand side. On the horizontal axis, the minimum/maximum date is shown. On the vertical axis, the number of profiles is shown. If you hover your mouse over a value in the line graph, a pop-up window appears that displays the value and how many profiles contain that date.

If you change the period configuration, a highlighted area appears in the graph, reflecting your date selection:

How do I use the date filter to create dynamic, time-based, multidimensional customer segments in BlueConic?

Zooming in and out of a Date filter graph

You can zoom in on a Date filter in order to more clearly view selected parts of it. The zoom in/zoom out scale appears below the horizontal axis. On the far left and far right parts of the zoom in/zoom out scale there are sliders that you can drag left and right to zoom in.

When you zoom in on a portion of the graph, the main graph changes to show the date range you select. The minimum and maximum values of the horizontal and vertical axes in the main graph change according to the values appearing in the area you zoom in to.

 

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