How to Use Custom Data Sets for Web Experiences

The Custom Data Sets connection allows you to utilize the power of Web Experience’s advanced segmentation features using your own custom target data.

In many cases, you will know specific information about the users visiting your website such as what products they have purchased, who the sales rep is on the account, or even the date they were last sold a specific product. By creating a Custom Data Set within Web Experiences, you can leverage this data to provide each customer with an even greater personalized experience based on your business needs and goals.

This guide will get you started creating and utilizing Custom Data Sets.

Configuring Custom Data Sets

Enable Custom Data Sets

To enable Custom Data Sets on your website, you will want to install the Custom Data Sets connection:

1. Click CONNECTIONS in the left hand menu to bring up the connections library.
2. Find the Custom Data Sets connection icon and hover over it. If this is your first time configuring the connection, you will see a green INSTALL button appear. If you are simply editing your configuration, you will see a gray CONFIGURE button appear. Select either Install or Configure to open the connection configuration screen.
3. When the configuration screen opens, give your connection a name and then create a new Custom Data Set by following the steps below:

• Click the +NEW CUSTOM DATA SET button to activate the Create New Custom Data Set modal window.

• Provide a name and a brief description of your new Custom Data Set.
• Select a key type. The key type will provide the Web Experiences tool with the information needed to link the visitor on your website to the data set within WebExp. In this case, select FIRST PARTY COOKIE.
• Provide the cookie name. Web Experiences will look for a cookie on your website using the cookie name. Using the value within the cookie, Web Experiences will identify the user within your Custom Data Set.
• Define the schema of your Custom Data Set by adding and identifying the properties of each data field in your data set. Note: once you define your schema within the platform, you will not be able to modify it.
  • Every field has three properties:
    • Key: this will be the field that Web Experiences will search through using the data provided by the cookie as defined in the key type and cookie name fields. There can be only one key per Custom Data Set schema definition.
    • Field Name: this will be the name of the field. This name must exactly match the header column in your CSV or the properties associated within your JSON file.
    • Field Type: this will define the format of each field. There are four possible formats to best fit your Custom Data Set values:
      • String: 255 character limit.
      • Text: 2000 character limit.
      • Float: any numeric value.
      • Timestamp: a date and timestamp format. Web Experiences will try to parse timestamps of various formats, but our recommended format is: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS
  • Define your schema by adding new fields (by pressing the NEW DATA FIELD button).
  • If you need to remove a field, click the trash bin iconnext to the field.
  • Review and double check each field of your data set to ensure the key is correct, each field name is properly defined, and the field types are correctly associated with the data type you will be providing.
  • Double check the fields again, just to be safe.
• When you are ready to define your new Custom Data Set, click on the orange CREATE NEW DATA SET button.
• If successful, the modal window will close and you will see a green success message appear on the screen. If you see a red error message, please double check all fields are defined and properly formatted and try again.
• Congratulations, you have defined your first Custom Data Set!

Upload Data to Your Custom Data Set

After you create a Custom Data Set, you are now ready to start uploading your custom data into the Web Experiences tool. This can be accomplished by uploading a CSV or JSON formatted file within the platform.

To upload data within the Web Experiences Admin:

1. Click the upload iconfor your Custom Data Set to open the Upload Data modal window.

2. Choose a JSON or CSV file to upload
3. If you have existing records and you want to append new records, select Add from the ADD OR UPDATE DATA dropdown. If you want to remove all existing records before you upload the new records, set the EMPTY TABLE BEFORE IMPORT toggle to YES.
4. If you have existing records and you want to update them, select Update from the ADD OR UPDATE DATA dropdown to modify those existing records with the updates to relevant fields.
5. Click the orange IMPORT DATA button to begin the process of uploading and importing data. A few important notes:

• • Uploading data takes time. When the upload is complete, the page will refresh and a success or failure notification will be displayed.
  • The maximum file upload size is 5mb. If your file is larger than 5mb, try breaking the file into smaller files and upload each separately. Ensure the Append Data Records setting is set to ON.
  • Web Experiences will match the fields in the data file with the fields defined in your schema. Only fields that match will be imported. Extra fields or fields that do not match will be ignored.
  • If an error occurs, check that the file you uploaded is formatted correctly and all fields required are present.
  • Upon successful upload, a notification will display the number of records successfully imported.

Edit a Custom Data Set

To edit the name, description, or key type, or cookie name:

1. Click the edit iconfor your Custom Data Set to open the Edit Custom Data Set modal window.
2. Edit the fields you want to change.
3. Click the orange UPDATE DATA SET button to save your changes.

Delete a Custom Data Set

To delete a Custom Data Set:

1. Click the delete iconfor your Custom Data Set.
2. Please note you will not be able to retrieve any data once a Custom Data Set is deleted from the system.

View a Custom Data Set

To view the details of your Custom Data Set:

1. Click the view iconfor your Custom Data Set to see the number of records, the schema, and other import information.
2. Hover your mouse over each node in the schema visualization to view your schema structure and definition.

Congratulations, you can now use Custom Data Sets to build Web Experience segments that target visitors using your own custom data!