Targeting Visitors Using Attributes List in VWO

Concept of Attributes List in VWO

When it comes to targeting a campaign for a specific cohort using their unique attribute values, such as a cookie or a JS variable, or even the attributes from a third-party application integrated with your VWO account, Attributes Lists will be your easy way to go. This is more beneficial when you’re a marketer/product manager because all of this can be done without depending on your engineering team.

For example, to target all subscribers whose renewals are due in the current month, create a list of cookies for each subscriber you’ve identified, upload it to VWO, and use it as a targeting condition for your campaign. This is what the Attributes List in VWO does for you.

To better understand this, let’s look at how the VWO team uses the Attributes List feature to target specific campaigns.

John, a marketer at VWO, wishes to target a particular campaign to all the premium users of VWO. Let's assume there were 100K visitors; all of those would have a unique cookie value in the user_id cookie. Let's look at the different possibilities for which John might want to leverage VWO.

One way is to get in touch with his engineering team to get the list of every user ID that qualifies as a premium user. It is achieved by generating a cookie for people who match the user id in the list, which is then used by VWO for targeting. 

To do this, John navigates to Custom Segment > Cookie value and defines the targeting condition as "Cookie Value is not Blank".

Another way to achieve this is by using the Attributes List feature to upload this list of user ids to VWO. This feature requires you to create a list (.csv or.txt) with the 100k user ids, upload it to VWO, and use it as a campaign targeting condition. All this, without the support from the engineering team. It’s that simple.

To learn about the format of the list, refer to Attributes List Format.

Some Use-cases Where an Attributes List Would Come in Handy

Let's look at some of the cases before we jump on how to use this feature:

• Targeting your loyal customers with a special checkout flow - let’s say you want to target a VWO campaign to a segment of users within your loyal customer pool. You’d need to put their cookie value or any other identifier in a list and upload it in the VWO. This will ensure that the specific campaign is targeted to only those users whose identifier was part of the list 
• Targeting a campaign to a specific audience defined in an external SaaS product; let’s say your CRM or support software - similar to the previous example, you’d simply need to put together a list of user identifiers and upload in the VWO app 

Want to learn about the technical aspects of this feature? Refer to Technical Aspects of the Attributes List in VWO.

Working with Attributes List in VWO

The Attributes List page features all the Attributes Lists that you have directly uploaded to VWO and the ones that you have pushed from third-party applications integrated with VWO. Besides featuring the Attributes Lists, it also displays the number of lists that you can further add based on your limit.

The lists are displayed in a table with their details in the following columns:

Name - Displays the name and the description of the Attributes List.

Source - Displays the source of creation of the Attributes List.

Workspace - Displays the workspace from which the Attributes List was created.

Added by - Displays the VWO user who created the Attributes List.

Updated on - Displays the date and time at which the Attributes List was last updated.

Let's look at how you can create, test, and use an Attributes List in VWO.

• Creating an Attributes List
  This is the initial step and cannot be ruled out if you wish to use the Attributes List feature in VWO. All you need to do is, create a list with the unique attributes (say cookie values or JavaScript Variable values) of the customers you want to target, save this file in .txt or .csv format, and upload it in VWO.
  In VWO, you can create an Attributes List from the following sections - Targeting Dialog and Account Settings.
  
  NOTE: While creating an Attributes List in VWO, adhere to the Attributes List Format.
• Testing a List Value
  It is always a good practice to test something before actually using it in a live environment. Thus, after you have uploaded the list, you must check for a random value present in your list to ensure everything is in place. To do this, VWO provides you with an interface where you can search for the existence of a random value present on your list. If you see a success message, you are good to use the list in your campaigns. To learn how to do this in VWO, refer to this section.
  
  
• Using the Attributes List in a Campaign
  Once you have created and tested your Attributes List, you are good to use it in any number of campaigns in your workspace. To use an Attributes List in your campaign, select the Enable campaign for a specific visitor group setting while creating a campaign, and using the Custom section, select the Attributes List you created as the targeting condition.
  To learn how to do this in VWO, refer to Using Attributes List as Campaign Targeting Condition.

Have any questions about this feature? Refer to Attributes List FAQs.

Creating an Attributes List in VWO

Consider that you've put together a list of cookie values for specific users and now wish to target these users with a campaign.

Upload an Attributes List Using the Targeting Popup

To create an Attributes List in VWO using the targeting popup, perform the following steps: 

1. To create a new testing campaign, click Create. A new campaign is created.
2. Under the Configuration tab inside the campaign, go to Audience and Traffic > Target Audience > Custom Segment.
3. From the first dropdown, select any criteria. As per our use case, we are selecting Cookie value.
4. In the field next to the first dropdown, enter a cookie name.
   
   NOTE: This field does not appear for all the properties.
5. From the second dropdown, select In List (use Not In List if you want to exclude these users) 
6. In the field next to the second dropdown, click on the + Attributes List option.
7. On clicking the +Attributes List option, the Create an attribute list popup appears.
8. In the dialog, fill these:

• • In the Name field, enter a unique name.
  • In the Description field, enter the description (something that describes your list) for your Attribute List.
  • Using the Upload list option, upload a list.
    
    NOTE: VWO supports .csv, .txt  file types with a max size of 15MB. While creating an Attributes List in VWO, adhere to the Attributes List Format.
  • Since you are not allowed to upload any PII in the list, you must enable the I confirm there is no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the list checkbox.
  • To finalize your attribute list, click CREATE.

Upload an Attributes List Using Account Settings

To create an Attributes List in VWO using Account Settings, perform this: 

Procedure

1. Go to Settings > Accounts > Attributes List. 
2. Click Add Attribute List.
   A dialog to create an Attributes List appears.
3. In the dialog, fill these:

• • In the Name field, enter a unique name.
  • In the Description field, enter the description (something that describes your list) for your Attribute List.
  • Using the Upload list option, upload a list.
    
    NOTE: VWO supports .csv and .txt  file types with a max size of 15 MB. While creating an Attributes List in VWO, adhere to the Attributes List Format.
  • Since you are not allowed to upload any PII in the list, you must enable the I confirm there is no Personally Identifiable Information (PII) in the list checkbox.
  • To finalize your Attribute List, click Create.

Managing the Attributes List

All the Attributes Lists created in your workspace are visible on the Settings page. 

To manage (Edit, Test Value, and Delete) your Attribute List in VWO, go to Settings > Accounts > Attributes List. This UI displays all the Attribute Lists that you have created in the past. Here, you have the option to edit your list, test a list value, and create a new list.

Editing the Attributes List

You can edit the existing Attributes List any number of times. All you need to do is, click on the vertical ellipsis and select the Edit option corresponding to the list you want to edit.

The Edit Attribute List dialog appears. Here, you can modify the name, description, or replace the previously uploaded Attributes List. Once you're done with the changes, click Save to finalize them.

Testing a List Value 

In some of the cases, you might want to double-check if the list you had uploaded previously is correct or not. To do so, go to the Settings > Accounts > Attributes List, click on the vertical ellipsis and select the Test Value option corresponding to the list you want to test.

The Test Attribute List dialog appears. Here, you have the option to enter and verify if a given value is part of this Attributes List or not. All you need to do is, enter the attribute value you want to search in the Check if a given value is part of this Attribute List field, and click Search.

Deleting an Attributes List

To delete an Attributes List, you can select the Delete option from the vertical ellipsis along the corresponding Attributes List entry. In the deletion confirmation popup that appears, click on the Delete button.

Attributes List Format  

There are several best practices while preparing the list: 

• Each new row/line in the file is considered as a unique value.
• Do not upload any Personally Identifiable Information (PII), such as- Email id, Phone number, etc., in the Attributes List.
• Use only .csv and .txt file types for the Attributes List you want to upload.
• You can upload a file with a max size of 15 MB.
• Do not add more than one million records in the Attributes List file. 
• The maximum number of rows allowed is 1 million. VWO would consider only the first million records in cases where the list has more than 1 million rows.
  
  NOTE: If you wish to target more than 1 million (say 2 million) attribute values, we recommend using two Attributes List. You can use these as your campaign targeting conditions using the OR connector.
• Anything in a row, whether it's having a comma or space or any other CSV separator, would be considered a single value.
• Empty values in the list will be skipped.
  
  NOTE: Empty values are considered as not present in the list.

A final list looks like this:

Using the Attributes List in a Campaign

Once you've created an Attributes List in VWO, you can use it as a target condition in your campaigns. To do this, perform this:

Procedure

1. From the panel on the right, go to Testing, and select a testing type.
2. To create a new testing campaign, click Create. A new campaign is created.
3. Under the Configuration tab inside the campaign, go to Audience and Traffic > Target Audience > Custom Segment.
4. From the first dropdown, select any criteria. As per our use case, we are selecting Others > Cookie Value.
5. In the field next to the first dropdown, enter a cookie name.
   
   NOTE: This field does not appear for all the properties.
6. From the second dropdown, select In List (use Not In List if you want to exclude these users) 
7. In the field next to it, choose any previously created Attributes List.