Custom attributes in Data Activation let you enrich customer profiles with data that’s unique to your business. They go beyond standard tracking and allow you to bring in information that reflects your own business logic. With this extra context, you can build more precise audiences and run personalized activation campaigns.

Examples of custom attributes:

• Customer scores
• Product preferences and interests
• Subscription tier classifications
• Customer segments (for example, RFM analysis)
• Engagement and behavioral scores

You can create and manage custom attributes directly in the Data Activation interface or programmatically using the API. For setup details, see Add or edit a custom attribute.

How custom attributes get data

There are two main ways to populate custom attributes:

1. Data import from external systems

Use webhook imports or the update profile API to bring in data from your CRM, marketing tools, or customer database. For details, see the data import documentation.

2. Reusing existing profile data

You can also create custom attributes from data that’s already collected, but with different aggregation methods. Two common scenarios are:

Enhanced data collection: Capture more than the defaults. For example, instead of only saving the first and last device a user used, you can create a custom attribute “All device types” and store every device with “Unique List” aggregation.

Custom data collection: Collect data that is not saved by default. For instance, you can create a custom attribute to track all search keywords used by a user, as Data Activation does not collect this information by default.

Event data keys

All data entering Data Activation comes in JSON-like key–value pairs. The keys are called event data keys and point to specific values. Each profile attribute, predefined or custom, is tied to one event data key and one aggregation method.

There are two types of event data keys:

Analytics keys: Data originating from the Analytics module includes the analytics. prefix (for example, analytics.event_url). See the full list here.

Import keys: You can name this data imported through data import freely. By default, when you create a new attribute, the suggested key matches its slug.

Q&A

What is the difference between custom variables, custom dimensions and custom attributes?

All three let you bring your business data into the platform, but they have different characteristics and use cases.

When to use each?

Use custom attribute to import external data and better target users for personalization and activation.

Use custom dimension if you want to segment visitors in reports and target users with actions for personalization and activation.

Use custom variable to segment visitors in reports and set multiple values at once.