Behavioral Targeting
Behavioral Targeting analyzes user behaviors using the Recency, Frequency, Monetary model . You can create Segments from selected tiers and transitions within the reports and use them to target specific users.
About Behavioral Targeting
The Recency, Frequency, Monetary (RFM) model groups users’ recent app session behaviors over time into tiers based on:
- how recently they opened the app,
- how frequently they opened the app, and
- how much time they spent in the app.
Two reports display the tier data:
- The Distribution report visually organizes the relative size of each tier and also displays its user count and audience percentage.
- The Transitions report shows the flow of users between tiers over time.
Understanding the distribution can help you get a pulse on user activity in your app. Seeing the transitions between tiers can give you insight on how well you are retaining users or how effective your marketing campaigns are.
When getting started, you will select an analysis window matching your user lifecycle. Only users who had at least one app_open
event during the selected time period will be analyzed. Initial reports are a “look back” for that period from the current date and from a week prior. For example, if you select a 30-day analysis window, the first reports will cover the past 30 days from today and the past 30 days from seven days ago. Analysis regenerates weekly, providing new and up-to-date data and a wider time span for tracking transitions.
You can turn this analysis into actionable information by generating audience SegmentsA grouping of audience members selected by unique or shared identifiers. Multiple identifiers can be combined within a Segment. based on selected tiers or transitions.
Use cases:
Personalization — Different tiers can represent users at different stages of using your app or different levels of interest in your product. Use Segments based on tiers to customize your messaging to each group more appropriately. For example, reward your top tiers and incentivize the lower ones.
Engagement — Transitions between tiers are opportunities to provide specific content based on engagement level. Create Segments based on transitions to message users based on which direction they are moving through tiers or which tiers they are moving between. For example, create a re-engagement campaign for users moving down tiers to help retain them, or send a message suggesting users share your app or write a review when they transition into the top tier.
RFM analysis, tiers, and tagging
For each Recency, Frequency, and Monetary category, users are divided into groups: top, middle, and bottom thirds. The groups are in relation to all the other users in the category. Here are a few examples to illustrate:
- A user who visited the app the most recently will fall into the top third of the Recency category, because they are in the top 33% of recent visitors. A user who opened the app the furthest back in time in the analysis window will be in the bottom third.
- Users who opened the app more times than the bottom two thirds of the audience will fall into the top third of the Frequency category. Users who opened the app fewer times than the top two thirds of the audience will land in the bottom third.
- A user who spent the most amount of time in the app will fall into the top third of the Monetary category. A user who spent the least amount of amount of time in the app will land in the bottom third.
Each third has a value: 3 for top, 2 for middle, and 1 for bottom. Each user is represented by a combination of the these distributed values. For example:
- A user at the top third for Recency, middle for Frequency, and top for Monetary is represented as 323.
- A user at the top third for Recency, bottom for Frequency, and middle for Monetary is represented as 312.
Users are assigned a tier based on their distribution.
Tier descriptions and distributions:
Tier | Description | Distributions |
---|---|---|
Champions | Users who performed the analyzed event most recently, most often, and spent the most on it | 333 |
Loyal Customers | Users who performed the analyzed event recently, often, and spent a great amount on it | 332, 233 |
Potential Loyalists | Recent users who spent a good amount on the event | 223, 323, 322, 232 |
Recent Customers | Users who visited most recently but haven't yet transitioned to Potential Loyalist and could easily go down in ranking | 311, 313, 312, 331, 321 |
Promising | Users with average Recency scores and potential to increase Frequency or Monetary scores | 222, 221, 212, 213, 231 |
Need Attention | Users who haven't performed the analyzed event in a while or have low Frequency and Monetary scores and whose Recency is fading | 123, 113, 211 |
At Risk | Users with above average Frequency but who haven't performed the analyzed event for a long time, so are strong candidates to re-engage | 122, 132, 131 |
Can't Lose Them | Users who have spent a great amount and performed the analyzed event often but not recently | 133 |
Hibernating | Users whose last visit was a while ago, have infrequent visits, and have not spent much | 111, 112, 121 |
When assigned a tier, TagsMetadata that you can associate with channels or Named Users for audience segmentation. Generally, they are descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations, e.g., wine_enthusiast
or weather_alerts_los_angeles
. Tags are case-sensitive. describing the tier and analysis window date are assigned to users. Tags are added at the Contact level.
Workflow
The following is the general workflow for using Behavioral Targeting:
- Generate tiers - Analyze activity in your app and assign users to Behavioral Targeting tiers. Distribution and transition reports are available after analysis complete and tiers are assigned.
- Review reports - Review the Distribution report for the most recent week’s analysis and the Transitions report to see how users moved between tiers over time.
- Create Segments - Select tiers or transitions to include in Segments you can use for targeted campaigns.
Generating tiers
Start analysis to assign users to Behavioral Targeting tiers and create reports:
- Go to Audience, then Behavioral Targeting.
- Select Generate tiers.
- Select a time frame for analysis that approximates your user lifecycle.
- Select Start.
The processing time for generating the tiers can vary depending on the size of your audience and the analysis window. You can leave the page during this process. Select Stop to cancel the analysis.
Once the analysis is complete, the Distribution and Transitions reports appear on separate tabs.
To make changes to the analysis window after reports are available, select Reset analysis. Your current Behavioral Targeting analysis will be removed from your project.
Accessing reports and creating Segments
After analysis is complete, Distribution and Transition reports are available in your project. You can create Segments from tiers or transitions but not both.
Distribution
The Distribution report shows relative size of each tier and also displays its user count and audience percentage. Hover over a tier for more information.
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To create a Segment from tiers:
- Select one or more tiers, and they will appear in a list in the sidebar. To remove a tier from the list, select the trash can icon () or select it again in the report. Multiple tiers are handled as a boolean OR.
- Select Create segment from selections.
- Enter a Segment name.
- (Optional) Enter a description.
- Select Save Segment.
Transitions
The Transitions report shows the tiers for two selected weeks, as well as the movement of users between tiers from one analysis date to another. By default, high volume transitions are highlighted. These are the top 30% of transitions by number of users who moved between tiers. Uncheck Show important transitions to remove highlighting.
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Two columns list the previous and current weeks’ tiers. Select new dates to update the displayed transitions. Select a tier in either column, and all transitions in or out will be listed in the sidebar, including the number of users in each transition group.
To create a Segment from users who transitioned between tiers for your selected dates:
- Select tiers to add them to the sidebar list.
- Select the tier name in the sidebar to include all transition groups or select individual groups. Repeat for additional tiers. Multiple transitions are handled as a boolean OR.
- Select Create segment from selections.
- Enter a Segment name.
- (Optional) Enter a description.
- Select Save Segment.
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