Backfill Trait Realizations
Backfill trait realizations to capture historical audiences and avoid loss of relevant data prior to a trait creation date.
When you create traits from unused signals, you can choose to backfill the trait realizations over a specific period of time. Audience Manager captures the historical data about audiences that qualify for the new trait and stores them on the corresponding profile. You can see the Backfill Options in the Trait Expression section of the Trait Builder.
Here’s how to backfill trait realizations:
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Go to Audience Data > Signals > Search amd run a Signals Search or use the Signals Dashboard to identify the signals to use in the new trait.
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Create a new trait based on the desired signals.
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Use the Backfill Options in the Trait Expression section to select the time interval for which you want to backfill trait realizations. Predefined backfill intervals include 1, 7, 14, and 30 days. You can also choose a custom date range of up to 30 days.
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(Optional) Click Estimate Realizations in the Estimated Trait Realizations section to see the estimated Unique Trait Realizations and Total Trait Population values for the backfilled trait over the last 7 days.
note important IMPORTANT Trait backfilling and estimation are not available for traits with expressions that use the following operators:
*!=
*matchesregex
*matcheswords1. Create the trait.
Once you finish creating the trait, you’ll see its backfilled realizations included in the realization statistics.
Watch the video below for a video walkthrough of how to backfill traits.
Trait Backfilling Latency
Newly created traits start capturing audiences two to three hours after creation. However, due to the large volume of data that Audience Manager performs on a daily basis, the backfilled population is not immediately reflected in the Unique Trait Realizations and Total Trait Population graphs.
Audience Manager updates the Trait Graph with the backfilled population within 48 hours from trait creation.
Trait Backfilling Limit
Data Explorer allows you to backfill up to 50 traits per month, with the backfill counter being reset on the 1 day of each month.
Impact on Reporting
Backfilled trait realizations are reflected in the Unique Trait Realizations and Total Trait Population metrics, as Audience Manager turns historical signals into trait realizations.
However, the Trait Graph, General Reports, and Trend Reports are not updated retroactively with historical metrics backfilled before the trait creation date.