Profile Merge Rules Options Defined
The profile merge rule options let you control the type of data Audience Manager uses for segmentation. A profile merge rule can include device profiles mapped by the Profile Link device graph and/or other, third-party device graph providers who are integrated with Audience Manager. You can create a maximum of 4 Profile Merge Rules. The fourth Profile Merge Rule is available exclusively to customers who purchased the People-Based Destinations add-on.
You build a Profile Merge Rule by making a selection from the options described below, in Profile Merge Rule Setup.
Profile Merge Rule Options Overview
Profile Merge Rules allow for a number of rule combinations, each geared towards specific use cases. See the table below for details on when to use each rule combination.
Profile Merge Rule Segment Evaluation
Depending on your Profile Merge Rules configuration, Audience Manager can perform the segment evaluation in real-time, in batch, or both.
- Real-time segment evaluation requires the DCS to see visitors access your digital properties in real-time, to qualify for the segment.
- Batch segment evaluation is performed against previously qualified traits.
- Profile Merge Rules that support both real-time and batch segment evaluation combine the real-time visitor activity with previously qualified traits.
Profile Merge Rules Reporting Latency
Real-time segment evaluation reflects immediately in the Profile Merge Rules reports.
Batch segment evaluation can take up to 24 hours to reflect in the Profile Merge Rules reports.
Cross-Device Options
The Cross-Device Options let you select authenticated and unauthenticated users and leverage their cross-device profile for segmentation. These options help you identify and reach specific users on a shared device. For more information on anonymous and authenticated users, see Visitor Authentication States in Audience Manager.
Tells Audience Manager to read data from the authenticated profile of the user who last logged in on the device.
When selected, Audience Manager will not write new trait data to the authenticated profile if the user is anonymous. Upon authentication, new trait data gets written to the user's authenticated profile.
Cross-Device Profile Options
The Cross-Device Profile Options lists your cross-device data sources. These options use the names you provided when you created a cross-device data source (see Create a Cross-Device Data Source). You can select up to 3 cross-device data sources to use with each profile rule. The Authenticated Profile Options are available when you choose Current Authenticated Profiles or Last Authenticated Profiles.
Device Options
The Device Options let you select the type of device profile used by a Profile Merge Rule. A device profile is built from traits collected from anonymous browsing activity. At a minimum, a profile merge rule includes an authenticated option and a device option.
These options let you build merge rules based on device graph technology provided by a third-party vendor. A third-party device graph provides:
- Probabilistic and/or deterministic data.
- Data at the person or household level.
To use these options, you must be a customer of a device graph provides who is already integrated with Audience Manager. Contact your account manager for more information or to get started.
External Merge Policies
Audience segments that were automatically created from other Experience Cloud solutions, based on merge rules defined outside of Audience Manager, are marked as using an External Merge Policy. For example, see Audience Sharing Between Audience Manager and Adobe Experience Platform.