Recency and Frequency
In Segment Builder, recency and frequency let you segment visitors based on actions that occur or repeat over a set daily interval.
Audience Manager defines recency and frequency as follows:
- Recency: How recently a user viewed or qualified for one (or more) traits.
- Frequency: The rate at which a user viewed or qualified for one (or more) traits.
Recency and Frequency settings help you segment visitors based on their real (or perceived) level of interest in a site, section, or particular creative. For example, users who qualify for a segment with high recency/frequency requirements may be more interested in a site or product than users who visit less often or less frequently.
Location of Recency and Frequency Settings
In Segment Builder, Recency and Frequency settings are located in the Basic View section of the Traits panel. Click the clock icon to expose these controls.
Limitations and Rules
Review and understand these limits and rules when you want to apply recency and frequency to traits in your segments.
Recency
Frequency
Recency Examples
Here are two examples of how recency works, depending on your selection in the UI:
Using a less than or equal to operator (<=)
In this example, you select the <= operator, as shown in the screenshot. This qualifies your user for the segment if they qualify for any of the three traits a minimum of three times within the last five days. The timeline below shows the segment qualification at the time the segment is created, on October 1st, and ten days later.
Using a greater than or equal to operator (=>)
In this example, you select the => operator, as shown in the screenshot. This qualifies your user for the segment if they qualify for any of the three traits a minimum of three times anytime between their first qualification on the Audience Manager platform and the cut-off time five days ago. The timeline below shows the segment qualification at the time the segment is created, on October 1st, and ten days later.
Frequency Capping Examples
Frequency-capping expressions include all the users whose number of trait realizations is below a desired value. Here are a few Right and Wrong examples:
-
Wrong - The expression
frequency([1000T]) <= 5includes all users that have realized the trait with the ID “1000” a maximum of five times but also includes users who have not realized the trait. Therefore, Audience Manager does not validate this expression for performance reasons, as it would qualify too many users for the segment. -
Right - If you want to include all users that have realized the trait with the ID “1000” a maximum of five times, add another condition to the expression, to make sure the users have qualified for the trait at least once:
frequency([1000T]) >= 1 AND frequency([1000T]) <= 5 -
Right- When you need recency/frequency requirements to be less than a specific number of times or days, join that trait to another with an
ANDoperator. Using the example in the first bullet point, this expression becomes valid when joined with another trait as shown here:frequency([1000T]) <= 5 AND isSiteVisitorTrait. -
Right - For advertising frequency-capping use cases, you could create a segment rule similar to this:
(frequency([1000T] <= 2D) >= 5). This expression includes all users that have realized the trait with the ID “1000” in the past 2 days at least five times. Set frequency capping by sending this segment to the ad server with aNOTset on the segment in the ad server. This approach achieves greater performance in Audience Manager while still serving the same purpose for frequency capping.