Real-time audiences FAQ

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Optimizely Data Platform's (ODP's) real-time audience builder lets you segment customers in real time and further personalize your customers' web-based experience. For information on building real-time audiences, see Build real-time audiences in ODP.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

What is the difference between standard audiences and real-time audiences?

  • Standard audiences – Access to all historical customer events. You cannot export these audiences out of ODP, but you can use them in campaigns, reports, data sync activations, and other features throughout ODP. For information, see Create standard audiences.
  • Real-time audiences – Access to customer events less than 28 days old. You can use real-time audiences in Optimizely Web Experimentation, Optimizely Feature Experimentation, Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) 11 & 12, and Optimizely Campaign. 

    Audience membership is calculated in real time, with less than a 90-second refresh time. Only 0.001% of requests experience a data latency greater than 90 seconds.

What is the Last Seen Email attribute?

The Last Seen Email is the most recently seen email address in ODP for a customer. It does not indicate that users have viewed an email from you.

How do you delete an audience?

See Delete a real-time audience.

How do you edit an audience?

See Edit a real-time audience.

Do real-time audiences pull from historical data in ODP?

Yes, but real-time audiences only have access to the past 28 days of data.

Does the audience status update in real time?

Yes, refresh your browser to refresh the status. The status also updates any time you open an audience in ODP or in products integrated with real-time audiences.

Are all real-time audiences based on the last 28 days of data?

Yes, for only event attributes. For example, if the event is cart view, real-time audiences checks for customers who have a cart view event in the last 28 days unless you specify a relative date range shorter than that. For customer attributes, like birthday or state residence, real-time audiences can access that regardless of when that data entered ODP.

What does each attribute mean?

The list of potential attributes is too comprehensive to have its own documentation as there can be hundreds of custom objects and fields per customer account.

Are real-time audiences supported in both Optimizely Content Management System (CMS) 11 and 12?

Yes.

When adding conditions to a real-time audience, the drop-down lists do not include an option you want. How do you enter a new option?

Type the new option in the text field and press Enter. This adds the option to your real-time audience. For example, if you are trying to enter Kansas City as an option:

  1. Enter Kansas City in the text field.

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  2. Press Enter.

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