Overview
Optimizely Data Platform (ODP) can collect, store, and make available all of the most relevant data for your business by adhering to a few core concepts:
- Know everything about a customer: who they are and what they have done.
- Identify and resolve who the customer is across all systems.
- Make the platform flexible and adaptable.
- Have great integrations that enable more impactful and informed decisions.
- Make all data stored in ODP available through the API.
This guide outlines how to get your data into ODP and how the ODP tools use that data.
Data to consider
Data that is typically imported into ODP is anything about how customers interact with the brand. Many companies have this data spread across multiple systems, causing inefficiencies. ODP provides a place to keep all of the data and use it in a more impactful way.
However, you do not need to import all data to benefit from ODP. You can incrementally import data into ODP, deploy campaigns, and continue to introduce more details later.
Import data from another system
A common approach to getting your data into ODP is to integrate with another system. Optimizely Data Platform and our partners offer integrations for many popular platforms.
You can learn more about our current integration options by going to Account Settings > Integrations. The table below shows our common types of integrations.
| Integration Type | Example | Data Integrated | Historical/Ongoing? |
| E-commerce |
Shopify Magento Custom |
Pageviews Product views Cart interactions Order lifecycle Customer file Product catalog |
Historical - Only orders, customers, and products Ongoing - Everything |
| Service | Zendesk |
Ticket lifecycle Post ticket surveys Customer file |
Both |
| ESP |
MailChimp ExactTarget Responsys |
Email interactions Customer list/file |
Both |
| Point of Sale |
LivePOS |
Orders purchased |
Both |
Manually import data
To manually import your data into ODP, please refer to these resources.
| Data Type | Description | Guide |
| Customers | All fields that describe a customer and their attributes. | Integrate customer data |
| Products | Items in product catalogs expressed as a product entity. | Integrate product data |
| Orders | Purchases in ODP. Each order has a unique ID but can be updated over time, such as a return for a specific order. | Integrate order data |
| Events | The touchpoints a customer has with your brand. | Integrate event data |
| Custom Objects | Your own data objects (tickets, blog posts, venues, and so on). |
Please contact Support to learn more about integrating custom objects. |
How the data is used
After you have imported your data, you can use the various tools in ODP to leverage it.
Lists | Segments | Behaviors | Filters | Campaign Emails | Reports
Lists
Use lists to organize your customers and make targeted communication easier. Lists differ from other organizational tools, such as segments, because they account for sources that ODP cannot actively monitor, such as tradeshow sign-ups. Learn more.
Segments
Use segments to filter your customers based on who they are or what they have done to refine your reports and to make your email campaigns more targeted. Learn more.
Behaviors
Use behaviors to model a series of customer actions about the way customers interact with your brand. You can use these in segments and email personalization. Learn more.
Filters
Use filters to characterize a collection of events and further refine reports, segments, behaviors, and email campaigns. Learn more.
Campaign Emails
Use your lists, segments, behaviors, and filters to send emails and impact your campaign by making it more personalized. Learn more about campaign basics and email personalization.
Reports
Use reports to reflect on your campaign strategy and benefit from the application of segments and filters. Learn more about the company overview report, attribution reporting, and custom reporting.