Adobe Target Cloud Mode Destination
Adobe Target is the A/B testing and personalization component of Adobe Experience Cloud. Segment’s Adobe Target integration enables customers to send data from Segment to Adobe Target to create and update user profiles. Use these profiles in Adobe Target to construct audiences and personalize onsite visitor experiences.
Segment offers two destinations for Adobe Target:
This page is about Segment’s Adobe Target Cloud Mode destination. There’s also a page about Segment’s Adobe Target Web destination. In order to use Adobe Target Cloud Mode, you must have a parallel web integration with Adobe Target as profiles can only be created by the Adobe Target at.js web script.
Getting started
The Adobe Target Cloud Mode destination sends user information to the Adobe Target API in order to update user profiles. You must use the Adobe Target Web destination for initial profile creation.
- From the Segment web app, click Catalog, then click Destinations.
- Search for Adobe Target Cloud Mode in the Destinations Catalog, and select the destination.
- Click Configure Adobe Target Cloud Mode in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Select the source that will send data to Adobe Target Cloud Mode and follow the steps to name your destination.
- On the Settings tab, input your Adobe Target destination settings.
- Follow the steps in the Destinations Actions documentation on Customizing mappings.
- Enable the destination and configured mappings.
Destination Settings
| Setting | Description |
|---|---|
| Authentication Token | If you choose to require authentication for Adobe Target’s Profile API, you will need to generate an authentication token. Tokens can be generated in your Adobe Target account under the Implementation Settings tab or via the Adobe.IO Authentication Token API. Input the authentication token here. Note: Authentication tokens expire so a new token will need to be generated and updated here prior to expiration. |
| Client Code | Required. Your Adobe Target client code. To find your client code in Adobe Target, navigate to Administration > Implementation. The client code is shown at the top under Account Details. |
Available Actions
Build your own Mappings. Combine supported triggers with the following Adobe Target Cloud Mode-supported actions:
Mapping limits per destination
Individual destination instances have support a maximum of 50 mappings.
Update Profile
Update an existing user profile in Adobe Target.
Update Profile is a Cloud action. The default Trigger is: type = "identify"
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Mbox 3rd Party ID* | Type: STRINGA user’s unique visitor ID. This field is used to fetch a matching profile in Adobe Target to make an update on. For more information, please see our Adobe Target Destination documentation. |
| Profile Attributes* | Type: OBJECTProfile parameters specific to a user. Please note, Adobe recommends that PII is hashed prior to sending to Adobe. |
Relationship between Adobe Target Web and Adobe Target Cloud Mode
Adobe Target is unique because you must have a web integration with Adobe Target to use the Target server-side API for profile updates. This is because Adobe Target only allows creation of user profiles through client-side web.
To support this, Segment provides an Adobe Target Web destination for user profile creation, updates, and page/event tracking and an Adobe Target Cloud Mode destination for additional profile updates. The cloud mode destination is useful if you would like to send Engage data to Adobe Target as profile parameters.
How does it work?
Adobe Target’s at.js script identifies each visitor uniquely through a PCID, which is auto-generated in the visitor’s cookies. Since Segment doesn’t expect you to include the PCID on your Segment events, Segment updates profiles using the mbox3rdPartyId instead.
Segment recommends setting the mbox3rdPartyId to userId (falling back on anonymousId) and sets this as the default for your implementation. This allows for a common identifier that can be used to tie server-side data back to the original profile that was created on the web.
Depending on your user’s typical journey, a few scenarios can occur when using web and cloud mode together.
Scenario 1. Anonymous user never becomes known.
When an anonymous user arrives on your website, one Adobe Target profile will be created and the mbox3rdPartyId will be equal to the Segment anonymousId.
If the same anonymous user visits on a different device, they will have a new anonymousId and therefore a different mbox3rdPartyId, and a separate Adobe Target profile will be created. This is in line with how Adobe’s PCID behavior works too.
Scenario 2. The user is known from the first point of contact.
This scenario assumes that your users authenticate and have a userId upon arriving on your website. When the user arrives on your website, one Adobe Target profile will be created and the mbox3rdPartyId will be equal to the Segment userId.
If the same known user visits on a different device, assuming they authenticate immediately, they will have the same userId and therefore the same mbox3rdPartyId. This means you can target known users across devices.
Scenario 3. Anonymous user becomes a known user.
When an anonymous user arrives on your website, one Adobe Target profile will be created and the mbox3rdPartyId will be equal to the Segment anonymousId. However, once the user is identified, they will be assigned a new mbox3rdPartyId equal to the Segment userId. There will be two profiles in Adobe Target; both will be available for targeting.
How to use Adobe Target with Engage
Adobe Target Cloud Mode operates as an Event Destination. This means Engage sends computed traits and audiences as traits in identify calls or properties in track calls. See this example of the payload Engage sends to Adobe Target.
When you connect Adobe Target Cloud Mode to a Engage, you will need to set up a mapping for Update Profile. Within the Update Profile mapping, please ensure you have something mapped to Profile Attributes. If you plan to send multiple Computed Traits and/or audiences to Adobe Target, you can click Edit Object and set Profile Attributes to the entire traits object. This ensures any audience Engage generates sends to Adobe Target.
You can use Profile Attributes in the Adobe Target Audience builder to construct audiences. For example, if you send an audience for first_time_shopper to Adobe Target, select Visitor Profile in the Audience Builder and look for the first_time_shopper attribute. Setting the first_time_shopper attribute to true replicates the audience for usage in Adobe Target Activities.
Segment does not set Profile Attributes to traits by default to avoid unintentionally sending PII to Adobe Target. Adobe recommends that PII is hashed prior to sending to Adobe so please hash your data upstream if you choose to send PII.
Viewing Segment data in Adobe Target
To view and use your Segment data in Adobe Target, navigate to Adobe Target > Audiences > Create Audience > Add Rule.
- Profile Attributes appear under Visitor Profile attributes.
- Page Parameters appear under Custom attributes. Fields have
page.prepended to the key.
Adobe Target Audiences can be used in Activities, such as A/B Testing and Experience Targeting. Please note that while Standard and Premium Adobe Target packages allow access to the SDK and API, certain personalization functionality may only be available with Adobe Target Premium.
FAQ
Why am I getting a Profile Not Found error?
The Adobe Target API can only be used for profile updates. You must first create profiles on the web by using either Segment’s Adobe Target Web destination or a native implementation of at.js. Please ensure you create profiles on the web first.
Segment’s Adobe Target Web destination sends data in real-time, but it may take up to 1-hour for a user to be available through the Adobe Target API. This means you may see delivery errors for Profile Not Found in Adobe Target Cloud Mode until the profile is available for API updates.
In addition, Adobe Target visitor profiles expire after 14 days. Profile lifetime could be another reason a profile is not found.
This page was last modified: 08 Dec 2022
Need support?
Questions? Problems? Need more info? Contact Segment Support for assistance!