Adobe Target Web 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 Web destination. There’s also a page about Segment’s Adobe Target Cloud Mode destination.
Getting started
The Adobe Target Web destination loads Adobe’s at.js script for you in order to upsert user profiles, trigger views and track events.
- From the Segment web app, click Catalog, then click Destinations.
- Search for Adobe Target Web in the Destinations Catalog, and select the destination.
- Click Configure Adobe Target Web in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Select the web source that will send data to Adobe Target Web and follow the steps to name your destination. The web source chosen must use Analytics.js 2.0.
- 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 |
|---|---|
| Admin number | Required. Your Adobe Target admin number. To find your admin number, please follow the instructions in Adobe Docs. |
| 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. |
| Cookie Domain | Required. The domain from which you serve the mbox. Adobe Target recommends setting this value to your company’s top-level domain. |
| Mbox Name | Required. The name of the Adobe Target mbox to use. Defaults to |
| ATJS Version | Required. The version of ATJS to use. Defaults to 2.8.0. |
Available Actions
Build your own Mappings. Combine supported triggers with the following Adobe Target Web-supported actions:
Mapping limits per destination
Individual destination instances have support a maximum of 50 mappings.
Upsert Profile
Create or update a user profile in Adobe Target.
Upsert Profile is a Web action. The default Trigger is: type = "identify"
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Mbox 3rd Party ID | Type: STRINGA user’s unique visitor ID. Setting an Mbox 3rd Party ID allows for updates via the Adobe Target Cloud Mode Destination. 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. |
Trigger View
Send page-level data to Adobe Target.
Trigger View is a Web action. The default Trigger is: type = "page"
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| View Name* | Type: STRINGName of the view or page. |
| Page Parameters | Type: OBJECTParameters specific to the view or page. |
| Send Notifications to Adobe Target. | Type: BOOLEANBy default, notifications are sent to the Adobe Target backend for incrementing impression count. If false, notifications are not sent for incrementing impression count. |
| Mbox 3rd Party ID | Type: STRINGA user’s unique visitor ID. Setting an Mbox 3rd Party ID allows for updates via the Adobe Target Cloud Mode Destination. For more information, please see our Adobe Target Destination documentation. |
Track Event
Send user actions, such as clicks and conversions, to Adobe Target.
Track Event is a Web action. The default Trigger is: type = "track"
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Event Type | Type: STRINGThe event type. Please ensure the type entered here is registered and available. |
| Event Name | Type: STRINGThis will be sent to Adobe Target as an event parameter called “event_name”. |
| Event Parameters | Type: OBJECTParameters specific to the event. |
| Mbox 3rd Party ID | Type: STRINGA user’s unique visitor ID. Setting an Mbox 3rd Party ID allows for updates via the Adobe Target Cloud Mode Destination. For more information, please see our Adobe Target Destination documentation. |
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
For information on how to use Adobe Target with Engage, see Adobe Target Cloud Mode destination.
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.
This page was last modified: 08 Dec 2022
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