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Dawid Tyburek
Written by Dawid Tyburek

Attributes

Learn what are Attributes and how to use them!


What attributes are

User.com enables you to collect comprehensive data about every individual who visits your website, organising this information into what are known as attributes. These attributes are designed with flexibility in mind, enabling the construction of rich visitor profiles.

Understanding standard and custom attributes

Standard attributes are commonly collected information that provides insights into a user's initial interaction with your website—such as their country, browser type, and language preferences. This category also includes personal contact details like name, surname, and phone number, which are typically gathered when a user fills out a form on your site.

Custom Attributes offer you the flexibility to tailor the data collection to your specific needs. This can include a wide range of information, for example marketing consents or some e-commerce related information like aggregated transaction statistics. Custom Attributes allow you to go beyond the basics, giving you the ability to track and analyze specific data points relevant to your business objectives, enhancing your understanding of customer behavior and preferences.

Attribute types and example of usage

Attributes can be categorized by various data types, each serving a unique purpose in capturing and representing information accurately.

Boolean attributes represent binary options (true/false), such as whether a user has agreed to terms of service, distinguishing between two possible states. String data types are perfect for text-based information, including names, email addresses, or any other textual data. Integer and floating-point number types are numerical data types, with integers used for whole numbers and floating point numbers accommodating decimals, suitable for representing quantities, prices, or statistical measures. Date and datetime types are used to store time-specific details like sign-up or last activity dates.

String:

  • Name of the last product seen by the user

  •  URL of the purchased product

Integer:

  •  Amount of products in a cart 

  •  Product view count

Date&time:

  • Scheduled delivery date

  • Scheduled subscription renewal

Boolean (true/false):

  • Opted for express delivery

  • User used a coupon

  • Newsletter consent

Fixed choice attribute:

  • Lead source

  • User's top categories (multiple choice)

Floating-point number

  • Customer Lifetime Value

List of standard attributes

  • Name {attribute_name} (type)

Changeable

  • First name {first_name} (string)

  • Last name {last_name} (string)

  • Email {email} (string)

  • Phone number {phone_number} (string)

  • Gender {gender} (fixed choices; unknown - 1, male - 2, female - 3)

  • Country {country} (string)

  • Region {region} (string)

  • City {city}(string)

  • URL {current_url} (string)

  • IP address (string)

  • Referrer (string)

  • Timezone (string)

  • Device {device} (fixed choices; 1 - mobile, 2 - desktop, 3 - tablet)

  • Browser {browser} (string)

  • Browser language {browser_language} (string)

  • Browser version {browser_version} (string)

  • OS {os_type} (string)

  • Hostname {hostname} (string)

  • Screen resolution {resolution} (string)

  • Company (string)

  • Status {status} (fixed choices; visitor - 1, user - 2)

  • Score {score} (integer)

  • Assigned to {assigned_to} (fixed choices)

  • Unsubscribed from emails {unsubscribed} (boolean)

  • Facebook {facebook_url} (string)

  • LinkedIn {linkedin_url} (string)

  • Twitter {twitter_url} (string)

  • Google+ {google_url} (string)

  • User ID {user_id} (string)

  • Enable notifications {notifications} (boolean)

  • Widget visibility {widget_visibility} (fixed choices; Widget visible - 1, Widget not visible - 2)

Unchangeable

  • Page visits (integer)

  • First seen (date & time)

  • Last seen (date & time)

  • Created (date & time)

  • Last updated (date & time)

  • Key (string)

  • Email mx valid (boolean)

  • Web push notification (boolean)

Changeable attributes updated only with pageviews

  • Country (string) 

  • Region (string)

  • City (string)

  • URL (string)

  • IP address (string)

  • Referrer (string)

  • Timezone (string)

  • Device (fixed choices; 1 - mobile, 2 - desktop, 3 - tablet)

  • Browser (string)

  • Browser language (string)

  • Browser version (string)

  • OS (string)

  • Hostname (string)

  • Screen resolution (string)

  • Last contacted {last_contacted} (datetime)

  • Last heard from {last_heard_from} (datetime)

List of custom attributes

To see a full list of custom attributes go to Settings --> App Settings --> User attributes.

Where can I find user attributes

I. The "People" view

The first place where you can see user attributes is the "People" section.

Columns display attributes, and by using the "Select column" feature, you can customize which columns are visible and rearrange their order. This customization is specific to each agent, allowing you to prioritize the data most relevant to your daily tasks.

II. In users profile

The second place where you can see attributes is single users profile. Attributes are displayed on the right side of the window.

The application's "Search attributes" field simplifies finding specific user details, streamlining data navigation. Additionally you can customize visibility and order of these attributes by clicking bolt icon next to search field.

III. In conversation window

Another place where you can see user attributes is the conversation window (chat). It makes it easy to instantly recognise a user. You can freely customize what you see here as well.

What can I use attributes for?

Filters

Attributes commonly serve as filters to segment your database according to particular details. Depending on the type of the data within the attributes different filtering options are available to refine your search and organize your data effectively.

Automations

There are several action modules that involve attribute:

Conversations

You can use attributes to personalize messages. Using snippet tags will give you quicker way to read attributes from the user's profile. Full list of snippet tags you will find in Tools --> Snippet tags.

Important note

Please note that it's generally permissible to assign empty values to user attributes, which results in the attributes being set to empty.

There is one exception and it is user_id, which we do not allow to be set to empty. We use user_id as an identifier and you could by one rather minor mistake break down your database which would be extra troublesome to fix.

In our JavaScript integrations, while you are free to assign a new value to 'user_id', you should not attempt to empty it. To associate data with a new user, you should use the UE.resetAuth(data) method. Attempting to set 'user_id' to an empty value will trigger a 400 error, and the user's timeline will not record a page hit.

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