Manual Attributes allow your team to add up to 50 data attributes for Subscribers that can be used in Blasts as Personalization Fields, to filter your Audience table, and create Dynamic Segments.
Manual Attributes can hold letters and/or numbers, and can be used for temporary data not held in your people data system. There is a limit of 255 characters for each Manual Attribute per subscriber.
For information how to enable Manual Attributes for your Audience Table and Personalization fields, or change the display name for specific Manual Attributes in Broadcast, please review: Attributes settings.
Add or Update Manual Attributes
The option to import Manual Attributes is available for Cerkl Instances with Import List enabled and Team Members with Manage Audience permissions.
Create a .CSV File
First, you'll need to create a .CSV (UTF-8 Encoded) file with the first column as Email, then include up to 50 additional columns matching the names: Manual #. When performing the Import steps, column details are listed below the import box for reference.
We recommend adding Manual Attributes in a file excluding other attributes to avoid issues when selecting Conflict Management settings during the import steps.
Example Columns
This example includes Custom Data for Manual Attributes 1 and 3:
Manual 1 is data that will be used to build an exclusion rule in a Dynamic Segment based on the Attribute Field String "Exclusion-1".
Manual 3 is data for use in a personalization field in a Blast referencing the Subscriber's favorite color.
Manual 1 | Manual 3 | |
Exclusion-1 |
| |
Exclusion-1 | Orange | |
| Purple | |
Include |
|
Import the .CSV File
To import Manual Attributes, a .CSV list can be uploaded from Audience > Import List and Audience > Manual Segment import steps. For more information, please review: Importing Audience Lists.
Use Cases
Personalization Fields
Within Blasts and Templates, Manual Attributes that are enabled for Personalization Fields can be added to automatically fill in the attribute's data in the email for a specific Subscriber.
For more information on Personalization Fields, please review: How To Use Personalization Fields
When a Manual Attribute is added to a Blast/Template as a Personalization Field, the display will prepend “M:” in the Editor display since it is considered metadata. EX: *|M: Manual 1|*
Setting Fallbacks: If a Manual Attribute is missing data for your one of your Subscriber's, it is important to set a Fallback so that it doesn't appear like the above example to your readers. The Personalization Field Fallbacks for Manual Attributes can be set inside Blast Controls. For more information, please review: Blast Controls.
Audience Table Filters
Within the Audience > Subscriber table, Manual Attributes that are enabled for Audience Table usage can be added to your table. These will show in the list using their Display Name.
Dynamic Segments
Manual Attributes can be used for rules within Dynamic Segments - because Manual Attributes are considered 'Strings', even when numbers are included, these are treated as Text Fields which can be searched/compared.
For more information, please review: Creating a Dynamic Segment.
Please note: If a Manual Attribute is overwritten or deleted, any Dynamic Segments built with these rules will be affected.
We recommend renaming Manual Attributes from Settings > Attributes and working with your team to ensure important attributes are not changed by your team mistakenly.
Common Questions
As a part of implementation of Manual Attributes, there are some important things to note:
How Does Merge and Overwrite Work?
You have the option to decide what you'll do with this data in the upload process, depending on your choice between Merge and Overwrite.
Merge will not change any data for Subscribers if they already have data for that attribute.
Overwrite will overwrite any data for Subscribers even if they already have data for that attribute
For both options if a Manual Attribute is currently blank, this will fill the attribute for that Subscriber.
Why Am I Seeing A Warning Message
After a Manual Attribute has already been applied by a previous upload by any team member, you will be provided a message before continuing with an upload. If any subscriber has data in a Manual Attribute which is being updated, even if the specific subscribers included in this file upload do not have data in the field currently, a caution message will appear.
Why are they "Temporary"?
As other team members can use Manual Attributes, these fields are considered temporary, and may change. You can review what data is present for a specific user by enabling the Manual Attributes for use in your Audience Table, then adding it as a column with the Edit Table menu. For more information, please review: Customize Your Audience Table Columns.
Deleting Temporary Data
Option 1
You can clear all data for a specific Manual Attribute from the Attributes page. Find the Manual Attribute you wish to clear in your list of Attributes, then click the info icon to the right.
From here, a window will appear and you can select to Clear All Data. To verify, you will need to type in the text prompt requested.
Option 2
Create a file that includes the appropriate custom field column, and the entry for a subscriber is left blank in your file, select 'Overwrite' during the upload process. This will overwrite the data for the subscribers in your list - essentially acting as a "deletion" of the previously stored information. This will also overwrite any other fields if you include them in your file.
Deleting Custom Fields data cannot be reversed - however, If the data has been deleted, you can manually re-upload the data.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@cerkl.com or use the support Chat toward the bottom right-hand corner of any cerkl.com page.