An attribute is a property field that stores data in Mapp Engage. Attributes provide you with flexible storage space so that you can store many types of information in your system.

Profile Attributes​

The profile attributes store data about your contacts.

Together, the profile attributes create a complete picture of each contact. When you store rich and full profile data you can develop targeted, personalized marketing programs that are tailored for individual contacts.

You can use the data that is stored in the profile attributes to personalize messages and to create segments.

Standard Attributes

Mapp Engage offers several standard attributes to store contact profile data. These attributes are default in every system.

Custom Attributes

You can also create your own profile attributes to store data about a contact. These attributes are called custom attributes.

Custom attributes store the data about your contacts that is relevant to your digital marketing needs and strategies. Custom attributes give you almost unlimited flexibility for the information you choose to store for each contact in Mapp Engage.

You can assign the attribute a data type and add enumeration.

Further Information

For detailed information, see ​Profile Attributes​.

Group Attributes​

A group attribute stores information that pertains to all contacts in a group. One single value that is stored in the attribute is valid for every contact in that group.

Group attributes are an ideal place to store data that changes frequently, and that is not contact-specific.

The information that is stored in a group attribute applies only to the group for which it was created. The information that is stored in a group attribute can only be used in sendouts in that group.

Advantages

Group attribute fields can be used to store important information about the group as a whole. For example, your Mapp Engage system has a separate group of contacts for shoppers who sign up for your email newsletter at a local store. You can use group attribute fields to store information about the local store, such as the location and business hours. You can insert this information in emails to the group so that contacts see the relevant information for their local store.

Create Group Attributes

To create a group attribute in the user interface, see ​Create Group Attributes​.

To import group attributes, see ​CSV Format for Group Attribute Imports​ or ​XML Format for Group Attribute Imports​.

Member Attributes​

A member attribute saves information for a contact in the context of a group.

Member attributes let you save different information for the same contact in different groups.

Advantages

Member attributes are useful when you have multiple groups with identical attributes that you use to store different data for the same contacts. These attributes are useful to, for example, a marketing agency that manages numerous groups for different clients within one Mapp Engage system. Different departments within a company can use member attributes to manage sendouts to different groups. The same contact can be a member of more than one group, but has different information that is stored in the same attribute in each group.

Use member attributes when you have large amounts of contact data that is regularly replaced and updated.

If you delete a group, the member attributes and the values for this group are deleted from Mapp Engage. The information is not stored anywhere else in the system. If you want to store this type of information without the risk that it is deleted, use the Related Data Criteria feature.

Create Member Attributes

You can only create member attributes with import of an XML or CSV file. You cannot create member attributes in the Mapp Engage interface.

For instructions, see ​CSV Format for Contact Imports​ and ​XML Format for Contact Imports​.

You can view member attributes in the contact profile. To do so, search for the contact on the ​​Memberships​​ tab in the ​​Contact Management​​ area.

Possible Data Formats​

Data Format

Details

String

This data type is any series of characters. Mapp Engage supports all common character sets.

The maximum length of a string attribute is 2000 characters. The searchable string is limited to 200 characters.

Boolean

This data type stores data as ​true​ or ​false​.

Number

The number data type stores data as a positive or negative numeric value.

The decimal point must be a period (UK/US standard). You cannot use any characters to separate groups of digits.

Date

This data type stores data as a date.

Mapp Engage uses ISO-8601 to format dates. With this format, you specify time zones as follows: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss(+/-)GMT difference. For example, the time zone US/Eastern is formatted: 2012-12-25T15:15:15-05:00. ISO-8601 is recommended for formatting date information in import files. Deprecated formats are not fully supported.