Custom data allows you to send iAdvize specific information about your visitors.

It extends behavioral targeting capabilities and provides your advisors with a better understanding of the visitor’s context.
 

1. Creating custom data

Before any use, it is mandatory to declare the variable in your iAdvize administration.

To do this, go to Settings > Advanced settings, then select: Custom data:

On this page, you can edit, modify, and delete existing data.
Two types of custom data exist: In the page or Javascript parameter

This is where you can define:

• the variable name
• its type (text, numeric, boolean, etc.)

You can enable the option Reset this variable on page change especially for variables such as the Product ID, to prevent them from persisting across pages (example: when a visitor navigates from one product sheet to another).

Custom data “Javascript parameter”

With this type of custom data, you can send us a value using a Javascript parameter. This parameter requires adding additional Javascript code to your site.

Here are the different options available:

• Data label: Enter the label of the data (example: device). You will find this label in the list of criteria when creating targeting rules, as well as in the information panel of the advisor’s console if the option “Display the data on the advisor’s console” is checked.
• Data source: In this case, select "Javascript parameter".
• Data type: You must specify the type of the data. Choose between an integer (e.g., 12, max value 2147483647), a decimal (e.g., 12.1), a text value (e.g., error message), or a boolean value (e.g., true or false).
• Variable label: Enter here the label of the javascript variable (example: device), which will be placed on the site (see example below).
• Display the data on the advisor’s console: This option allows the data to be displayed in the advisor’s console, in the “Profile” section of the information panel.

Custom data “In the page”

With this type of custom data, you can define a data point and we will collect its value directly and automatically from your site’s page.

Here are the different options available:

• Data label: Enter the label of the data (example: device). You will find this label in the list of criteria when creating targeting rules, as well as in the information panel of the advisor’s console if the option “Display the data on the advisor’s console” is checked.
• Data source: Select "In the page"
• Data type: You must specify the type of the data. Choose between an integer (e.g., 12), a decimal (e.g., 12.1), a text value (e.g., error message), or a boolean value (e.g., true or false).
• Path to the HTML container: Enter here the path to the HTML container where the data is located. Example: #device > span
• Data value: You can specify the type of value you want to store
• Display the data on the advisor’s console: This option allows the data to be displayed in the advisor’s console, in the “Profile” section of the information panel.
   

Warning: Unlike custom data of type "Javascript", the targeting engine can detect a change in value of custom data of type "In the page" even after the page has fully loaded. However, the HTML container must already be defined when the DOM loads for this to work. An HTML container added afterwards via Javascript will not be interpreted by our targeting engine.

2. Use of custom data

Custom data is essential for enriching and personalizing the customer experience. They can be used in several use cases:

• Product knowledge
  Link your variables to knowledge base articles to automatically provide relevant content (e.g., displaying a product FAQ based on the product ID).
   
• Conversation starters
  Use your custom data to trigger conversation starters tailored to the visitor’s context (e.g., abandoned cart, product viewed).
   
• Visitor profile
  Feed the customer profile in iAdvize with contextual information, which will be displayed in the conversation report.
   
• Targeting
  Use them as criteria in your targeting rules. 
  Here’s an example using the visitor’s device:

• Advisor console
  Display contextual information from your custom data directly in the advisor’s console to speed up handling and provide context for the conversation (e.g., cart value, subscriber type). This helps your advisors better understand visitor intent, and the information appears in the information panel:

• however, they do not allow you to automatically personalize the content of your messages

Note: custom data is stored and linked to the conversation. The retention period is the same as that applied to conversations. By default, this period is 3 years but can be customized upon request to the support team.

A targeting strategy using custom data offers many possibilities but can be complex to implement.

iAdvize can support you in defining and designing your targeting strategy to maximize your ROI. Please contact your Customer Success Manager for this purpose.

3. How to send custom data from your website