Audiences and Targeting
What to know
Audiences define who sees an activity. Candidates must understand audience sources: Target-built audiences (geo, browser, device, site behavior, custom parameters), Experience Cloud audiences (Analytics, Audience Manager), and profile attributes. Know custom targeting with mbox parameters and profile scripts, audience refinement (AND/OR logic, exclusions), first-party vs. third-party data, and real-time vs. historical behavior.
Traps in questions
- Confusing mbox parameters (per-request, not persisted) with profile parameters (persisted to the visitor profile). Use mbox for page context, profile for durable attributes.
- Audience logic traps: AND narrows, OR broadens; exclusion rules override inclusion.
- Assuming an audience is retroactive - audiences evaluate at request time, not historically, unless built on stored profile data.
- Forgetting that Experience Cloud audiences require the correct data source and may have latency.
Worked example / rule of thumb
Target returning customers who viewed a product but did not purchase. Use a profile attribute (e.g., customerTier) plus a behavior-based audience (viewed category, no purchase). Combine with AND; add exclusion for recent purchasers. Rule of thumb: persist durable facts to the profile; pass page context via mbox parameters. Test audience logic with the audience qualifier/preview before launch.