Journey Action: Update User Attribute

Update User Attribute is an action element type that lets you perform actions on users. It assigns a predefined value to the selected attribute for each user who comes to this element in the journey.

your title goes here

An attribute is a status or property that a user can have. In other words, it refers to their detailed information that can help you understand user personas, introduce high-level segmentation, and personalize your messaging. Some attribute examples are birthday, age, last purchase amount, channel opt-ins, first name, last browsed product name, etc.
Read more on default events and attributes.

This guide explains the following concepts:

You can use this action element to update a user's existing default or custom attributes, except for opt-in attributes, which can be updated only when the user updates them.

When a user reaches the Update User Attribute element in the journey, it updates the value of the specified attribute in the database. If this attribute does not have a value, it gets the predefined value.

Update user attribute

Your title goes here

The Update User Attribute element cannot be used to modify opt-in and subscription-related user attributes. This restriction ensures the security of sensitive information and upholds user privacy, as changes to these attributes should only be made with explicit user consent.

Use cases

You can assign values based on users' preferences and past behaviors. For example, if a user watched “horror” movies more than three times in the last 2 months, you can update this user’s movie genre preference as “horror”. In this case, genre is an attribute, and horror is the attribute value.
You can score users based on actions such as clicking an email, visiting a product page, adding items to the cart, or making a purchase. You can use these scores as campaign or journey segments.
You can assign attribute values to users who have not purchased before and share this data with your call center via Call an API to take action on your end.

Requirements

You should have the required attribute created for your account. If you want to create an attribute, contact the Insider One team for further information.

Use Update User Attribute

Once you complete the requirements for this action element, you can use it in your journeys following these steps:

1. Click the + (plus) button on the canvas and select Action > Update User Attribute.

2. Click the Update User Attribute element to start editing it.
3. Select the attribute that you want to update in the dropdown.

4. Select an action operator: setting to, increasing by, or decreasing by.

your title goes here

An attribute can have four different data types: string (e.g., first name), number (e.g., age), boolean (e.g., cart abandoned: true), and datetime (e.g., birthday). Only the number type can have the increasing by or decreasing by actions. If the selected user attribute has not been initialized yet, its initial value will be 0, then it will increase or decrease by the value that you set.

5. Enter a value for the attribute.

your title goes here

Number type can take only numeric values. The datetime type can take only date values.

6. Save the element to save your changes.

your title goes here

You should not update the value of a new attribute on your website, mobile app, or any other platform if you use the Update User Attribute element.

Analytics

After you launch your journey, you can see the Arrived and Processed metrics on the Update User Attribute element on the canvas.

Arrived indicates the number of users who have arrived at the Update User Attribute element.
Processed indicates the number of users who are taken into the process to perform the desired action.
Dropped indicates how many users were dropped due to being deleted, unification, or inactivity.