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Personalization

Targeting and the test link

Targeting decides who sees a personalization: visitors who arrive with the right adfit parameter, or with the ad parameters you set. This guide covers how to read and edit targeting, how to test a personalization with its own link, and how to give a campaign a new adfit parameter.

How a visitor matches

Every personalization belongs to a campaign, and the campaign carries a unique token. It travels in the link as the adfit parameter, for example ?adfit=af_Xq7LmR2vTp9KdY4sHn8BcWz1. A visitor sees the personalization when the parameter (or the ad parameters you set) matches the address they came in on. You add the parameter to your ad's link, so only visitors from that ad get the personalized page.

Targeting is per campaign, not per page

Targeting applies to the whole campaign, on every page. If a campaign covers several pages, changing its targeting changes it everywhere at once.

Read the targeting card

Open a personalization and find the Targeting card. It shows, read-only:

  • A one-line summary of when a visitor sees this personalization.
  • The Test link: the page's address with the token and the test parameter added, plus a Copy link button (see Test a personalization).
  • The adfit parameter, shown as ?adfit= and the campaign's token, with a Copy parameter button. Under it adfit says how to use it: Add this to the end of your ad's link. If the link already has a "?", start with "&" instead of "?".
  • The Campaign value, if you set one, and the target Path.

Above the fields, one sentence says when a visitor sees it, for example Visitors see this personalization when the adfit parameter below is in their link. If you set a campaign value, the sentence names it too. In the campaign view the same sentence reads Visitors see this campaign when …

In the list of personalizations, each campaign row shows the adfit parameter with a small copy button, and the row menu has Copy test link, which copies the test link of the first published page. If no page is published yet, it copies the test link of the first page.

Press Edit targeting on the card to change any of this.

Edit targeting

Edit targeting opens a panel from the right. It notes Targeting applies to the whole campaign, on every page. You can set:

Match mode

Under Show this when, choose how the rules combine:

  • Any of these: a visitor matches when at least one rule is true (the adfit parameter or a UTM value). This reaches more visitors.
  • All of these: a visitor matches only when every rule is true (the adfit parameter and every UTM value you set). adfit flags this as narrowing your audience, because a visitor now needs all of them at once.

Campaign name

Give the campaign a name you recognize in Campaign name. It is optional: leave it empty and adfit shows a name it picked for you. You can also rename a campaign from its detail header with the pencil next to the title.

UTM parameters

Match on the UTM values from your ad links: utm_campaign, utm_source and utm_medium. Each one accepts more than one value, so you can match, for example, several sources at once. Type a value and press Add (or Enter) to add it, and remove one with the small cross on its chip. Leave an axis empty to ignore it.

Where these values come from

UTM parameters are the tags many ad platforms add to your link, like ?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=cpc. Use the same values here that your ad uses, and adfit matches visitors who arrive with them.

Next to the utm_campaign value, adfit explains it: Optional. Visitors whose link carries this utm_campaign value also see this personalization, even without the adfit parameter.

When you save, adfit confirms with Targeting saved. If the campaign already has a published page, adfit reminds you first that Changing targeting affects live pages in this campaign.

Test a personalization

Every personalization has a test link so you can see the personalized page yourself. It is the page's address with the campaign token and the test parameter adfit_test=1 added, for example:

https://example.com/pricing?adfit=af_Xq7LmR2vTp9KdY4sHn8BcWz1&adfit_test=1

Press Copy link on the Targeting card and open it in your browser. If the campaign covers several pages, pick the page under Test link for page first. The page this link opens shows the personalized version, whatever the holdback is, and is left out of your results. Pages you click to from there count as normal visits and can show your original.

Test link or ad link

The adfit parameter on its own, without adfit_test=1, is what goes into your ads. Copy it with Copy parameter and add it to your ad links. A visit through such a link is a normal visit: it counts in your results, and if the campaign runs an A/B test with a holdback, it can show your original. Use the test link for your own checks and the parameter in your ads.

Publish first

A test link only shows the personalized page once the personalization is published. On a draft, the card notes This link becomes active after you publish this personalization.

Give the campaign a new adfit parameter

If the adfit parameter was shared where it should not have been, you can replace it. In the targeting panel, press Regenerate next to the adfit parameter. adfit asks you to confirm with Regenerate the test link? and warns that Any links you already shared for this campaign will stop working. This campaign gets a new adfit parameter. Confirm with Regenerate link and adfit gives the campaign a new adfit parameter.

Old links stop working

A new adfit parameter means every ad link and test link that used the old one no longer matches. Update your ads with the new parameter or test link afterwards. Like targeting, the adfit parameter is shared across the whole campaign.

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