Creating and updating IBM Digital Analytics based customer segments

If you create a profile segment with IBM Digital Analytics, formerly known as Coremetrics Analytics, you can export the list of customers in the profile segment to WebSphere Commerce. The export process saves the profile segment to the WebSphere Commerce production server database as a customer segment that you can use in marketing activities and promotions.

Before you begin

The export settings for customer segments must be configured in IBM Digital Analytics.
The profile segment that you want to export must exist in IBM Digital Analytics.
Your IBM Digital Analytics user name must belong to a user group with permission to export profile segments to WebSphere Commerce.

For more information about profile segments and IBM Digital Analytics user names, see the user guide that is provided with IBM Digital Analytics.

About this task

Introduced in Feature Pack 3 When you export a profile segment from IBM Digital Analytics that has the same name as an existing WebSphere Commerce customer segment, the export process can be configured to update the existing customer segment rather than creating a new one. This configuration prevents storing multiple versions of the same customer segment in WebSphere Commerce. A site administrator can configure whether the export process adds customers to or replaces customers in the existing customer segment. For more information, see Configuring the export mode for IBM Digital Analytics based customer segments.

Procedure

Log on to IBM Digital Analytics.
Open the Profile Segments list page.
Find the profile segment to export to Management Center.
In the Actions column for the profile segment, click the Export to WebSphere Commerce icon.
The profile segment is exported. A message displays stating that the profile segment is transmitted.
- If the name of the exported profile segment does not match any existing customer segments in Management Center, then the export process creates a customer segment by using the profile segment name. If the profile segment name matches an existing customer segment in Management Center, then the export process replaces the existing customer segment.
- A new customer segment is created with the following name:
```
Name of report - Profile segment name - Date - Timestamp
```
Arrange for a site administrator to copy the customer segment from the production server to the staging server.
To verify that the customer segment exists in WebSphere Commerce on the staging server:
- If you use Management Center:
  1. Open the Marketing tool.
  2. In the explorer view, click the Customer Segments folder.
  3. In the Customer Segments - List page, check for the customer segment.
- If you use WebSphere Commerce Accelerator:
  1. Open WebSphere Commerce Accelerator.
  2. In the Customer Segments - List page, check for the customer segment.