How to Make Identity IDs Available as Merge Tags in SAS Customer Intelligence 360

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Marketers often aim to enhance the user experience by personalizing landing pages based on the individual visiting them. A common approach is to include links in emails that lead to personalized landing pages on a website. When these pages are behind a mandatory login, identifying the user becomes straightforward, allowing SAS CI 360 to personalize the content accordingly.

However, not all landing pages are behind a login. In such cases, marketers may want to include a user identifier in the link as a URL parameter to enable personalization.

For example, a link like this: https://www.cidemo.sas.com/sasfinance/motor-insurance/?customerid=usthlk2ksol can help personalize the landing page of a motor insurance website by displaying details like the make and model of the user’s car. This creates a more engaging and tailored experience for the visitor.

This seems like a straightforward use case. So, why is it challenging?

The Challenge

SAS CI 360 doesn’t allow Identity Fields, such as Customer ID, Login ID, or Subject ID, to be used as merge tags. This limitation exists to prevent the unintentional sharing of personally identifiable information (PII) with external sources - an industry best practice to ensure data privacy and security.
While this restriction is well-intended, it creates a hurdle for marketers who want to include user identifiers in URLs for personalization purposes, as described above.

Why Does This Happen?

SAS CI 360 collects identity information in two primary ways:

1. Uploaded Customer Tables (Descriptors):

Organizations can create Customer Tables in SAS CI 360 and upload relevant identity fields, such as Subject IDs, Customer IDs, or Login IDs. These tables are often used to store user-specific data for personalization.

2. Identity Events from Websites or Mobile Apps:

Websites and mobile applications can send identity information (e.g., Customer ID, Login ID, or Subject ID) to SAS CI 360 through an Identity Event.

When identity data is uploaded to a Customer Table, SAS CI 360 automatically disables the “Use as merge tag” option for all columns marked as Identity. This means that these fields cannot be used directly for personalization in email, SMS, or other content.
Similarly, identity data collected through Identity Events is also restricted from being used as merge tags, again to ensure that sensitive user information is not exposed unintentionally.

Why This Matters

While the restrictions imposed by SAS CI 360 are critical for maintaining data security and privacy, they can limit the flexibility marketers need to execute certain campaigns. For instance, without the ability to include identity fields in a URL, marketers might struggle to create personalized user journeys for non-logged-in landing pages.
Understanding these limitations is the first step in exploring alternative approaches to achieve the desired personalization.

Before diving into the solution, let’s revisit a key concept: Merge Tags.

What Are Merge Tags

Merge tags in SAS CI 360 are placeholders for personalizing content with user-specific data. Examples include: 

1. Inserting a user’s First Name into an SMS.
2. Adding a Call-to-Action URL with dynamic parameters in an email body. 

Sources of Merge Tags: 

1. Event Attributes: Data collected from user interactions, such as the last viewed policy name.
2. Customer Table Data: Uploaded data like mobile numbers or other descriptors. Remember to mark them as merge tag before uploading. 

Refer to SAS CI 360 documentation for more on personalized content and merge tags. 

Exploring Solutions

Now that we understand the challenge, let’s explore potential solutions.

Using Customer Tables

One of the most widely used approaches is to create a duplicate column in the Customer Table within SAS CI 360. This duplicate column is specifically marked as “Use as a merge tag.” Afterward, the same data stored in the identity field (e.g., Customer ID or Login ID) is uploaded into this new column.
While this method results in data duplication, it is currently the only way to make identifiers available as merge tags through Customer Tables in SAS CI 360.

Why Does This Work?

By duplicating the data into a separate column that is not classified as an Identity Field, you effectively bypass the restriction that prevents Identity Fields from being used as merge tags. The duplicated column can then be used for personalization in emails, SMS, or other content.

Is This a Perfect Solution?

While effective, this approach comes with trade-offs:

• Data Duplication: Maintaining a duplicate column increases storage usage and adds complexity to data management.
• Maintenance Overhead: Ensuring that both the identity field and the merge-tag-enabled column remain in sync requires regular updates.

However, until SAS CI 360 introduces a more seamless way to enable identity fields as merge tags, this method serves as a practical workaround for marketers who prioritize personalization.

If you like to take this approach, below are some steps that can guide you.

Step 1: Design a Customer Table 

To make Identity IDs available as merge tags, start by designing a Customer Table (also called a descriptor) in SAS CI 360. This table should include one column for each identity type you want to use as a merge tag. 

For example, if you want to use Subject ID and Login ID, your table might look like this: 

• Customer Table Name: Identity_Merge_Tags
• Type: Customer 

A sample table structure is below. Feel free to leave other fields (not mentioned here) as default. Leave other properties (e.g., targeting, segmentation, and analytics) as FALSE, since identities are not typically used for those purposes. 

Name	Label	Description	Type	excludeFromAnalytics	identityType	segmentation	identity	availableForTargeting	channelContactInformation	key
Login_Id	Login ID from Merge Tag Table	Login ID from Website and Mobile App	STRING	TRUE	login_id	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE
Login_Id_merge_tag	Login ID - use as merge tag	Login ID - use as merge tag	STRING	TRUE		FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE
Subject_Id	Subject ID from Merge Tag Table	Subject ID to identify users from on-prem data sources	STRING	TRUE	subject_id	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE	FALSE	FALSE
Subject_Id_merge_tag	Subject ID - use as merge tag	Subject ID - use as merge tag	STRING	TRUE		FALSE	FALSE	FALSE	TRUE	FALSE

 

Step 2: Upload the data to the Customer Table 

You can upload data to the Customer Table via: 

1. User Interface: Useful during development and testing.
2. API: Recommended for production to automate regular data updates. 

When you prepare the data for upload, you are merely duplicating the Identity information in its corresponding columns which are marked as "use as merge tag". For example, a sample data you upload to the above Customer Table will look like this. 

Login_Id	Login_Id_merge_tag	Subject_Id	Subject_Id_merge_tag
thor	thor	12345	12345
hulk	hulk	hulk7890	hulk7890
userA	userA	6789	6789

 

Step 3: Use the Merge Tags 

Once the Customer Table is configured and saved, all columns marked with channelContactInformation=TRUE become available as merge tags. You can now use them in emails, SMS, or Custom Tasks. 

For example, to add a merge tag: 

1. Create a new Creative in SAS CI 360.
2. Click the Insert Merge Tag icon.
3. Search for and select the desired identity merge tag. 

You can use the merge tag like any other personalization element in your content. 

For example, create a new Creative, click on the "Insert merge tag" icon, and search for the Identity merge tag you want, and you should be able to add that merge tag as normal. 

Special Consideration for Triggered Custom Task Types. 

When using triggered Custom Tasks, SAS CI 360 automatically includes the Datahub ID in the default payload sent to the connector or agent. However, other identity types, such as Subject ID or Login ID, are not consistently included. 

To ensure these IDs are available, you can add an Outbound Data Attribute. For example, assign the Login ID to a custom Chat ID for a messaging task.

Conclusion 

By designing a Customer Table and leveraging merge tags, you can enable the use of Identity IDs for personalization in SAS CI 360. This approach ensures flexibility and consistency, empowering you to create highly tailored user experiences across communication channels. 

For more details, refer to the SAS CI 360 documentation and the screenshots in the example. 

References

In case you need a little bit more reference for the Customer Table, here are some screenshots from the above example.  

Table: 

Login ID:

Login ID merge tag:

Subject ID:

Subject ID merge tag: