In Analytics, you can build audiences that will update based on the definitions that are set. You can make use of the Include filter to add a condition that adds a user to the audience when met. The Exclude filter sets a condition that excludes a user from being added to the audience.
Limitations
If an audience is initially created without an Exclude filter, you cannot edit the condition to add an Exclude filter afterwards. After an audience is created, you can only edit the audience name, description, and audience trigger.
In this articleDimensions: Static vs. Dynamic
You can create audiences of users that meet the condition:
- Static: “In any time period”
- Dynamic: “At the most recent interaction”
What’s the difference? For “In any time period” the audience is not re-evaluated. If you choose “At the most recent interaction” the audience will be evaluated to ensure the condition is still true when the user most recently visited the website.
Dimensions: Static / "In any time period"
If you select “In any time period”, it is a static audience. If the condition was EVER true about the user, they will be included in the audience.
Example
Say a user visited the website in the United States 14 days ago, but visited the website in Canada 7 days ago. For an audience of users in the United States, if you select “In any time period”, the user will be included in the audience.
Dimensions: Dynamic / “At the most recent interaction”
If you select “At the most recent interaction”, it is a dynamic audience. If the condition was true about the user at the most recent time they interacted with your website or your app, they will be included in the audience.
“At the most recent interaction” users are added to an audience when they meet the conditions and then removed when they no longer meet them.
As Analytics gets new data about users, their audience memberships can be re-evaluated to ensure they still meet the audience criteria. In the dynamic case, the latest data indicate they no longer meet the criteria, they are removed from those audiences.
Example
Say a user visited the website in the United States 14 days ago, but visited the website in Canada 7 days ago. For an audience of users in the United States, if you select "At the most recent interaction”, the user will NOT be included in the audience. This is because, at the most recent interaction, they visited the website from Canada - not the United States.
Metrics: Static / “In any time period”
If you select “True at any point in time”, it is a static audience. If the condition was EVER true about the user, they will be included in the audience.
Example
Say you have an audience of users with LTV (Lifetime Value) greater than or equal to $50. A given user makes a purchase of $50 on the website 14 days ago, but then they refund that item for $50 more recently. For this audience, if you select “True at any point in time”, the user will be included in the audience.
Metrics: Dynamic / “True at the user’s last interaction”
If you select “True at the user’s last interaction”, it is a dynamic audience. If the condition was true about the user at their last interaction, then they will be included in the audience.
Example
Say you have an audience of users with LTV (Lifetime Value) greater than or equal to $50. A given user makes a purchase of $50 on the website 14 days ago, but then they refund that item for $50 more recently. For this audience, if you select “True at the user’s last interaction”, the user will NOT be included in the audience, because after the refund, this user’s LTV is $0.
Time-Windowed Metrics & Static vs. Dynamic Lookback
The custom rules-based builder also supports Time periods in a condition. You can specify that a metric condition must be true during a specific number of days (e.g., > 5 during any 7 day period).
For example, if you wanted to make an audience of users that had completed 5 purchases within a 7 day period, you would make an audience and include a time-window; purchase > 5.
You have an option to make the time-window dynamic, or static.
For dynamic, choose “True in the most recent period”. This means that the user had to complete 5 purchasers within the most recent 7 days, to be included in the audience.
For static, choose “True at any period duration”. This means that as long as the user completed 5 purchases in any 7 day period - even if it was last month - the user will be included in the audience.
