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Global control groups

What is a global control group​

Global control groups are parts of the customer base that temporarily does not receive marketing communications in order to analyze the effectiveness of marketing strategies. After some time, the user can compare the key metrics of the main part of the customers and the control group. In case the metrics of the groups differ slightly, the marketer can conclude that his campaigns are ineffective.

Having control groups allows to:

  • Evaluate the effectiveness of marketing strategies;
  • Optimize marketing costs;
  • Increase the conversion rate of marketing campaigns.

Configuring global control groups​

You can customize the formation of a global control group for a profile database only after its creation. To do this, go to edit the created base and find the corresponding section at the bottom of the page:

The first step is to select an source audience for the GCG. This source can be either a profile database or a segment. If you have selected a segment as the source for the GCG, you will need to set up a segmentation query. You can read more about segmentation and selection conditions in this section.

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Regardless of the source of the audience, the following requirements exist for a global reference group:

  • The GCG must include between 1,000 and 10 million profiles;
  • The GCG must be no less than 5% of profiles and no more than 25% of the entire profile base;
  • There must be at least 20,000 profiles in the profile database to form a control group.

You can set up and activate a control group at any time, but it will only be formed after all of the above criteria have been met. In case of any problems related to the number of profiles in the GCG, the platform will notify you:

The global control group based on the profile database has two ways of formation:

  • Random distribution — profiles for the control group are selected randomly according to the specified group size.
  • From file — the control group will be formed from profiles in a file. The file must contain a column with an identifier to search for profiles for the control group.

If you have chosen the option of forming from file, you will be offered to upload a file with the list of clients in .xls, .xlsx, .csv or .txt format, and then specify the field for searching profiles in the database and the column for comparison from the file. After clicking on the "Verify compliance" button, the platform will display a message indicating the number of profiles that will be included in the control group:

For random distribution, you can specify a specific number of profiles in the group, as well as the maximum percentage of GCGs to the entire database of profiles. The latter parameter is necessary to limit the size of the GCG in case the number of profiles in the database changes significantly:

Then you must specify the frequency of recalculation for the global control group, the minimum value is once every 12 months, the maximum value is once every 1 month. The recalculation takes place according to the specified schedule at 00:00 in the account's time zone:

The parameter "Exclude re-entry for a profile at the next recalculation" allows to prohibit the profiles participating in the current control group to get there at the next recalculation. However, these profiles will be able to get to the GCG at the third and subsequent recalculations.

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If the same profiles keep getting added to the control group, it can distort the results and lead to wrong conclusions. The "Exclude re-entry for a profile at the next recalculation" parameter helps change the control group, making the experiment's results more accurate.

In order for the global control group to start working, you need to activate it and save it. Before activation, the platform will inform you of the next recalculation date of the control group and offer to save information about the past activation:

Once GCG is saved you will have access to quick-actions menu at the top of the screen:

The following buttons are available to you in the menu:

  • Deactivate - stops the GCG from running
  • Export Report - allows you to unload the list of profiles that are in the GCG
  • Insights - opens appropriate page of analytics
  • Reset Settings - resets GCG settings and clears all filled fields.

Keep in mind that the first data and analytics on the participants of the GCG will be available after the first calculation. Once the CTG has been successfully set up and run, the Profile Database Edit screen will display information about the control group, the number of profiles in it, and the dates of the last and next recalculation:

In order to view the log, which contains detailed information about GCG recalculations, you need to go to edit the control group and open the corresponding tab at the bottom of the screen:

Exclusions for the global control group​

You can configure exclusions from the global control group in the "Ignore global control group" section. Within the selected resources, campaigns and scenarios, marketing communications will be carried out even for those users who are in the global control group:

Either specific campaigns and scenarios or tags can be specified here. If a tag is specified, all items marked with that tag will be excluded from the GCG.

GCG statistics​

A comparison of metrics for the audience receiving communications and the control group audience can be viewed in Analytics - Global Control Group:

A graph comparing the main group to the control group will appear in front of you. You can select pixel and target to compare metrics derived from tracking pixels and sales channel for Market metrics:

Read more about analytics on global control groups here.

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