Lytics Data Flow
Get an overview of how data flows in and out of Lytics, and the data transformations that occur inside Lytics.
Lytics Data Flow
Introduction
What will I learn?
- What are the main ingress and egress methods?
- What data transformations take place inside of Lytics?
- What are Events, LQL, and Audiences?
This guide will give you an overview of the main steps the process of data flowing in and out of Lytics.
What's Ingress and Egress?
- Ingress: Data going into Lytics AKA data import
- Egress: Data going out of Lytics AKA data export
Data Ingress
The first step is getting your customer data into Lytics. In this video (2.5 min), we will cover the main data ingress methods at a high-level.Methods to send data to Lytics
Events can be ingested into Lytics through a few methods.
- SFTP
- CSV or JSON
- Batch process - can run hourly, daily, monthly
- Also can be used for a one-time backfill of historical data
- Real-time APIs
- Lytics JavaScript Tag - real-time connector, capturing onsite user behavior
- Custom APIs (Collect endpoints) - powerful option for custom connections and setting the frequency needed for your use case
- Bulk API
- Separate channel to not interrupt the real-time data coming into Lytics
Knowledge Check
What data formats are supported by the SFTP method? Select all that apply.
A. CSV
B. Free Form
C. JSON
D. XML
Answer: A, C
The Lytics JavaScript Tag constantly pushes data into Lytics in real time.
A. True
B. False
Answer: A
Data Transformation
Once your customer data has been ingested into Lytics, the next step is to transform that data so that it can be activated on for your marketing use cases.
In the second part of the "Lytics Data Flow - Data Transformation" video (2 min), we'll give a brief overview of the data transformation process that occurs in Lytics:
- Lytics Query Language (LQL)
- User Profiles
- Audiences
Data Transformation in Lytics
Lytics Query Language (LQL): LQL is a transformative language that maps data as it comes into Lytics. LQL enables 2 key capabilities of the Lytics CDP:
- Enrich data - provide additional data to your downstream tools that wasn't available beforehand.
- Merge data - combining multiple sources of data onto a single user profile.
User Profiles: Lytics builds "educated" user profiles, meaning:
- There are more data sources feeding into a profile (such as web, email, CRM, etc.)
- Not limited to a specific channel (such as email)
- Not limited to a specific type of user behavior (such as email opens)
Audiences: Audiences are group of users that have certain set of criteria associated with them.
- For example, users that have interacted with an ad, email, web form, etc.
- Can be sent downstream for activation
What does LQL stand for?
A. Laughing Quite Loudly
B. Lytics Query Language
C. Learning Query Language
Answer: B
Which of the following are benefits of LQL? Select all that apply.
A. Map incoming data into user profiles
B. Enrich data with additional information from other sources
C. Remove duplicated fields across data sources
D. Merge data from multiple sources into an individual user profile
Answer: A, B, D
Data Egress
Once your customer data has been transformed and enriched, you can then send user profile data and audiences from Lytics to your marketing tools for activation.
This last section of the "Lytics Data Flow - Data Egress" video (3 min) will highlight a few of the main data egress options:
- Website personalization
- Email personalization
- Enriching data in your database or CRM
Personalize the web experience based on user behavior
- Main channel, used the most
- Real-time, based on audience behavior
- For example, you can surface different information for first time visitors vs. frequent users
Email customers the right content at the right time
- Evaluate and serve the right campaigns to users based on user behavior and what's relevant to their interests.
- Send email data (opens, clicks) back into Lytics to further refine audiences
Enrich other data sources for downstream activations
- Send user profiles with rich, behavioral data from Lytics to your CRM, database, or data lake
- Opens up new opportunities for activation on your customer data that wouldn't have been possible otherwise
Match the data egress option to its example use case.
| Data enrichment | Show a modal relevant for a first-time site visitor |
| Web Personalization | Send a product newsletter based on the user's previous purchase |
| Email Personalization | Add cross-channel information to previously siloed data sources |
Summary and Next Steps
Recap
As a quick recap, in this Lytics Data Flow we guide we covered:
- Data Ingress - different methods and different frequencies for sending data to Lytics.
- Data Transformation - how Lytics merges and enriches data into actionable user profiles and audiences.
- Data Egress - important downstream tools that you can activate on your customer data.
Start with the RIGHT data
Your first instinct may be to send ALL of your data to Lytics. However, our most successful implementations start with just the RIGHT data to execute their key use cases.
More Resource
Academy Courses
- Lytics JavaScript Tag
- Lytics Query Language
