Getting Started with Definitions
What are definitions and how can they be used?
What are Definitions?
Section titled “What are Definitions?”Definitions are the building blocks of how adtribute understands and processes your data. They describe and organize the information and interactions around the users, channels and products of your business. They come in 5 main types: Events, Entities, Conversions, Touchpoints and Channels.
Events and Entities are the base layers. They hold the data your connections bring in, and you find them under Sources. Conversions, Touchpoints and Channels build on top of them, and you find them under Definitions.
Types of Definitions
Section titled “Types of Definitions”- Events (Sources › Events): These capture any interaction a user has with your digital product, such as clicking buttons, submitting forms, making purchases, or viewing pages.
- Entities (Sources › Entities): These describe objects in your business, like meetings, orders or customers, and hold the latest information about them, e.g. a canceled meeting or order.
- Conversions (Definitions › Events): These represent successful outcomes you want to track, like purchases or lead submissions.
- Touchpoints (Definitions › Touchpoints): These identify interactions with your marketing channels, such as ad clicks, email opens or post purchase survey submissions.
- Channels (Definitions › Channels): These describe your marketing channels and add context to the touchpoints of each channel, e.g. ad spend and the naming conventions of campaigns, ad sets and ads.
Definitions also holds:
- Attribution Models: how the value of your conversions is shared between touchpoints. Read Understanding Attribution Models.
- Attributes: the attributes of your conversions, touchpoints and channels. See Understanding Attributes.
- Fields: metrics for your reports that you calculate with a formula from other fields, shown as a number, a percentage or a currency.
Each definition has a Configuration and Attributes.
Understanding Configurations
Section titled “Understanding Configurations”The Configuration of a definition sets what it is, how it behaves and how adtribute processes its data. For a conversion, for example, it sets which event or entity triggers it.
Here are some examples of standard Configurations for the 5 types (there are many more):
| Events | Entities | Conversions | Touchpoints | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Viewed a product | Shopify Order | Shopify Order | Meta Ads Touchpoint | Meta Ads |
| Added a product to cart | Shopify Customer | Klaviyo Lead | Google Ads Touchpoint | Google Ads |
| Started a checkout | Shopify Order Line Item | Calendly Meeting | TikTok Ads Touchpoint | TikTok Ads |
| Submitted a form | Klaviyo Profile | Typeform Lead | UTM Source / UTM Medium Touchpoint | AppLovin Ads |
| Viewed a page | Calendly Meeting | Closed Won Hubspot Deal | Referrer Touchpoint | |
| Subscribed to a list |
Creating Custom Configurations
Section titled “Creating Custom Configurations”The Configurations of Events, Entities and Channels come from your connections under Sources › Connections:
- Events and Entities are created and tracked automatically by your connections. Their Configuration is read-only, but you can add Attributes to them.
- Channels come from your marketing channel connections. For a channel without its own connection, e.g. Influencer, you can add a Custom Channel connection that reads a Google Sheet. Read Custom Channel Integration with Sheets.
For Conversions and Touchpoints, you can create your own definitions based on Events and Entities:
- Conversions: Definitions › Events › Add Event
- Touchpoints: Definitions › Touchpoints › Create Touchpoint
You can find a detailed explanation in these articles:
Common Custom Configuration Use Cases
Section titled “Common Custom Configuration Use Cases”- Custom Conversions for hero product orders, a completed configurator or a user midway through a quiz
- Custom Touchpoints for smaller channels or channels without an ad platform, like Influencer
- Custom Channels like Influencer, with a Custom Channel connection under Sources › Connections
Understanding Attributes
Section titled “Understanding Attributes”Each definition can have multiple Attributes that provide additional information. Think of Attributes as properties that describe your definitions in more detail.
Here are some examples of standard Attributes for the 5 types (there are many more):
| Events | Entities | Conversions | Touchpoints | Channels |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Meta Ads Ad ID | Shopify Order Fulfillment Costs | Gross Revenue | Sessions | Channel Name |
| Google Ads Ad ID | Shopify Order Product Costs | Net Revenue | Landingpage | Channel Bucket |
| TikTok Ads Ad ID | Shopify Order Transaction Costs | GMV | Channel Impressions | |
| UTM Source / UTM Medium | Sold Quantity | |||
| Referrer | Product Title | |||
| Gross Discounts | ||||
| Order Taxes | ||||
| CM1, CM2 |
Types of Attributes
Section titled “Types of Attributes”- Predefined Attributes: Built-in attributes that come with adtribute by default.
- Connection Attributes: Created automatically by your connections, e.g. the campaign IDs and the spend an ad platform connection brings in.
- Custom Attributes: Attributes built on top of other data, e.g. with a formula. Some come with your connections, like Gross Revenue on the Shopify Order conversion. You can also create your own to track information unique to your business.
Creating Custom Attributes
Section titled “Creating Custom Attributes”When creating definitions, think about what questions you want to answer about your business. This will help you determine which events to track and what Attributes to include.
- Begin with your most important business outcomes as conversions
- Identify key marketing touchpoints that influence these conversions
- Map out the customer journey events you want to track
- Consider what additional attributes would provide valuable insights
When you create Attributes, keep clear naming conventions for easy identification and add detailed descriptions to help team members understand each attribute’s purpose.
Where you create an Attribute depends on its definition:
- Conversions, Touchpoints and Channels: Definitions › Attributes › Add Attribute. Then choose the Definition Type; conversions are listed as Event there.
- Events and Entities: Sources › Events or Sources › Entities, tab Attributes, Create Attribute.
When you create an Attribute, you choose its Configuration Type, e.g. Formula, Source, Extraction or BigQuery Lookup. These articles explain how to set them up:
- Create Custom Event Attributes: map events to a channel, e.g. with URL parameters
- Source Attribute: reuse an existing attribute under a new name
- Extraction Attributes: pull a value out of the raw data of a connection
- BigQuery Lookup Attribute: bring in data from a BigQuery table
- Liquid filters in formulas
Common Custom Attributes Use Cases
Section titled “Common Custom Attributes Use Cases”- Product Grouping
Mapping Naming Conventions to sold Product Groups defined by product tags or SKUs to then filter for those Product Groups in the dashboards and see how they perform (Revenue, Spend, Product Cost, Profit). - Country/Store Grouping
Mapping Naming Conventions to Conversion Country or Store/Domain to then filter for those Countries/Stores in the dashboards and see how they perform (Revenue, Spend, Product Cost, Profit). - Hero Product Order Grouping
Mapping Naming Conventions to Orders containing a certain (hero) product to then filter for those Orders in the dashboards and see how they perform (Revenue, Spend, Product Cost, Profit).