Data Integration Best Practices

The first step in adopting FlareLane is deciding what data to integrate and how. We've put together a range of guidance on data integration below.

FlareLane integration is a collaboration between your business teams—such as marketers and POs—and your development team. To keep the integration running smoothly, assign at least one owner per role to drive the work and handle communication.

Everyone involved in the integration should review the guides to understand which data types can be integrated into FlareLane and grasp the basic concepts.

• Events
• User Attributes & Tags

Mapping out the marketing goals you want to achieve with FlareLane first makes it much easier to decide which data to integrate.

For example, try writing out answers to the questions below as full sentences.

• Which targeting groups will you send messages to most often?
• Which automation scenarios will be effective for your service?

Think about what data you'll need to achieve the goals you mapped out. Where possible, we recommend starting small and expanding gradually.

• What characteristics define your targeting groups? (age, tier, purchase date, etc.)
• What customer action should start and end your automation scenarios?

The integration data you've decided on needs to go through developer validation. Have a developer lead the assessment of whether the data can actually be integrated, and what the timing and frequency of integration should be.

For efficient data integration, the baseline approach is to integrate whenever a customer action or data change occurs. In addition, if this is your first time integrating with FlareLane, we recommend running a one-time bulk integration at the outset. That way you start from Day 1 with rich, complete data for custom targeting and automation conditions—so we recommend using both approaches together.

Once you've decided which data to integrate, estimate the actual integration schedule and start the work. You can verify whether data is being integrated correctly through the FlareLane console.

On the [Customer Data Integration] page in the FlareLane console, review the events and tags you've integrated and add descriptions. Once defined, the data becomes searchable and usable via dropdowns throughout FlareLane.

When you use FlareLane, a data-processing entrustment relationship arises between your company and us, so your company must disclose in its privacy policy the status of personal data entrusted to us (the entrusted party and the nature of the work).

Add the following to your company's privacy policy under the list of entrusted parties:

Entrusted party: FlareLabs, Inc. Nature of work: Sending informational and promotional messages on your behalf

• What's the difference between user attributes and tags?
  • User attributes are core data used across many parts of FlareLane, so we recommend integrating all of them. Any remaining custom data is integrated as tags.
• What's the difference between events and tags?
  • Events are customer actions—such as viewing a product or making a purchase—and each one is tied to a point in time. Tags are customer attribute values, such as gender or tier, and once integrated they stay as they are.
• Should I integrate via the API or the SDK?
  • We recommend considering the API approach first. Unlike the SDK, which may require an app update, the API is quick to update and unambiguous.
• Is integrated data reflected in real time?
  • Yes—once integration completes successfully, data is reflected in real time.
• I'd like help with the data integration process.
  • FlareLane customers can reach out when needed to get help from an expert.