Frequently asked questions

Which browsers can I use to access Blueshift?

The Blueshift app is developed to work on the latest versions of Google Chrome on laptop/desktop devices. Browsers on desktops and laptops that use the latest version of Google Chrome's rendering engine (Blink), such as Brave or Microsoft Edge, might work even though we don't officially support them.

Other browsers such as Safari or Mozilla Firefox are not officially supported. In addition, browsers on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones are not supported.

How does Blueshift identify a user and corresponding activities?

• A known user is identified based on the customer_id (preferable), email, and/or device_id sent by you.
• For unknown users, we capture cookies on the web by setting up a first party cookie.
• For non-identify events, the event data must include either the customer_id or device_id.

Can you link anonymous user activity to a known customer?

Blueshift can link anonymous user activity on your website to a known customer profile if:

• A user clicks on a URL in a Blueshift sent email, and the link click is redirected to a page on your site.
• A known customer profile contains the customer's email address.

Reach out to support@blueshift.com or your CSM if you'd like to enable this feature.

Can I add user attributes on an ongoing basis?

Yes, you can upload as many user attributes as you want and as often as you want through the dashboard as long as you map them to an email.

How do I unsubscribe users manually?

• For a small set of users, search for the user using Customer Attributes and edit the status manually.
• For a larger set of users, create a CSV file with the email and with unsubscribe set to true. Upload using the Customer Attributes UI.

Can I use the dashboard to upload CRM data?

• Yes, we recommend that you upload no more than ~500K rows at a time.
• For larger data, split the file into smaller segments and/or work with the Blueshift team to upload via S3.

What information should be provided in historical data?

We only need order/purchase data. Other event data is not required. In the CSV file, add a separate row for each transaction.

Are there any specific formats for field types?

For dates, you must send the data in iso8601 format.

What type of events should we send to Blueshift?

We recommend sending at least the following events:

• identify (the event that passes the email/customer id of a user upon login and sign up),
• viewed page (essential for everything else to work, should be on every page),
• viewed product,
• add to cart,
• checkout,
• purchase

How does Blueshift track conversions/revenue?

To track conversions/revenue, you must first set the Attribution parameters in the Account Settings (https://app.getblueshift.com/dashboard#/account/other). Then use the standard Purchase event to track revenue.

How can we ensure that events we send are processed in Blueshift?

You can view event logs by dates, including errors, here: https://app.getblueshift.com/dashboard#/click_stream/index

What data should be included in the Inventory/Product catalog?

Product/Item data must include the product ID, product name, product url, image url, price, and sale price. We also recommend that you include the category, on sale, in/out of stock information.

Does Blueshift accept multiple product catalogs?

Yes, but product IDs must be unique across all catalogs.

How do I set a product status to out-of-stock?

Set rules in the catalog settings to set a product as OUT_OF_STOCK or IN_STOCK based on one of the fields in the catalog file.

For example, consider that the catalog has an “inventory” field. Set the "inventory" field to "0" to set it to "OUT_OF_STOCK" and set the default value to IN_STOCK. Or use a field like “'status” where “Active” maps to IN_STOCK and “InActive” maps to OUT_OF_STOCK.

How do I expire/remove a product?

For each product you can send "start_date" and "end_date" fields when you upload a catalog. The expected format is iso8601 for these two fields. Blueshift uses these fields to automatically set a product to OUT_OF_STOCK if the current_date does not fall within that range.

What happens when we import a catalog again or update a catalog?

INSERT/UPDATE logic is used to INSERT new products and UPDATE existing products as identified by SKU/product_ID.

What data can I use to create segments?

All data sent by you to Blueshift (event, user attributes, product catalog, historical) is available for segmentation. However, only the last 90 days of event data is available for segmentation.

How often are Segments refreshed?

Depends on the campaign, but for segment triggered campaigns the segment is refreshed every 3-5 minutes.

I have campaigns (ex. Reactivation) where I need to segment users based on events greater than 90 days. How can I accomplish that in Blueshift?

Contact the Blueshift team to find what other options may be available.

Can I get a CSV file of all users in the current Segment?

Yes, click the Export User List icon to get the CSV file via email.

How do I personalize an email template?

Blueshift uses an open source templating language called Liquid to reference and create personalized content. You can include user, product, and transaction attributes in your email templates. To find out more, see Personalization using Liquid.

What level of personalization is available in a push notification?

The personalizations available for push templates are the same as that available for email templates. However, given the size limitations of a push notification, you might want to include only a few select attributes in the template.

Can I preview the email in a browser?

Yes, by inserting the variable {{email_preview_link}} in your template.

Can I preview my templates prior to launching a campaign?

Yes, there is a Test Send feature for each messaging channel. You can send the test user’s personalized email to your email address. However, personalization preview is only available for Email templates.

Can I overwrite UTM parameters in email template?

Yes, by defining the parameters in a campaign trigger.

Can you host a preference center for us?

Contact the Blueshift team to discuss options.

Can I get a detailed user activity report per campaign?

Yes, Blueshift provides a summary, detailed and user activity report for each campaign.

How are push notifications tracked?

For push notifications, opens = sends/users, click = app opened and an event was generated within 15 minutes of opening the notification.

How are bounces tracked?

Hard bounces are displayed on the dashboard. For soft bounces, Sendgrid (or your vendor) will retry up to 72 hours.

Do you track deliverability of push messages?

Once we send a message to GCM/APNS, it is upto their service to ensure deliverability.

Why don't the numbers in various reports match?

One of the reasons the numbers in reports might not match is because they might be run for different time periods. A particular time window might not capture all the data. Hence ti is important to select the correct time period for the report.

Consider the following example:

There are 2 one-time campaigns, A and B.

• Campaign A is sent to 100 users on 12/1/21.
  • 20 users opened the message on 12/1.
  • 20 users opened the message on 12/2.
  • Another 20 opened the message on 12/3.
• Campaign B is sent to 10 users on 12/2/21.
  • 2 users opened the message on 12/2.
  • 2 users opened the message on 12/3.
  • Another 2 opened the message on 12/4.

• Open rate for 12/2: The total sends on 12/2 = 10 and total opens on 12/2 = 22. So open rate = 220%.
• Open rate for 12/3: The total sends 12/3 = 0 and total opens on 12/3 = 22. So open rate = ∞.
• Open rate for the the period 12/2 through 12/4:  The total sends = 110 and total opens = 66. So open rate = 60%

Only by measuring the open rate for the period 12/2 through 12/4, do we get the correct open rate for these 2 campaigns.

Do you support deep-linking within mobile apps?

Yes. For more information, see Blueshift's Deep Links.

How does a push message get delivered?

Whenever an app is installed (or re-installed) by a user on the device, a device_token is created and is sent to Blueshift. Blueshift sends a push message to this device_token. If multiple users sign into the same device, they are all assigned the same device token.

Do you store multiple device tokens per customer?

Yes, we append any new tokens. Device tokens are removed if we receive a notification from Apple or GCM that a token is no longer in use. A push notification is sent for each device token registered with Blueshift.

Can you tell me more about the last_device_token?

• By default last_device_token is set to false in Admin settings.
• If last_device_token is set to true, Blueshift sends a message to only the last device used even if a user has multiple mobile devices.
• If last_device_token is set to false and if the user has multiple devices, then for Android devices, the message is always sent to only 1 device token. For iOS devices, the message is sent to every device (iPad, iPhone, etc.).