Use multiple custom Floodlight dimensions to segment and filter conversion data

Custom Floodlight variables add details about each conversion that a Floodlight activity records, such as the genre of a movie that a user purchases, a customer value you've assigned to the user, and so on. You can use this data in Search Ads 360 to segment conversion reports, filter a custom Floodlight column, or create a bid strategy that targets the conversions reported by a filtered Floodlight column.

By default, you can only use one custom Floodlight dimension at a time. To use multiple dimensions to filter, segment, or optimize bids, you'll need to set up a Floodlight segmentation group as described in this article.

For example:

1. You set up two custom Floodlight variables as dimensions:
   • Movie genre, which reports 50 unique daily values on average.
     That is, on average your users purchase movies from 50 different genres each day.
   • Customer value, which reports 5 unique daily values on average, such as "New", "Subscriber", "Frequent buyer", and so on. 
2. You specify in your advertiser settings that you want to use "customer value" and "genre" to segment reports and filter custom Floodlight columns.
3. To report on this combination, you view the "movie genre" dimension on the Dimensions tab, then segment by "customer value".  The Dimensions tab displays a report similar to the following example:

   Movie genre	Customer value	Clicks	Conversions
   Comedy	New	300	10
   Comedy	Frequent buyer	500	60
   Drama	New	100	20
   Drama	Frequent buyer	200	80

4. To optimize your advertising spend for acquiring new customers who purchase comedies, you do the following:
   1. Create a Floodlight column that is filtered to show purchases in which the Movie genre dimension specifies "Comedy" and the "Customer value" dimension specifies "New".
   2. Create a bid strategy that targets the Floodlight column.

Data requirements

Because segmenting or filtering with multiple custom Floodlight dimensions introduces the potential to create huge data sets, you'll need to create a segmentation group for your advertiser. The group specifies which custom Floodlight  dimensions you want to use to segment reports and filter custom Floodlight columns. You can specify any combination of custom Floodlight dimensions as long as the total combination contains no more than 200,000 unique daily values.

Before you start

Set up custom Floodlight dimensions in Search Ads 360. Only dimensions can be used to segment reports and filter columns (custom Floodlight metrics cannot be used).

Special permissions required

Only Search Ads 360 agency managers or advertiser managers can set up a segmentation group. 

Dimensions used in combination with other dimensions can't be removed from the segmentation group

If you're using two or more custom Floodlight dimensions to filter a Floodlight column or to segment a saved view, you can't remove the dimensions from the segmentation group. Once a combination of dimensions is in use, removing any of those dimensions from the segmentation group could result in invalid data. 

If you need to remove one of these dimensions from the segmentation group, first remove it from Floodlight columns or saved views.

Set up a Floodlight segmentation group

1. Navigate to an advertiser in Search Ads 360 that's associated with a Campaign Manager 360 advertiser that contains custom Floodlight variables.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. In the left navigation panel, click Advertiser settings.
   
   Don't see Advertiser settings? Only Search Ads 360 agency managers or advertiser managers can see Advertiser settings in the left navigation panel. 

3. Click the Floodlight▼ tab and select Custom Floodlight variables.
   The tab lists all custom Floodlight variables that Search Ads 360 has discovered for the Campaign Manager 360 advertiser.

4. Click the gear icon  that appears above the reporting table.

5. Click the Add variable list and select a custom Floodlight dimension.
   
   The Add variable list displays custom Floodlight variables that meet the following criteria:

   • The variable has been set up in Search Ads 360 as a custom Floodlight dimension
     In the Custom Floodlight Variables reporting table, the Type column for dimension variables contains Dimension

   • The variable has reported data to Search Ads 360 at least once in the past 30 days

6. Above the Save button, the edit panel indicates how many unique values the current set of dimensions contains.
   For example:  
   Total number of unique daily values: 6,400  (max 200,000)

7. You can add more dimensions to the group until you reach the maximum number of unique values.

8. Click Save.

Depending on the number of unique values in the segmentation group, Search Ads 360 may need up to two days to calculate all of the possible combinations. While Search Ads 360 is calculating data, the following message appears above the "Custom Floodlight variables" reporting table:
Search Ads 360 is loading historical data for your segmentation group 

Search Ads 360 removes the message when it finishes its calculations.

Remove dimensions from the segmentation group

Note: If you're currently using a combination of custom Floodlight dimensions in a Floodlight column or saved view, you can't remove any of the dimensions in the combination from the segmentation group.

To remove dimensions from the segmentation group:

1. Navigate to an advertiser in Search Ads 360 that's associated with a Campaign Manager 360 advertiser that contains custom Floodlight variables.

   Steps for navigating to an advertiser

   1. Click the navigation bar to display navigation options.

   2. In the "Agency" list, click on the agency that contains the advertiser. You can search for an agency by name or scroll through the list.

   3. In the "Advertiser" list, click on the advertiser.

   4. Click Apply or press the Enter key.

   Search Ads 360 displays the advertiser page, which contains data for all of the advertiser’s engine accounts.

2. In the left navigation panel, click Advertiser settings.
   
   Don't see Advertiser settings? Only Search Ads 360 agency managers or advertiser managers can see Advertiser settings in the left navigation panel. 

3. Click the Floodlight▼ tab and select Custom Floodlight variables.
   The tab lists all custom Floodlight variables that Search Ads 360 has discovered for the Campaign Manager 360 advertiser.

4. Click the gear icon  that appears above the reporting table.

5. Click the X icon next to a dimension.

6. Click Save.

Search Ads 360 removes the custom dimension from the segmentation group. While you can still use the removed dimension as a primary segment, as a dimension on the Dimensions tab, and as a filter in Floodlight columns, you can no longer use the dimension as an additional segment on the Dimensions tab or in a report that is already segmented by a custom Floodlight dimension.