Define Audiences with Standard Traits
This guide outlines how to use Standard Traits to define your audience segment within the Covatic platform. Standard Traits are the foundational building blocks of your audience, covering housing, transport, finance, and digital behaviour.
Feature Overview
The Standard Trait selector allows you to pick from a pre-defined library of demographic and behavioural data points. This is the most common way to build an audience, as it uses reliable, structured data categories to pinpoint your ideal users.
Prerequisites
- A registered Covatic
- Access to the Audiences or Advertising
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Open the Trait Selector
From within Step 2 of the audience building process (“Build your audience”):
- Locate the Traits
- Click the + Standard Trait
2. Browse by Category
The Select Traits modal will appear with a sidebar of data categories. Navigate through these to find your target criteria:
- Housing: Includes “House Type” (e.g., Detached, Terraced) and “House Tenure.”
- Family: Covers “Structure,” “Child Age,” and “Children in Household.”
- Transport: Includes “Car Ownership” (e.g., Number of cars) and “Travel to Work.”
- Finance: Covers “Household Annual Income,” “Disposable Income,” and “Financial Situation.”
- Digital: Includes “Internet Access” and “Digital Attitudes” (e.g., “I couldn’t live without the internet on my mobile”).
3. Select Specific Values
- Once you click a category, a sub-menu of specific traits will appear.
- Click the + (Plus) icon next to the specific value you want to target (e.g., “Household Annual Income: £80,000–£89,999”).
- Selected traits will appear in the bar at the top of the modal so you can keep track of your choices.
4. Apply Traits to Your Build
- After choosing all relevant criteria, click the Select Traits button at the bottom right of the modal.
- These traits will now appear as individual blocks in your audience builder.
5. Review and Adjust
Once the traits are added to your builder:
- Check the Logic: By default, traits within the same block use “OR” logic (users can have any of those traits).
- View Reach: Look at the Group Reach and Platform Reach charts on the right to see how these specific traits affect your total audience size.
- Remove Traits: If you change your mind, simply click the X on the specific trait tag to remove it from your segment.
Success Verification
Your selected traits are successfully applied when they appear as purple tags within the Traits section of your audience build. You will also see the Reach and Inventory numbers update in real-time based on these selections.
Pro-Tip: If you are unsure which traits to pick, look at the Suggested section at the bottom of the builder. The Platform recommends relevant traits (like “Household Income” or “Financial Accounts”) to help you get started.
