How to Use the New Traits Library & Audience Builder Integration
Feature Overview
The new Traits section serves as a centralised hub within the Covatic platform, allowing you to browse, search, and manage all available audience-building blocks in one place. From this workspace, you can explore five core trait categories, build new custom traits (specifically Content, POI, or Retargeting traits), and add traits directly into new or existing audience segments.
Core Trait Categories
- Custom Traits: Standard demographic categories (Age and Gender) and IAB Content Taxonomy classifications.
- Content Traits: Contextual, event-based traits that target users based on content engagement using Smart Match embeddings or exact keywords.
- POI Traits (New): Location- and interest-based traits targeting physical location visits to Points of Interest (POIs) or Custom Category Groups (CCGs).
- Retargeting Traits: Re-engagement traits targeting users exposed to previous campaigns using specific Campaign IDs.
- Covatic Socio Traits (New): Account-specific demographic and socio-demographic traits derived from Covatic’s proprietary modelling. These include Affluence & Aspiration, Area Characteristics, Commuting, Household Data, Housing, Finance, and more.
Prerequisites
- A registered Covatic account.
- Access to the Traits or Audiences navigation section in your dashboard.
Step-by-Step Instructions
1. Access the Traits Workspace
From the left-hand sidebar menu:
- Click Traits.
- Alternatively, click the Traits card on the main home dashboard.
2. Browse and Filter Categories
Use the horizontal tab bar to filter the trait library:
- All: View the complete list of available traits across all categories.
- Custom: Navigate demographic folders and IAB Content Taxonomy levels.
- Content: Access contextual interest traits.
- POI: View point-of-interest location traits.
- Retargeting: View previously configured retargeting campaign traits.
- Covatic Socio: Explore modelled socio-demographic hierarchies (e.g. Commuting > Means of Travel or Area Characteristics > Proximity).
3. Build New Content, POI, or Retargeting Traits
To create a new trait for your account library:
- Click the blue + (Plus) button next to “Build a new trait” at the top of the Traits page.
- Select one of the three constructible trait types:
- Content Trait: Enter a Smart Match natural language description or exact keywords to capture content context.
- POI Trait: Define a Dataset Name, upload location coordinates via CSV, and set visit frequency and radius settings.
- Retargeting Trait: Enter a Campaign Name and exact Campaign ID to re-engage previously exposed users.
- Fill out the modal configuration and click Save.
Note: The “Build a new trait” tool specifically creates Content, POI, or Retargeting traits. Standard Custom and Covatic Socio traits are pre-populated system models provided within the platform library.
4. Create an Audience Directly from the Traits Library
To start building a segment directly from the Traits library:
- Browse or search for any trait in the category tabs.
- Hover over the desired trait row and click the blue + (Plus) icon on the far right.
- The platform will automatically launch the Build your audience workspace with that trait pre-selected.
5. Add Multiple Traits in the Audience Builder
When refining an audience segment within the “Build your audience” workspace:
- Click the blue + Add Traits button.
- In the Add Traits modal popup, switch between the Custom, Content, POI, Retargeting, and Covatic Socio tabs.
- Click the blue + (Plus) icon next to each trait you want to combine. Selected items will accumulate in the Selected Traits bar at the bottom of the modal.
- Click Add to Audience to insert all selected traits as active blocks in your segment builder.
Success Verification
- Audience Builder Sync: Traits added via the modal appear as active purple/blue tags within the audience workspace.
- Library Storage: Newly created Content, POI, or Retargeting traits appear immediately in their respective category tabs within the Traits workspace for future team reuse.
Note: If your audience segment includes a Retargeting Trait, a notification banner will appear noting that reach and impression statistics for retargeting traits are calculated separately upon campaign delivery rather than shown in pre-flight estimates.
