There are two types of third-party integrations with Omnisend:
those that trigger the Custom event and pass custom fields associated with the event;
those that create or update the information in your customer profile, including custom properties assignment.
In this article, we will look into both custom fields and custom properties to distinguish the similarities and differences between each of the concepts.
Custom Fields
Along with the custom event, 3rd party applications are passing the information related to that event. It may include anything, starting from the name of your contacts, tracking number, or the product your customer has purchased. These data are passed and assigned to the corresponding Custom event.
You may check what custom fields can be passed with the event in your Store Settings → Custom events. Here, you will see the full list of the Custom events and custom fields these events are passing.
After selecting the Custom event in the Automation trigger settings, the list of the custom fields will be available in the Personalization menu.
The information passed with the Custom event can be added to the content of the message, and it will be unique for each of your contacts. This information is not stored in Omnisend after the message is triggered and sent.
In case the integration is passing the event and custom fields through the API, you will be able to view the body of the request in the Developer's console.
Contact Properties
Contact properties include the information specific to each of your contacts. This information can be added to the message but will also be assigned to your customers' accounts.
You may check the list of the custom properties in each of your customers' accounts individually by Segmenting them based on some of the properties or by exporting your contacts list to the file.
Unlike custom fields, custom properties can be added to the message content for both Automation workflows (despite the trigger) and Campaigns.
Another key difference is that custom properties are stored in Omnisend and can be used for sending and segmenting at any time.
In case the 3rd party app is passing the information about the contact through API, you will be able to view the body of the request in the Developer's console.
Key Aspects
These two concepts may sound and look similar. However, they serve different purposes. Let's underline some bullet points to highlight the properties of each:
Both custom fields and custom properties can be added to the message content using the Personalization option;
Custom fields are passed and assigned to the Custom event and can be used within the Automation with that trigger only. You can't segment your contacts based on them.
Custom properties are assigned to your contacts' profiles and can be used in any of your automations or campaigns. You can use them for your contact segmenting.
If you still have any questions or need any assistance, feel free to contact us at [email protected].