Using global control groups

Overview

A global control group is a holdout of records that RPI creates automatically, every time an audience runs, based on logic you define once at the audience definition level. Instead of manually building a matching control split for every audience, activity, or campaign wave, you configure the control logic a single time on the audience definition, and RPI applies it consistently wherever that definition is used, with two exceptions:

• Queue listeners: A global control group has no effect on the queue listener's real-time data-gathering process; records are gathered into the resolution table as they arrive, with no control-group split applied at that stage. However, if that same audience definition is later run as a regular audience build (for example, to run an outbound campaign against the data the listener has accumulated), the global control group applies normally at that point, just like it would for any other audience.

• Embedded audiences: Global control groups aren't available for embedded audiences.

You configure a global control group in one of two ways:

• By rule: A selection rule identifies which records belong in the control group.

• By volume: A percentage or a fixed count of records is held out.

Once configured, the audience definition creates a corresponding control group at each final output whenever an audience built from that definition runs, without additional work in the Audience Designer or Interaction Designer.

Why it matters

Building a control group manually is repetitive, and thus error-prone. If your team manually re-creates a split or holdout output for every audience, the potential for someone to accidentally pick the wrong rule or forget a split increases, resulting in a control group that behaves inconsistently from campaign to campaign.

Global control groups remove that manual step. Configure your holdout logic once at the audience definition, and every audience built from it inherits the same, consistent control behavior. Another benefit is that fewer activities clutter your interaction workflows, making them faster to build, easier to QA, and simpler to open and review.

Use cases

• Multi-segment campaigns: A campaign that splits a national audience into 50 state-level segments would otherwise need 50 additional control outputs, doubling the number of activities in the workflow. With a global control group, RPI applies the holdout logic behind the scenes, so the workflow stays at 50 outputs instead of 100.

• Standardized measurement across campaigns: Marketing operations teams that need every campaign measured against a control group can enforce that standard at the audience definition, rather than relying on each campaign builder to remember to add one.

• Reduced QA overhead: Fewer manually-built control activities in a workflow means less for a reviewer to check, and less room for someone to miss a segment when a workflow contains a large number of activities.

• Consistent holdout percentages for ongoing measurement programs: A recurring campaign that always needs a 5% or 10% holdout can rely on the audience definition to apply that percentage every time, instead of having to re-enter it per audience.

How it works

Global control group logic is located on the audience definition's Details tab, in the Global control group field. It applies wherever that audience definition is used (subject to the queue-listener and embedded-audience exceptions noted above), and it's optional: the field defaults to None.

Configure a rule-based control group

1. On the audience definition's Details tab, set Global control group to Rule.

2. In Control group selection rule, choose the selection rule that identifies control group records. Both Basic and Standard selection rules can be used here.

3. In Control group suffix, enter the characters RPI appends to the output name to uniquely identify the control group output. This defaults to _CTRL.

Configure a volume-based control group

1. On the audience definition's Details tab, set Global control group to Volume.

2. In Control group volume, choose Absolute count or Percentage, then enter the amount:

3. In Control group suffix, enter the characters RPI appends to the output name to uniquely identify the control group output. This defaults to _CTRL.

Working with global control groups in the Audience Designer

When you select an audience definition that has a global control group configured, the Audience Designer surfaces two related controls in the Audience Properties overlay:

• Disable control groups: A checkbox, unchecked by default, that lets you turn off the global control group for this specific audience when a particular use case shouldn't be measured against a holdout. This checkbox only appears when the selected audience definition has a global control group configured.

• Show Definition Details: When toggled on, this displays the audience definition's read-only settings, including the global control group method (Rule or Volume) and its configuration, and the definition's other properties (resolution level, global contact rule, etc.).

Because the control logic is tied to the audience definition, an individual audience can only turn the global control group off. It can't override the rule or the volume without changing the underlying audience definition.

Working with global control groups in the Interaction Designer

When a batch audience or interactive activity is built from an audience definition with a global control group configured:

• The audience activity, as well as every downstream fulfillment activity fed by that audience, displays a control mini-icon, except for manually-built Control activities (refer to Distinguishing from manual Control activities below).

• After you run the interaction, in either test or production mode, a yellow bubble appears above the audience activity and each fulfillment activity. On a fulfillment activity, the bubble shows [output count] + [control group count].

• Control group records are excluded from fulfillment. RPI won’t send them an offer, add them to an export, or otherwise contact them. However, RPI does write these records to offer history so you can report on them and exclude them from future targeting the same way you would any other contacted record.

Viewing global control group results

RPI reports global control group activity as follows:

• Audience results: In the Results Window, the control group count appears as its own line item on the Results tab. Its metadata values are copied from the corresponding output.

• Fulfillment activity results: The control group appears as its own segment in the channel breakdown pie chart on the Results tab.

• Audience Waterfall Report: Global control group details appear as their own line item in the report.

Offer history

Global control group members are written to offer history using the following values, differentiating them from regular fulfillment records:

Important considerations

Differentiating global control groups from manual control activities

RPI already supports manually-built control activities in the Interaction Designer, separate from global control groups. Because global control group offer history also uses ChannelName = Control, any report or query that filters offer history on ChannelName = Control now returns both kinds of records. Use OfferChannelSubName = Control Group to isolate global control group members specifically. Although this theoretically differentiates the two, it isn't a strict guarantee, since someone could name a manually-built control activity "Control Group."

Additionally, manually-built control activities don't display the control mini-icon in the Interaction Designer like audience and fulfillment activities do.

The setting is tied to the audience definition

Because the global control group is configured once, at the audience definition, every audience built from that definition shares the same rule or volume. If you need different control logic for different audiences, use different audience definitions, or use the Disable control groups checkbox where a specific audience shouldn't have a holdout.

Naming and uniqueness

The control group suffix (_CTRL by default) is what makes the control output's name unique among your regular output. If you change the suffix, make sure it doesn't collide with an existing output name; RPI doesn't detect or warn about that collision.

Required permission

Permission to configure the Global control group field is controlled by the same permission that grants access to the Audience Definitions administration area.

Additional resources

• Details tab. Complete reference for the audience definition Details tab, including Global control group.

• Audience Designer actions. Details the Audience Properties overlay, including Disable control groups and Show Definition Details.

• Interaction Designer: Offer. Details offer activity configuration and the control mini-icon and yellow bubble behavior.

• Activity details results. Results Window reference by activity type.