Connectors are the building blocks that enable data activation, allowing you to connect Data Activation to your marketing and advertising channels, so you can send audience and event data to the platforms where you need it most. This article explains what connectors are, the types available, and how they work.
How connectors work
Each marketing platform has its own capabilities and ways to communicate. To make this communication work, we've built a dedicated integration for each platform that Data Activation connects to. Each of these integrations is called a connector.
You can find all configured connectors under Connectors in Data Activation.
You can choose between server-to-server connectors and event connectors. The view shows a list of all connectors that are currently configured. Click New Connector or New Event Connector to see all the connectors you can set up.
Types of connectors
Data Activation offers two main connector categories based on how data flows to the destination.
Server-to-server connectors
Server-to-server connectors send profile-level data directly from our servers to the partner platform or the partner's servers. The end user's device isn't involved, which means these connections work even when the user is offline. You use server-to-server connectors with audiences and journey orchestration.
When you link a connector to an audience, it sends each profile that enters the audience to the partner. Each connector also has unique capabilities depending on what the partner platform supports. The following features are available for sending data to partners:
Add: When a profile enters an audience, an add signal is sent to the partner.
Remove: When a profile no longer meets the audience criteria, a remove signal notifies the partner to remove that profile from their list, group, audience, segment, or selection.
Variables: When you set up an audience, you can store profile data in the audience selection. This data is also sent to the partner.
Modify: If the partner supports variables, we send a modify signal when a profile's data changes. This ensures the partner always has the latest information.
To see which features a specific connector supports, refer to the connector documentation for that connector.
Event connectors
Event connectors take ingested event-level data and send it in real time to cloud-based destinations. Once configured, an event connector starts sending data immediately. For more information, see How to use Event Connectors.
Out of the box and custom connectors
Within each connector type, there are two varieties:
Out-of-the-box connectors are part of our core product offering and are available to all customers. You can configure them yourself by creating a new connector.
Custom connectors are built on request for a specific use case and offer greater flexibility. Custom connectors appear under Connectors in Data Activation, but can only be configured by our team. They come with an additional cost and are currently available only as server-to-server connectors. To learn more, read the custom connector documentation.