Airship Tags setup for Data Activation

The Data Activation connector for Airship Tags enables you to build and manage audience segments in Airship using tags (labels). Unlike trigger-based connectors that send immediate notifications, Airship Tags allows you to create audience lists that can be activated at a later time for targeted push notifications and messaging campaigns.

Here's how this integration delivers value:

• Build audience segments: Create and manage audience lists in Airship using tags, enabling flexible targeting for future campaigns.

• Automatic tag management: Add tags when profiles enter audiences or journeys, and remove tags when they leave—keeping your Airship segments always up to date.

• Flexible audience targeting: Use tags to target specific customer groups, such as business class flyers, loyal customers, or recent purchasers for push notification campaigns.

• Overcome static list limitations: Unlike static lists (limited to 10,000 profiles), tags support much larger audience sizes, making them ideal for enterprise-scale campaigns.

• Cross-channel consistency: Align your Airship Tags with broader orchestration strategies, ensuring consistent and coordinated messaging across channels.

Tags are descriptive terms indicating user preferences or other categorizations. They’re used to track information about your audience and are set at the Channel and Named User level in Airship.

When a profile:

• Enters an audience or journey step → the configured tag is added to the named user in Airship

• Leaves an audience or journey step → the configured tag is removed from the named user in Airship

This allows you to trigger messages in Airship based on tag changes, enabling use cases such as:

• Sending push notifications to all business class flyers in 2 weeks

• Targeting customers who have subscribed to a particular service

• Engaging users who have viewed specific content

Destination connector overview

Before you begin

Before configuring the Airship Tags, make sure you have the following set up:

• An active Airship account

• At least one project in Airship

• API token with appropriate permissions

Create a project in Airship

If you have not yet created a project in Airship:

1. Click the Create new project button on the top right of the home screen.

2. Enter the details for the project.

A new project should appear on the home screen.

Create an API token in Airship

1. Click the project on the home screen for which you would like to send notifications.

2. From the top menu, navigate to Settings → Tokens (Project configuration section).

3. Click Manage.

4. Click Create Token and give a name for the token.

5. Make sure the Role is selected as All Access.

6. Click Create Token.

7. Copy the App key and Token values from the next screen.

Note

Make sure to copy the token as you will not be able to see the token anymore after you close this screen.

Instructions

Step 1: Configure destination

1. On the Data Activation platform, select Connectors in the left-side navigation bar.

2. Select Server to Server and click New Connector.

3. Select Airship Tags (not to be confused with the Airship Custom Events connector). The form requires the following information:

   • Name: Display name of the partner Server to server integration, used throughout the Data Activation UI

   • Base URL: Related to the Airship integration. Select based on where the data should be stored

   • App key: App key generated from the Airship project settings

   • Token: The token generated in the previous step

   • Default tag group: The default tag group name that will be used when sending tags to Airship

   • Partner number (Advanced settings): Optional. Override the default partner number (25 for Named User ID, 33 for Channel ID) with a new partner number value

Step 2: Add the destination connector to an audience or journey

When adding the Airship Tags connector to an audience or journey, configure the following:

• Tag name: The tag that will be associated with profiles entering or leaving the audience/journey. Use the auto-fill button to populate this field with the current audience or journey step name.

• Override tag group name: Optional. Override the default tag group configured at the connector level with a different tag group name.

Tag character limits:

• Minimum: 1 character

• Maximum: 127 characters

If the audience name exceeds 127 characters, an error will be displayed, preventing the tag name from being submitted.

Connector limitations and known issues

• Tag character limit: A tag must be less than 128 characters

• Tags per named user: Airship supports up to 1,000 tags per named user

• Tags per tag group: Maximum of 100 tags per tag group

• API batch limit: Maximum 1,000 named user IDs per API request

• Named users must exist: The named user ID must already exist in Airship for tags to be applied successfully

Error handling

Airship error codes are displayed in the Data Exchange section of the audience or journey. Common errors include:

Example error response from Airship:

{
    "ok": false,
    "error": "Could not parse request body.",
    "error_code": 40003,
    "details": {
        "error": "named_user_id cannot be blank."
    }
}

For more information, see the Airship API documentation.

FAQ

What is the difference between Airship Tags and Airship Custom Events?

Airship Tags is used for building audience segments using tags/labels that can be activated later for targeted campaigns. Airship Custom Events is used for sending real-time, action-triggered notifications based on customer behaviours.

Can I use Channel IDs instead of Named User IDs?

Yes, the connector supports both Named User ID (partner number 25) and Channel ID (partner number 33). Both partner numbers can be overridden in the advanced settings.

What happens if I reach the 100 tags limit per tag group?

Tags can be deleted either through the Airship API or within the Airship interface when you reach the 100-tag limit. Over time, as audiences are removed, you can clean up unused tags.

Why are some profiles not receiving tags in Airship?

Ensure that all profile identifiers (named user IDs or channel IDs) exist in both systems. If identifiers are not yet registered in Airship, the API request may succeed, but the tags won't be visible until the user is registered.