Attribute Properties in Marketing Cloud Engagement

Enter the external name for this attribute. The name is what see when you choose attributes for personalization in emails and for group creation. Unless the attribute is defined as hidden, subscribers will also see this name in the Profile Center.

When you import subscribers, you are able to map subscriber data fields to attribute fields manually. If the data field name in your subscriber data exactly matches the profile name you enter here, the application is able to default the mapping of those fields to each other.

The first character of an attribute name must be alphabetic. Do not begin an attribute name with a number or any other kind of nonalphabetic character.

Enter an internal description of the attribute. This description is displayed in the profile management workspace only and is not exposed to subscribers.

Descriptions are limited to 200 characters.

The Display Order field reflects this attribute's placement among the profile attributes when displayed to subscribers in the Profile Center and also when displayed within the application in attribute drop-down lists, for personalization in emails and for group creation.

In the navigation pane of the application, the attributes are always displayed in alphabetical order; not in the customizable display order.

To change this attribute's placement in the list of attributes, click the Change button beside the Display Order field. The Profile Display Order dialog box that appears shows all the profile attributes in display order. Use the Move Up or Move Down buttons to move this attribute up or down in the list.

You can change only a single attribute's placement at a time. To change another attribute's placement, you need to edit that attribute's properties.

The Created and Modified fields automatically record when the attribute was created and when it was last modified.

You define whether the attribute is required and whether subscribers can see and edit it.

Required: When you create or import subscribers, this attribute is a required field. Once an attribute is set up as required or not required, the configuration cannot be changed after creation.

Hidden: If you select this check box, the attribute will not be displayed in the Profile Center. Subscribers will not be able to view or edit this attribute.

Read-only: If you select this check box, the attribute is displayed but will not be editable in the Profile Center. Subscribers are able to see their value for this attribute but will not be able to change it.

Attributes that are both required and hidden must include a default value before a subscriber is added to the list using Forward To a Friend in an email send.

Do not update subscriber values with send time values. If the subscriber who exists in your system triggers a triggered send, this checkbox determines whether the system updates the attribute with the attribute values provided with the triggered send trigger.

For text and date attributes, you can dictate the minimum number of characters that are accepted when a value is entered for this attribute.

For numeric attributes, you can dictate the minimum value that is accepted.

Likewise, you can control the maximum length or value as well. If no maximum is set, the application only allows 50 characters for Ent 2.0 accounts and 2,000 characters for all other accounts; however, if the attribute is set up as a triggered send send-time attribute, there is no character limit.

Minimum/maximum value refers to the amount, not the number of digits in the number. If you want to control the number of digits in the entry, then the data type of the attribute should be Text rather than Numeric. For example, a zip code, phone number, or credit card number is a case where you would want to specify the number of digits in the number, not the "value" of the number; in these cases, the attribute should be marked as Text, not Numeric. To specify a minimum and/or maximum, click the appropriate radio button and then enter the minimum or maximum in the corresponding text box.

For example, if the attribute is Year Born and you want to ensure that only four-digit years are entered, you would enter 4 as both the minimum length and the maximum length. To specify the number of characters that can be entered, the attribute data type must be text.

To limit this attribute to a specific set of possible values, enter those values on the Values tab.

If you want to change the order in which these values appear in the drop-down list, click a value and then click the Move Up or Move Down button.

To remove a value from the list, click the value and then click the Remove button.

If any existing subscriber record contains the value you're removing from the list, the subscriber will not be affected. That value remains in the subscriber's record.