Use Cases

Traits in Sortment allow teams to define reusable logic for grouping users or computing values that can be applied consistently across audiences, campaigns, and journeys. Traits help enforce consistency, reduce errors, and save time by centralising business logic.


Why traits matter?

Without shared traits, different teams may interpret the same data differently. For example:

  • Marketing defines a High Value Customer (HVC) as anyone with lifetime spend over $3M.

  • Sales considers HVCs as those spending $1M+, based on their pipeline goals.

If each team builds their own audience filters, misalignment is inevitable. Someone might use the wrong threshold or field, leading to flawed insights or mistargeted campaigns.

By defining a single trait like High Value Customer (e.g., total_order_value > 3,000,000), all teams refer to the same logic. Any future updates are made once and reflected everywhere.


Common trait examples

Metric based traits

These are based on numeric conditions, aggregations, or threshold logic:

Trait
Logic

High Value Customer

total_order_value > 3,000,000

Inactive User

last_login_date < now() - 90 days

Coupon Abuser

num_coupons_used > 5 in 7 days

Repeat Buyer

completed_orders >= 2

Engaged Visitor

session_count (last 30 days) > 5

Top 10% Spender

total_order_value in 90th percentile

Cart Abandoner

cart_created AND NOT checkout_started within 24h

Dimension based traits

These traits are derived from field combinations, SQL logic, or categorical bins—and not aggregates.

Trait
Logic

Adjusted Order Total

subtotal - discount + tax + shipping

Buyer Type

CASE WHEN orders = 1 THEN 'First-time' WHEN orders > 1 THEN 'Repeat'

Order Size Category

Bin subtotal into Low/Medium/High ranges

Geo Segment

country IN ('US', 'CA') => 'North America'

These are especially useful for defining categories, applying transformations, or simplifying complex logic into a single field for reuse.


Create traits using AI

Sortment includes a built-in AI assistant that can help you define traits faster and more accurately. Just describe the trait you want in plain language—like:

"Create a trait of users who made more than two purchases in the last 60 days and haven’t interacted with a promotional email in the last week.

and the AI will generate the corresponding logic for you.

This makes trait creation accessible even to non-technical users and ensures best practices are followed behind the scenes.


Benefits of Using Traits

  • Shared understanding across teams

  • Consistent targeting in campaigns and reporting

  • Centralised logic, updated once and applied everywhere

  • Faster analysis and fewer manual filters

  • Reduced human error in segmentation and performance tracking

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