# Activation overview Sync Amplitude audiences to downstream tools to personalize messaging at the right moment. Source: https://amplitude.com/docs/data/audiences --- On this page - [How Amplitude Activation delivers personalized experiences to your users](#how-amplitude-activation-delivers-personalized-experiences-to-your-users) - [Segmentation](#segmentation) - [Cohorts](#cohorts) - [Computations](#computations) - [Personalization](#personalization) - [Predictions](#predictions) - [Recommendations](#recommendations) - [Delivery](#delivery) - [Syncs](#syncs) - [APIs](#apis) # Activation overview Personalization like Netflix and Amazon, where you optimize the digital experience for the right user with the right message at the right time, is the goal of every marketer. The effectiveness of personalization depends on the data you have access to. By themselves, demographic, behavioral, or algorithmic data aren't enough. To achieve true 1:1 personalization, you need **all three**. Only then can you deliver tailored experiences that maximize conversion rates. Amplitude Activation is the first **self-serve personalization platform** that works for every job, stage, and stakeholder of the personalization workflow without a data scientist or engineer. ## How Amplitude Activation delivers personalized experiences to your users Many companies approach personalization by simply showing content items in random arrays, or at best, they sort by frequency. This isn't true personalization: these recommendations aren't personalized in any meaningful way, and these companies are losing out on incremental revenue gains a more systematic approach would deliver. By contrast, Amplitude Activation transforms a product from static to dynamic experiences, driving a **15% to 30% lift in conversions** in the process. Here's a bit how it works in practice: - **Segmentation (right user)**: Marketing can identify the best segments for behavioral personalization with [cohorts](#cohorts) and [computations](#computations). - **Personalization (right message):** Product can decide the next best action for 1:1 personalization with [predictions](#predictions) and [recommendations](#recommendations). - **Delivery (right time)**: Engineers can export data into their digital channels for real-time personalization with [APIs](#apis) and [syncs](#syncs). While the foundation of Amplitude Analytics is user-specific data, Amplitude Activation has roots in the concept of **cohorts**, groups of users who have something in common. When you apply predictions and recommendations to a cohort, you can give that cohort the deeply personalized experience that maximizes lift. ## Segmentation Amplitude Activation lets you segment your users with **cohorts** or **computations**. ### Cohorts Amplitude supports two types of cohorts: **behavioral** and **predictive**. [**Behavioral** cohorts](/docs/analytics/behavioral-cohorts) are clusters of users grouped together based on their past actions. Create them by segmenting users by events they fired or didn't fire, whether they were active or inactive, and the user properties they have. Behavioral cohorts are perfect for engagement-based targeting when you want to reach users at specific stages of your user lifecycle: perhaps they added something to their cart but didn't purchase in the last 24 hours, for example, or they’ve recently activated a subscription. [**Predictive** cohorts](/docs/data/audiences/predictions-build) are clusters of users grouped together based on the actions Amplitude anticipates they may take in the future. Create a predictive cohort by segmenting users by their percentile likelihood: for example, whether they're in the top 10% likelihood to activate, or bottom 25% likelihood to churn. Use these cohorts for activation, retention, or engagement based marketing when you want to drive users to the next stage of a user lifecycle: this would include cohorts of users likely to subscribe next week, or users likely to watch a second show next week. All customers on an Amplitude Growth or Enterprise plan have access to unlimited cohorts. ### Computations [Computations](/docs/data/audiences/computations) transform an event or event property into a computed user property. Use the computed property as a configurable filter in any Amplitude chart for analysis, or as a personalization tool by syncing it to an external destination. For example, you can segment users by the number of purchases they've made with cohorts. However, you'd have to create a different cohort for each possible number of purchases. To streamline the process, use computations to create a computed property that stores this information as a single integer for each user. Then segment users by their values for this property, taking one step instead of several. ## Personalization In Amplitude Activation, **predictions** and **recommendations** enable personalization. ### Predictions When you [specify a predictive goal](/docs/data/audiences/predictions), such as a user's likelihood to subscribe or watch a second show, Recommend uses your historical behavioral data to predict future performance based on past performance. Every user has an individual probability to reach your specified goal in the next seven days, recalculated every hour. Accuracy metrics and predicted-vs-actuals are always front and center. You can explore and build cohorts by percentile of user probability. You can also analyze which behaviors and user properties were most important to the prediction for distinguishing high vs low probability users. You can create unlimited predictions, but only 30 can be active (refreshing hourly) at any given time. Use predictions to identify the users most likely to take an action, and trigger a personalized communication to them right before they do. Predictions are only available to Amplitude Activation customers. ### Recommendations After you identify a predictive goal for your users, the next step is making the [recommendations](/docs/data/audiences/recommendations) most likely to drive users to reach it. After you specify which event or event property combinations you want, Amplitude's AutoML system identifies which items are most likely to maximize each user's predictive goal and puts those items in front of the user. The entire process takes minutes instead of weeks, with minimal to no code. ## Delivery Amplitude Activation delivers data with manual or automated **syncs** and with two **APIs**. ### Syncs When you [sync your cohorts to a destination](/docs/data/audiences/third-party-syncs) such as Facebook or Braze, Amplitude exports all the userIDs, emails, or mobileIDs in your Amplitude cohort to that destination. Amplitude supports three types of syncs for cohorts, properties, computations, and predictions: **on-demand**, **automated**, and **real-time**. On-demand syncs are ad-hoc, one-time syncs, useful for audience testing and one-off campaigns. Automated syncs happen on a daily or hourly cadence. As cohort audience membership changes, or the underlying predicted probabilities of the user change, Amplitude Activation automatically adjusts cohort membership in connected destinations. Real-time syncs update each minute and work well for interactive use cases that require a rapid update. No more CSV downloads or manual syncs required. Whenever your users take an action in your app, Amplitude automatically syncs them to your ad, email, or testing platform. All customers on an Amplitude Growth or Enterprise plan have access to unlimited one-time syncs and five automated syncs. You can upgrade your plan to include unlimited automated syncs. Contact your Amplitude representative for more details. ### APIs You can also integrate Amplitude data directly into your internal systems or app with two APIs: - Use the [**Cohorts API**](https://developers.amplitude.com/docs/behavioral-cohorts-api) to list all your cohorts in Amplitude, export a cohort, or upload a cohort. Query for a specific cohort, and Amplitude returns all the users in it. - Use the **[Profile API](https://www.docs.developers.amplitude.com/analytics/apis/user-profile-api/)** to list data by user. Query by userID or deviceID to return user properties, cohorts, computed properties, predictions, or recommendation values in real time. All customers on an Amplitude Growth or Enterprise plan have access to 500 Cohort API calls. You can upgrade your plan to include unlimited Cohort API calls and Profile API calls. Contact your Amplitude representative for more details. Was this helpful?