Technology targeting

Target users visiting from a specific browser, operating system or device.

Optimize looks at the browser’s user agent string to identify which browser is being used, what version, and on which operating system. You can use these data as targeting criteria in Optimize.

In this article:

Variables

The technology targeting variables are derived from the user agent string sent from a visitor’s browser (via the HTTP/GET request). Optimize looks at the user agent string and classifies it into one of the following groups. The Mobile Device Info variable corresponds to the ga:mobileDeviceInfo dimension in Google Analytics.

Browser

  • Values (pre-defined)
    • Chrome
    • Firefox
    • Safari
    • Internet Explorer
    • Opera

Operating System

  • Values (pre-defined)
    • Windows
    • Mac
    • Linux
    • iOS
    • Android
    • Chrome OS
    • Windows Phone

Device category

  • Values (pre-defined)
    • desktop
    • mobile
    • tablet

Mobile Device Info

  • Values – Enter a value into this open text field to target users coming from a specific mobile device, for example:
    • Google Nexus 5

Match types – Browser, OS, and Device Category

The Browser, Operating System and Device Category variables use the following match types: equals, and does not equal.

Equals / does not equal

Every character, from beginning to end, must be an exact match of the entered value for the condition to evaluate as true. Primarily used in Geo and Technology targeting, a rule using the does not equal match type will evaluate as true when the visitor's browser, operating system or device category does not equal any of the entered values.

Example:

Variable Match type Value
Browser equals Chrome

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits coming from Chrome.

Variable Match type Value
Browser does not equal Chrome

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits coming from browsers other than Chrome.

Match types – Mobile Device Info

The Mobile Device Info variable uses the following match types:

Equals / does not equal

An exact match of every character, from beginning to end, of the entered value.

Example:

Variable Match type Value
Mobile Device Info equals Google Nexus 5

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits coming from the Google Nexus 5 device.

Variable Match type Value
Mobile Device Info does not equal Google Nexus 5

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits coming from devices other than the Google Nexus 5 device.

Contains / does not contain

The contains match type (also known as a "substring match") allows you to target any occurrence of a substring within a longer string. Contains is useful when targeting an entire line of mobile devices.

Example:

Variable Match type Value
Mobile Device Info contains Nexus

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits from any Nexus device.
Variable Match type Value
Mobile Device Info does not contain Nexus

Will evaluate true for:

  • Website visits from any device without Nexus in its user agent string.

Example: Target users browsing on mobile devices

Technology targeting makes it easy to show experiment variations only to users browsing on mobile devices. Use the Device category variable to target mobile visitors to tell them about your mobile app. Target them with a variation of your app's landing page and test conversions against a download goal.

This rule will evaluate as true when a user visits your website from a mobile device:

Variable Match type Value
Device Category equals mobile

Optimize technology targeting rule creation - device category.

Example: Target users of specific browsers

Use the Browser variable to target users of specific web browsers. For example, you can include some browsers and exclude other older browsers, when testing a new web app.

This rule will evaluate as true if the visitor's browser is Chrome or Safari:

Variable Match type Value
Browser equals Chrome or Safari

Optimize technology targeting rule creation - browser

 

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