Tracking user data in Intercom

A guide to how standard and custom data attributes work in Intercom.

Beth-Ann Sher avatar
Written by Beth-Ann Sher
Updated over a week ago

You can group your users together based on who they are and what they do in your product. We store three types of data about your users: 

  1. Standard data attributes - a default set of data we already have about your users. 

  2. Custom data attributes - data you send us about your users.

  3. Events - data that records specific actions users take in your app.

Below, we’ll explain how these data types work and how you can make the most of them. 


Standard data attributes

You’ll find a list of standard user attributes under the Details section of every contact (user or lead).

You can expand and edit this list to show the user data that's important to you, such as the date they signed up, how many web sessions they've had, or their browser language etc.

Tip: Standard data attributes are case sensitive, see the exact syntax you should use when sending this data into Intercom.

Note: If you've installed Intercom on your mobile app, you'll also see standard user attributes like: 'Last seen on iOS/Android', 'iOS/Android sessions' and 'iOS/Android device', etc.

Filtering standard user attributes 

Now, armed with this data you can quickly filter your user base to answer questions, such as:

  • Who signed up in the last week?

  • Who signed up once but never returned?

  • What users on the free plan are yet to upgrade?

  • Who was using regularly up until a month ago, and then quit?

You can combine as many complex filters as you like and send targeted ongoing messages based on these filters. For example, if you want to encourage new users to upload their first song, you could send a message to users who ‘Signed up less than 30 days ago.’ 

Note: Standard data attributes automatically get updated. For example if a new user signs up, or logs in today that will get updated automatically in the list.


Custom data attributes

Intercom lets you send custom attributes about your users and these will all show in your user list too. Custom data attributes are information you send us about your users, like how many times they've purchased an item from your store, how many projects they have, or what plan they're on. For example, if you have a music sharing app, you could send us over the number of songs a user has played, or how many followers they have.

  • You can send us over whatever attributes you want to better understand your customers, and it will all show in Intercom. You’ll find lots more examples here.

  • You can create custom attributes about your users and/or about the companies they belong to.

  • You cannot create custom attributes with the same name as a standard attribute.

Filtering custom data attributes 

You can apply filters based on custom data attributes, the same way you would with standard data attributes. 

Once you’ve applied your filters, you can send these users and visitors targeted ongoing messages.

Tip: You can also use custom data attributes as qualification data.


Events

You can send events to Intercom, to record whenever users take specific actions in your product. Events record the first and last time a user does something and the total amount of times they do something. For example, you can see the first time users clicked on a particular page, or when they most recently purchased an item.

Events will show in your user list, and you can filter them to answer questions like:

  • Are users visiting the same product page a lot recently?

  • Have they used the export feature a bunch of times? or

  • Have they downgraded their plan?


Direct user profile links

With the user_id or email address of your user you can link directly to their user profile in Intercom using the following URLs:

https://app.intercom.com/apps/YOUR_APP_ID/users/show?user_id=THE_USER_ID
https://app.intercom.com/apps/YOUR_APP_ID/users/show?email=THE_USER_EMAIL

Note: The second URL above will only work for unique email addresses - these are email addresses that exist once in your user list.


What’s next? 

  • Segment important groups of users into specific groups.

  • Quickly and easily export your user data out of Intercom.


💡Tip

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