Topsort’s audience targeting capabilities enable precise campaign targeting by leveraging your first-party data and behavioral insights to reach the right users at the right moment.
Audience Creation Methods
1. CDP Integration
Customer Data Platform (CDP) integration is the most powerful method for leveraging your existing audience infrastructure.
Key Benefits
Precision Targeting and Audience Segmentation: Create detailed audience segments based on customer behavior, preferences, purchase history, and engagement patterns.
High-Value Segment Examples:
New Customer Acquisition: First-time buyers, site visitors who haven’t purchased
Customer Retention: Lapsed users (30+ days since last visit), repeat purchasers
Category Affinity: Buyers from specific categories (healthcare, electronics, beauty)
Competitive Conquest: Users who purchased from competitor brands
Automatic Synchronization: CDP segments sync automatically with Topsort daily, ensuring your campaigns always target the most current audience data without manual intervention.
Real-Time Data Activation: Audience segments are immediately available for campaign targeting, enabling dynamic and responsive advertising strategies.
2. Custom Audience Building
Upload a CSV file with users that have belong to an audience segment. The CSV should have the following columns:
opaque_user_id: is the customer id that the user has on your side.
email: email of the user.
hashed_email: email of the user hashed using SHA256.
idfa: Apple ID of the device of the user.
hashed_idfa: Apple ID of the device of the user hashed using SHA256.
gaid: Android ID of the device of the user.
hashed_gaid: Android ID of the device of the user hashed using SHA256.
For the same identifier, the user can share either the raw version or the hashed version but not both.
When uploading a CSV with raw data (email, idfa, or gaid), Topsort hashed the identifiers to comply with privacy and security requirements.
These audiences can be created using the Audience Tab in the UI or the APIs.
Implementation Guide
Data Preparation
For CDP Integration:
Coordinate with your CDP provider to grant API access to audience segments
Map your existing segments to Topsort’s taxonomy
Set up automated daily synchronization schedules
For Custom Audiences:
Define your targeting criteria and business objectives
Gather necessary data points (user IDs, emails, etc.)
Sync that Data To Topsort
Technical Integration
Integrate audience data through our comprehensive Segments API. The Segments API handles userID hashing and connects with our Audience Builder to process both CDP data and behavioral data from your platform.
During campaign creation using the Campaign API, you can select specific audience segments (up to 5 per campaign) to define your target audience.
Configure audience combination logic using AND/OR operators for maximum precision.
Auction Integration
Include the opaqueUserId in auction requests to enable real-time audience matching. The Auction API connects with our User Store to match users against configured segments:
Topsort provides two powerful methods for applying audience targeting to your campaigns:
Boosting Strategy
Dynamically adjust bid values based on audience membership to prioritize high-value users.
Smart Bid Optimization Example Scenario: Premium beauty brand
targeting high-value customers Configuration: Apply 1.5x boost for
“Premium Beauty Buyers” segment Results: - Base bid: $2.00 - High-value
customer: Final bid = $2.00 × 1.5 = $3.00 - Standard user: Final bid =
$2.00 Outcome: Premium customers see ads more frequently while maintaining
cost efficiency for broader reach.
Filtering Strategy
Apply hard exclusions to ensure ads only reach your precisely defined target audience.
Precision Targeting Example Scenario: New product launch targeting
electronics enthusiasts Filter Configuration: Only show ads to
“Electronics Buyers” + “Early Adopters” segments Result: Campaign reaches
exclusively high-intent users, maximizing conversion rates and minimizing
wasted impressions.
How the System Works
Topsort’s audience targeting system processes data through several key components:
Segments API: Ingests audience data from CDPs and processes userID hashing for privacy
Audience Builder: Combines first-party CDP data with real-time behavioral data
User Store: Maintains user segment memberships with online updates
Campaign API: Enables audience selection during campaign creation
Auction API: Performs real-time audience matching during bid requests
This architecture ensures that audience data remains current while enabling real-time targeting decisions during auctions.
Offsite Activation
Topsort can sync audiences directly to offsite channel like Google Ads, Meta Ads, and DSPs. These audiences can then be used on offsite campaign created via API or the UI.
Audience Administration & Governance
Access Control
Manage which advertisers can access premium audience segments:
Open Access: Available to all campaign creators
Restricted Access: Limited to specific advertiser accounts
Premium Tiers: Reserved for high-spending or strategic partners
Performance Monitoring
Track audience performance across campaigns:
Conversion rates by segment
Segment size
Data Privacy & Compliance
Ensure responsible data usage:
Anonymized user identifiers through hashing
GDPR and privacy regulation compliance
Secure data transmission and storage
Audience data retention policies
Best Practices
Audience Sizing
Minimum viable size: 1,000+ users for stable performance
Optimal range: 10,000-100,000 users for most campaigns
Premium segments: Smaller, high-value audiences (1,000-5,000) acceptable for luxury/niche products
Campaign Optimization
A/B testing: Compare broad vs. targeted approaches
Seasonal adjustment: Update segments based on shopping cycles
Cross-campaign coordination: Avoid audience fatigue through frequency capping
Performance monitoring: Track ROAS improvements from targeted campaigns
Revenue Optimization
Tiered pricing: Charge premium rates for exclusive audience access