Sync to third-party destinations

  • Updated

This article will help you:

  • Set up and manage syncs in Amplitude Audiences

Amplitude supports three types of syncs for cohorts, properties, computations and predictions: one-time syncs, automated syncs, and real-time syncs. One-time syncs are useful for audience testing and one-off campaigns. Automated syncs are scheduled on a daily or hourly frequency—so as your cohort audience membership changes, or the underlying predicted probabilities of the user change, Amplitude Audiences will automatically adjust their cohort membership in connected destinations as well. Real-time syncs update each minute and are built for interactive use cases where a rapid update is required.

No more CSV downloads or manual syncs required—whenever your users take an action in your app, they’ll be automatically synced to your respective ad, email, or testing platform.

NOTE: Automated syncs require the Audiences Syncs package or the Models package. The Growth plan includes five free active syncs and ten free active computations.

Real-time syncs

With real-time syncs, Amplitude Audiences will send updates to a partner destination almost as soon as a user enters or exits a cohort. This in turn unlocks additional uses for cohort sync, such as just-in-time and contextual messaging to end users. When you create a real-time sync, Amplitude Audiences will first send the initial population to the destination (this can take several hours if the sync is large).  After this initial sync, updates are sent every minute as users enter and exit the cohort.

Most destinations and cohorts support real-time cohort syncs. When partners fail or reject API requests, or when other network delays and errors are experienced, Amplitude Analytics will send any changes as soon as the issue is resolved.

Real-time sync will not be available for select destinations that are not designed for receiving frequent updates (ad destinations, s3), or that have strict integration limits that prevent Amplitude Analytics from syncing frequently.

Real-time sync will not be available for some complex or very large cohorts due to the high cost of computation. Currently, cohort membership can be sent to destinations using real-time sync, but not computations, properties, or predictions.

Create a new sync

To create a new sync, follow these steps:

  1. Click + New and click the Sync tile. The Create New Sync modal appears.
  2. Select the sync type you’d like to create—cohort, recommendation, user property, or computation sync—and click Next.
  3. From the drop-down list, select the specific item you want to sync. Then click Next.
  4. Next, choose the destination you’d like to sync to. If the desired destination does not appear, click + Add or Manage Destinations and set up the desired destination there. Then click Next.
  5. Choose whether this will be a one-time sync, a recurring sync, or a real-time sync. Recurring syncs take place on an hourly or daily schedule, while real-time syncs update each minute.

    Depending on your choice in step 4, you may also need to specify a customer account or API target to sync to.
  6. Click Sync. Your sync is now active.

View sync details

Once your sync has been created, you can view all the sync's critical details by clicking the name of the sync, in the Syncs panel.

The Details tab provides basic information about the sync. The example above is a cohort sync, so the Details tab provides a definition of the cohort, as well as a chart detailing its population over time. The Syncs tab shows each destination that receives this sync.

On the Comparisons tab, you can view a head-to-head comparison between this synced cohort and another cohort of your choosing. You can break down the results of the User Composition chart by user property using the Composition by drop-down.

You can view a list of your synced cohorts from within Amplitude Analytics at any time, by clicking Cohorts and opening the Synced Cohorts tab.

Supported destinations

This is a non-inclusive list of destinations supported by Amplitude, with links to articles in the Amplitude Developer Center describing their use: