Custom parameters

Custom parameters are references to information available from your website that can enrich the feedback or trigger a survey. A custom parameter contains data exposed by the website about the respondee and attributes such as their purchases or behavior. This is useful when websites include data that can provide you with more information about an experience. To access a property's custom parameters, select Custom Parameters from the Automation menu.

In Digital Web custom parameters are often used with a dataLayer object that has been added by a web developer, or a tool such as Google Tag Manager or Adobe Analytics. Use custom parameters to:

  • trigger invitations to provide feedback according to specific data
  • collect data when a survey is submitted

By default, all custom parameters are automatically set up as text q-fields in Medallia Experience Cloud. Custom parameters can be shared across surveys. Optionally, custom parameters can be reused across all of an account's properties. This feature is available upon request. Ask your Medallia expert to file a Feature activation request with Medallia Support. Custom parameters can be added to dashboards, but are not assigned by default.

Document audience and usage

This document assumes that you have an understanding of basic programming concepts and variable principles. This document is not an instructional or general guide to programming. Examples provided are specific to the most commonly requested solutions. This document provides guidance on how to add or change custom parameters. Consult your Digital expert for specific requirements on integrating.

Targeting examples

Custom parameters can define when a survey is triggered, providing your website with fine-grained control over when to target. For example, when your website exposes information related to specific types of customers (such as differentiating between regular and VIP customers), set up a custom parameter to capture this information. This custom parameter can then be used for targeting, for example surveying only VIP customers.

Data collection examples

A custom parameter can collect information from a website and add it to the feedback collected. For example, if a website displays the user name for a logged-in user, a custom parameter could store this information, instead of asking the user to provide that information during survey submission. This is useful when a website includes data that can provide more information about a user or add to the context and information about the customer's experience at the time of survey submission.

To illustrate, imagine an online shopping page where you invite a customer to leave feedback. Use custom parameters to understand any or all of the following items:

  • Did the user place anything in the cart?

  • What is the value of the cart?

  • How many items are in the cart?

  • Is the customer logged in?

  • Is the customer a specific type of customer, such as bronze, silver, gold, or platinum?

  • Is there a specific campaign ID or transaction information?

If a custom parameter is attached to a survey, the feedback item contains a new section and a new field when the feedback is received. The custom parameter does not add a field to the survey.

The following lists some examples of how custom parameters can be used in different industries:

  • eCommerce/retail - Cart value, loyalty, products viewed or purchased

  • Insurance - Member type, group number

  • Travel hospitality - Confirmation code, loyalty ID

Custom parameter types

Custom parameters can collect data from the following origins:

  • JavaScript variable, for example declared in a script. A JavaScript variable in a dataLayer is preferred and cannot be in an array. See Website dataLayer.

  • Cookie, for example created using Google Tag Manager or Adobe Analytics.

  • URL parameters, for example after the "?" character in example.com/?search=heatedBlanket&color=Blue are two parameters - search and color.

The origin must be accessible by Digital. The type of origin must match the setting in Setting up custom parameters. Usually your website team provide the specific information about how your origin is configured.
Note: It is not possible to read the value of a cookie that is flagged as "http-only" as it is blocked by the browser
The following is an example of a JavaScript variable created by Adobe Analytics:
  • s_obj - Default variable containing the Adobe Analytics data and eVars for example s_obj.eVar1.

Some JavaScript variables are built in to the browser. These can be useful for configuring various trigger rules.

Variable nameDescription
document.location.hostDomain portion of a URL (for example www.company.com).
document.location.hrefFull URL (for example https://company.com/path1/path2).
document.location.pathnamePath portion of a URL (for example /path1/path2).
document.referrerURL of the document that loaded the current document.