Pattern vs. Field Concatenation

Use this article to understand the differences between patterns and field concatenations.

Patterns

Patterns create a key to which all metadata in AA or GA will be associated.

Elements include:

• Constant
• Variable (a field that changes and is not static; this can be a text field, a list, a date, an autofill, or a concatenation); you can autofill and concatenate any field in the template, no matter the field set
• Date
• Auto# (create a unique key with an incrementing number)
• Random (create a unique key with a random string of numbers and/or letters)

By default, Patterns lock once the submission has been committed. Once submitted, it cannot be edited by a user.

If the Pattern Elements include a Variable that the user wants to change, for example: If the Pattern is EM-{campaign}-{platform}-Auto# and returns EM-AlwaysOn-CheetahMail-123 but the user realizes they used the wrong Campaign Name, there are two options:

1. Create a new submission 
2. Have the admin convert the Pattern to an Unlocked Pattern and edit the dataset

Otherwise, the Pattern will not update to match the edited value.

Field Concatenations

Field Concatenations string together any fields within the field set.

• Concatenations can be used in other Concatenations (for example, Final Campaign Name=Brand-LOB_Campaign Name_Flight Date).
• Field Concatenations can be modified by editing the submission! Fields are not locked and will update the concatenation as the included fields are updated.
• Because Field Concatenations can be modified, we do not recommend using Concatenated Fields for tracking code/campaign code/key/UTM ID purposes
• NOTE - if you leave an optional field out of a concatenation it will not result in a double delimiter as a pattern would.  It would just leave the missing field and extra delimiter out.

Example uses:

• UTM Parameters
• Campaign Manager and Meta Naming Conventions
• Content Naming Conventions

Comparison

Unlocked Patterns and Field Concatenations are similar and can provide a solution to the same problem in multiple cases but each has different considerations.

Unlocked Patterns support Random elements (which can create a unique key with a random string of numbers and/or letters), while Field Concatenations only support auto-numbers by default. Also, Field Concatenations cannot be used across multiple fieldsets, which limits their usefulness to control their naming across disparate business units.

When deciding what option to employ, consider how and where you plan to use these. Field Concatenations can be a more straight-forward approach, while Unlocked Patterns are well suited for problems that require applying and managing the same Pattern across multiple datasets and for generating more secure keys with the use of the Random element.