When working with Dynamics 365 Customer Insights (CID), understanding the different types of measures available is essential for drawing meaningful insights from your data. These measures help in making informed decisions and driving strategic actions. In this blog post, we’ll dive into the four main measure types in Dynamics Customer Insights: Customer Attribute, Customer Measure, Customer Measure (Table), and Business Measure. Each one serves a distinct purpose and provides different levels of insight into customer and business behavior.
1. Customer Attribute: Personalized Insights for Each Customer
A Customer Attribute is a single, calculated value tied to an individual customer profile. Think of it as a personalized score or flag that gives you a snapshot of key characteristics about the customer. Examples could include:
- Customer Lifetime Value
- Churn Risk Score
- Recent Purchases (e.g., whether a customer has made a purchase in the last 30 days)
This measure is unique because it is stored as a single value for each customer and is associated with the customer ID. These attributes are visible directly on the customer card in Dynamics 365, providing quick access to important data. Customer Attributes are often used to create other measures and to conduct further calculations.
Since Customer Attributes are stored in a table called Customer Measure, it’s important to note that they are refreshed together in an instance. However, they are not always readily available in the Elastic Table in Dataverse.
2. Customer Measure: Deeper Customer Insights
A Customer Measure goes a step further by providing more complex and deeper insights into customer behavior. These measures often require multiple calculations and the use of various dimensions to draw conclusions. Common examples might include:
- Revenue per customer segment
- Purchase frequency by region
- Customer satisfaction scores, grouped by product category
Unlike Customer Attributes, Customer Measures are not displayed directly on the customer card. Instead, they are stored in a separate entity and can be refreshed independently. This type of measure isn’t available for direct use in Dataverse applications outside of Customer Insights, but it is particularly useful within CID or for segmentation purposes. These measures allow for more nuanced analysis across larger groups of customers.
3. Customer Measure (Table): A Bridge to Other Dynamics Applications
The Customer Measure (Table) is similar to a standard Customer Measure, but with an important distinction: it only uses one dimension—customer. What sets this apart is that it is stored in Dataverse as a table, making it available for use across other Dynamics 365 applications, such as Sales, Customer Insights, and other integrated tools.
Because it is stored in Dataverse, a Customer Measure (Table) can be refreshed on its own and is accessible beyond just the CID environment. This is particularly valuable for businesses that want to leverage customer insights for operational use cases in other Dynamics applications, such as driving sales strategies, monitoring performance, or triggering personalized marketing campaigns.
4. Business Measure: High-Level Business Performance Indicators
Business Measures are key performance indicators (KPIs) designed to track and evaluate the overall health and performance of a business. These measures do not focus on individual customers but instead look at metrics aggregated across the entire customer base. Examples of Business Measures include:
- Total revenue
- Conversion rates
- Customer acquisition costs
Business Measures provide high-level insights into how well the business is performing and can be segmented by different dimensions, such as time or region. However, unlike Customer Attributes or Customer Measures, they are not displayed on the customer card. They are stored in their own table and can be used within CID, but their focus is on broader business metrics rather than individual customer behavior.
Which Measure Type Should You Choose?
Each of the four measure types—Customer Attribute, Customer Measure, Customer Measure (Table), and Business Measure—serves a unique purpose, and choosing the right one depends on the questions you’re trying to answer and the level of detail you need:
- Customer Attribute: Ideal when you need quick, individualized insights into specific customer behaviors or characteristics.
- Customer Measure: Useful for in-depth analysis of customer behavior, trends, and segment-specific performance.
- Customer Measure (Table): A great option when you need to extend your customer insights to other Dynamics applications, providing more flexibility for cross-functional analysis.
- Business Measure: Best for tracking high-level business performance metrics, such as revenue or conversion rates, at a company-wide level.
Conclusion
In Dynamics 365 Customer Insights, measures are the backbone of analyzing and understanding customer behavior and business performance. By choosing the right type of measure—whether it’s a customer-focused metric or a broader business KPI—you can make more informed decisions and drive the right strategies to enhance customer experiences and overall business growth. Understanding the characteristics and purpose of each measure type is key to unlocking the full potential of your customer data. Ultimately, the measure you select depends on your customer use case and the level of insight you need. By aligning your measure type with your business goals, you can ensure that your data drives actionable, impactful decisions.