Frequently asked questions

This article provides answers to frequently asked questions about the Intelligence Suite.

Intelligent Selection

Why is re-eligibility in less than 24 hours not available when combined with Intelligent Selection?

We don’t allow Intelligent Selection campaigns to have re-eligibility in too short of a window because it would affect the integrity of the control variant. By creating a gap of 24 hours, we help ensure that the algorithm will have a statistically valid dataset to work with.

Normally, campaigns with re-eligibility will cause users to re-enter the same variant they received before. With Intelligent Selection, Braze can’t guarantee that a user will receive the same campaign variant because the variant distribution would have shifted due to the optimum allocation aspect for this feature. If the user were to be allowed to re-enter before Intelligent Selection re-examines the variant performance, the data might be skewed due to users who re-entered.

For example, if a campaign is using these variants:

• Variant A: 20%
• Variant B: 20%
• Control: 60%

Then the variant distribution could be the following for the second round:

• Variant A: 15%
• Variant B: 25%
• Control: 60%

Why are my Intelligent Selection variants showing equal sends during the early stages of my campaign?

Intelligent Selection allocates variants for sending based on the current status of campaign conversion. It only determines the final variant allocations after a training period, where sends are sent evenly across variants. If you don’t want the Intelligent Selection to send evenly during the early stages of your campaign, use fixed variants for a traditional A/B test.

Will Intelligent Selection stop optimizing without picking a clear winner?

Intelligent Selection will stop optimizing when it has 95% confidence that continuing the experiment won’t improve the conversion rate by more than 1% of its current rate.

Why can’t I enable Intelligent Selection in my Canvas or campaign (grayed out)?

Intelligent Selection will be unavailable if:

• You haven’t added conversion events to your campaign or Canvas
• You are creating a single-send campaign
• You have reeligibility enabled with a window less than 24 hours
• Your Canvas is composed of a single variant with no additional variants or control groups added
• Your Canvas is composed of a single control group, with no variants added

Intelligent Timing

Does Intelligent Timing predict when a user is most likely to convert, or only when a user is most likely to open or click?

Intelligent Timing predicts when a user is most likely to open or click.

How is the most popular app time determined?

The most popular app time is determined by the average session start time for the workspace (in local time). This metric can be found in the dashboard when previewing times for a campaign, shown in red.

Does Intelligent Timing account for machine opens?

Yes, machine opens are filtered out by Intelligent Timing, so they do not influence its output.

How can I make sure Intelligent Timing works as well as possible?

Intelligent Timing uses each user’s individual history of message engagement at whatever times they received messages. Before using Intelligent Timing, make sure that you have sent users messages at different times of the day. That way, you can “sample” when might be the best time for each user. Inadequately sampling different times of day may result in Intelligent Timing picking a suboptimal time of send for a user.

How far in advance should I launch an Intelligent Timing campaign to successfully deliver it to all users in all time zones?

Braze calculates the optimal time at midnight in Samoa time, one of the first time zones in the world. In a single day, it spans approximately 48 hours. For example, someone whose optimal time is 12:01 am and lives in Australia has already had their optimal time pass, and it’s “too late” to send to them. For these reasons, you need to schedule 48 hours in advance to ensure that everyone in the world who uses your app will get it successfully delivered.

Why is my Intelligent Timing campaign showing little to no sends?

Braze needs a baseline number of data points to make a good estimate. If there is not enough session data or the users targeted have little to no email clicks or opens (such as new users), Intelligent Timing may default to the workspace’s most popular hour on that day of the week. If there isn’t enough information about the workspace, we fall back to a default time of 5 pm. You can also choose to set a specific fallback time.

Why is my Intelligent Timing campaign sending past the scheduled date?

Your Intelligent Timing campaign might be sending past the scheduled date because you are leveraging A/B testing. Campaigns using A/B testing can automatically send the Winning Variant after the A/B test is over, increasing the duration of campaign sending. By default, Intelligent Timing campaigns will be scheduled to send out the Winning Variant to the remaining users for the following day, but you can change this send date.

We recommend that if you have Intelligent Timing campaigns, leave more time for the A/B test to finish and schedule the Winning Variant to send for two days out instead of one.

When does Braze check the eligibility criteria for segment and audience filters?

Braze performs two checks when a campaign is launched:

1. As soon as the first time zone is identified, beginning the user queuing process, and
2. At the scheduled time to see if users are still eligible to receive the campaign.

Be careful when creating campaigns that filter off of other campaigns’ sends. For example, if you were to send out two campaigns on the same day for different times, and add a filter that only allows users to receive the second campaign if they’ve received the first, users won’t receive the second campaign. This is because no one was eligible when the campaign was first created and segments were formed.

Can I use Quiet Hours in my Intelligent Timing campaign?

We don’t recommend using both Intelligent Timing and Quiet Hours for your campaign or Canvas, as it is counterproductive. Quiet Hours are based on top-down assumptions about user behavior, whereas Intelligent Timing is based on user activity.

Can I use Intelligent Timing and rate-limiting?

Braze doesn’t recommend using Intelligent Timing and rate-limiting because there is no guarantee about when the message will be delivered.

Can I use Intelligent Timing while IP warming?

Braze doesn’t recommend using Intelligent Timing when users are first IP warming, as some of its behaviors can cause difficulties hitting daily volumes. This is caused by Intelligent Timing evaluating campaign segments twice. Once when the campaign is first built, and a second time before sending to users to verify they should still be in that segment.

This can cause segments to shift and change, often leading to some users falling out of the segment on the second evaluation. These users don’t get replaced, impacting how close to the maximum user cap you can achieve.