Understanding profile groups

There are two primary ways to apply quotas to survey conditions within a target group profile: using ungrouped individual choices versus combining multiple choices into grouped segments. Understanding this distinction helps you accurately define your target audience's distribution.

What are quotas?

In a target group profile, quotas specify the desired distribution of respondents based on their answers to profile questions. For instance, you might need 50% male and 50% female respondents. Quotas are built upon the selected answer options, referred to as conditions.

Within the quotas object of a profile question, you can define quotas on each target. Within a target you can specify one condition or multiple conditions.

info

• When only specifying one condition in a target, it is called an ungrouped quota
• When specifying multiple conditions, that is called a grouped quota.

Ungrouped quotas

Ungrouped quotas apply to individual answer options or conditions. These are represented by target objects with a single condition, with a specific quantity (percentage or nominal count) attached to it.

• When to use: This is the most common and straightforward approach. Use ungrouped quotas when you need a precise number or percentage of respondents for each unique answer option you've selected.
• Example: If you want exactly 50% male and 50% female, these would be ungrouped quotas on the male and female options.

Grouped quotas

Grouped quotas allow you to combine several answer options or conditions into a single quota segment. Respondents who select any of the options within a group will contribute to that group's quota. This functions as an "OR" grouping of conditions.

• When to use: Grouped quotas are particularly useful for profile questions that have a long list of answer options, such as detailed regions, specific income ranges, or a comprehensive list of product categories. Instead of setting an individual quota for every single option, you can create broader segments.
• How it works: You define a group by providing an array of condition objects that are from the same profile question. Respondents matching any condition within that target contribute to the quota_percentage (or quota_nominal) for that group.
• When you specify grouped quotas, you must specify a quota name or you will get a validation error. (For ungrouped quotas, we use the option name as the quota name.)

note

Many survey setups are unlikely to require grouped quotas and can effectively use ungrouped quotas for most targeting needs.

Example: grouping pet owners

Consider a profile question about household pets (question_id: 639) with numerous answer options. If you want to meet specific quotas for "Cat owners" OR "Dog owners" combined as one group, and "Other Pet owners" as a second group, you would use grouped quotas.

In this example, we define conditions for various pets. Then, we use the conditions array within targets to combine condition options into broader categories, each with its own quota percentage.

Example of a grouped quota for pet owners:

{
  "profiles": [
    {
      "id": "<PROFILE_ID>",
      "object": "regular",
      "quotas_enabled": true,
      "name": "STANDARD_PETS",
      "description": "Which of the following pets are present in your household?",
      "description_translated": "Which of the following pets are present in your household?",
      "targets": [
        {
          "id": "<TARGET_ID_1>",
          "text": "Cat or dog owners",
          "text_translated": "Cat or dog owners",
          "conditions": [
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "1",
              "condition_name": "Cat(s)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Cat(s)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "2",
              "condition_name": "Dog(s)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Dog(s)"
            }
          ],
          "quota": {
            "name": "Cat or dog owners",
            "completes_goal_percentage": 80.0,
            "completes_goal": 8,
            "quota_nominal": 8,
            "prescreens": 0,
            "completes": 0
          }
        },
        {
          "id": "<TARGET_ID_2>",
          "text": "Other pet owners",
          "text_translated": "Other pet owners",
          "conditions": [
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "3",
              "condition_name": "Bird(s)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Bird(s)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "4",
              "condition_name": "Fish",
              "condition_name_translated": "Fish"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "5",
              "condition_name": "Amphibians (frogs, toads, etc.)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Amphibians (frogs, toads, etc.)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "6",
              "condition_name": "Small animals or rodents (hamsters, mice, rabbits, ferrets, etc.)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Small animals or rodents (hamsters, mice, rabbits, ferrets, etc.)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "7",
              "condition_name": "Reptiles (turtles, snakes, lizards, etc.)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Reptiles (turtles, snakes, lizards, etc.)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "8",
              "condition_name": "Horse(s)",
              "condition_name_translated": "Horse(s)"
            },
            {
              "object": "selection",
              "question_id": 639,
              "option": "10",
              "condition_name": "Other",
              "condition_name_translated": "Other"
            }
          ],
          "quota": {
            "name": "Other pet owners",
            "completes_goal_percentage": 20.0,
            "completes_goal": 2,
            "quota_nominal": 2,
            "prescreens": 0,
            "completes": 0
          }
        }
      ]
    }
  ]
}

This example defines two groups:

• "Cat or dog owners": Includes respondents who selected either "Cat(s)" OR "Dog(s)". This group has a quota of 80% of the total survey completes.

• "Other pet owners": Includes respondents who selected any of the other options. This group has a quota of 20% of the total survey completes.

• targets is an array of objects, each representing a quota segment with one or more conditions.

• conditions defines the condition(s) for the associated target.

• quota defines the quota for the associated target.

note

• You must provide a quota.name for grouped quotas.
• If quotas_enabled is set to true, you must include a quota section in your profile.
• Your quota definition must match the profile_adjustment_type setting.
  • If profile_adjustment_type is set to percentage, you must provide a completes_goal_percentage for each quota.
  • If profile_adjustment_type is set to nominal, you must provide a quota_nominal for each quota.

This structure provides flexibility in how you combine and manage quotas for broader segments of your target audience.