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RJBu
Level 3
June 9, 2026
Question

Splitting audiences into distinct groups

  • June 9, 2026
  • 1 reply
  • 23 views

Hello internet friends,

 

Aside from the classical rando Int roll method using profile scripts, does anyone know of any other patterns to split audience members into groups for A/B testing assignment (disjoint) ?  Curious if Target has any new-ish built in feature for handle this out of the box.

    1 reply

    P
    PrasanthV
    Level 3
    June 10, 2026

    Hi ​@RJBu,

    The short answer regarding out-of-the-box features is no. Adobe Target has not released a native, visual "Audience Splitter" tool inside the Audience Library to create mutually exclusive random cohorts (e.g., a 50/50 split of a specific audience to use across completely different activities).

    For disjoint A/B testing assignment where you want to partition users before they hit an activity, you still have to rely on architectural design patterns.

    Aside from the classic random integer math in profile scripts (Math.floor(Math.random() * 100)), here are the modern industry patterns used to handle this.

    1. The "Experience Cloud ID (ECID) Hashing" Pattern

    Instead of generating a completely random number on every session or evaluation, you can use the visitor's permanent ECID (MCID) to generate a stable, deterministic hash.

    • How it works: You grab the ECID via a profile script or your data layer, extract the last few digits, or run a simple hash function (like a modulo operation) against it to assign a bucket number from 0 to 9.

    • Why it's better than standard random math: It is completely stateless and deterministic. A user will fall into the exact same bucket across devices or platforms as long as their ECID is stitched, ensuring perfect long-term disjoint groups.

    2. The "AEP / Real-Time CDP Segment Splitting" Pattern

    If you are using the Adobe Experience Platform (AEP) Web SDK, the split should be moved upstream out of Target entirely.

    • How it works: Within the AEP segment builder, you can use the Percentile Split function to create distinct audiences. For example, you can build Audience A (Top 50% of ECID Hash) and Audience B (Bottom 50% of ECID Hash).

    • Why it's better: These flow into the Target Audience Library as separate, fully formed, mutually exclusive audiences. Target doesn't have to execute any logic; it just reads the evaluation state from the edge cluster.

    R
    RJBuAuthor
    Level 3
    June 10, 2026

    thanks ​@PrasanthV  !

     

    For the MCID pattern is it recommend to retrieve it from cookie ?

    P
    PrasanthV
    Level 3
    June 11, 2026

    it is not recommended to retrieve the MCID (ECID) directly from the cookie for a Target Profile Script.

    If you try to read the AMCV cookie using user.cookie() inside a profile script, you will run into race conditions. Target executes profile scripts on the Adobe Edge cluster before the browser cookie state is updated or synchronized, meaning the cookie might be missing or stale on the first hit of a session.

    Instead, you should leverage Target's native Request Tokens or pass it explicitly via your implementation layer. Here are the two best practice methods to handle this securely.

    Method 1: The Native Request Token Pattern (Recommended)

    Adobe Target automatically extracts the Marketing Cloud ID from the incoming request payload (whether via at.js 2.x or the Web SDK) and stores it in a system variable called user.marketingCloudVisitorId.

    You can access this natively in a Profile Script without parsing any cookies:

    JavaScript

     

    // Profile Script Name: profile.ecid_bucket
    var ecid = user.marketingCloudVisitorId;

    if (!ecid) {
        // Fallback to a random number if ECID isn't resolved yet
        return Math.floor(Math.random() * 10); 
    }

    // Extract the last digit of the ECID string to create 10 disjoint groups (0-9)
    var lastDigit = ecid.substr(ecid.length - 1);

    // If the last character is a letter (hex), parse it to an int, or just grab a modulo
    return isNaN(lastDigit) ? (ecid.charCodeAt(ecid.length - 1) % 10) : parseInt(lastDigit);

    • Why this works: It bypasses the browser cookie entirely. It reads the ID directly from the payload that the Adobe Identity Service already attached to the network request.

    Method 2: The Data Layer / Web SDK Parameter Pattern

    If you want absolute control over the split logic before the request even reaches Target, handle the hashing in your tag manager (Adobe Launch/Tags) and pass it as a custom profile parameter.

    1. In Adobe Tags: Create a Data Element that reads the ECID from the Identity Core extension, hashes it into a bucket (e.g., bucket_3), and maps it to a Target parameter.

    2. In the Target Call: Pass it as profile.ecid_bucket = bucket_3.

    3. In Target Audiences: You can now create your disjoint audiences instantly in the UI by targeting Profile Attribute -> ecid_bucket -> equals -> bucket_3.

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