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In order to deliver better search results specific to your organization, custom agents should be built with the right set of conditions and tested for effectiveness. This article provides step-by-step instructions for creating and testing custom agents, as well as an overview of custom agent conditions.
Build a Custom Agent
-
Log in to Demandbase Sales Intelligence. At the top right, click the drop down next to your profile > Manage Agents.
- Click Add a Custom Agent.
- Edit the Agent settings.
- Enter Agent name - Check the checkbox next to the name to activate the Agent.
-
Match Any - Matches any custom agent filter to search for companies and contacts.
-
Match All - Matches all custom agent filters to search for companies and contacts.
-
- Find - Specify search conditions. See the Custom Agent Conditions section.
- Narrow Search - Check box for results with a company name in the title (recommended).
- Enter Agent name - Check the checkbox next to the name to activate the Agent.
- (Optional) Click Test to review the returns against your watchlist(s).
- Click Save.
Test and Tune Custom Agents
Custom Agents have the potential to provide very meaningful insights, but also to create unwanted results or “noise”. The Sales Intelligence content team is constantly updating and refining the standard agents provided with the solution to provide only the most relevant results. It is highly recommended that organizations adopt a similar approach when building custom agents of their own.There are several methods for testing and tuning custom agents. Demandbase recommends using all of these to ensure that custom agents are providing relevant results.
- The “Test” Button: Click this button after creating or updating a custom agent to test the agent against companies in one or all of your watchlists.
- Build a List: After a new or modified custom agent is processed, it can be used as criteria when building a company or contact list. This allows you to test the agent across all companies in Sales Intelligence, not just those in your watchlists. This provides much broader results than just the “Test” button described above.
- Watchlist Email Alerts: Every watchlist alert email is an opportunity to validate the effectiveness of your custom agents. If you see too many irrelevant custom agent results in your emails, modify your conditions to narrow the results. If you never receive custom agent results in your emails, consider loosening up the existing conditions or adding new ones to expand your results.
Custom Agent Conditions
| Condition | Option | When to use this option | How it works |
|---|---|---|---|
|
Match |
Match Any |
To expand results |
For agents with multiple criteria, this option returns results when any of the selected criteria are met. |
|
Match |
Match All |
To narrow results |
For agents with multiple criteria, this option only returns results when all of the selected criteria are met. |
|
Source |
All Sources |
To expand results |
Returns results from both news and SEC filings. |
|
Source |
News |
To narrow results and improve performance |
Returns results from only news sources. Recommended option for sources unless specific information from SEC filings is required. |
|
Source |
SEC Filings |
To narrow results |
Returns results from only U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. Most useful when there is specific information within an SEC filing you want to monitor, like material events, executive changes, or legal investigations. |
|
Target |
Title & Body |
To expand results |
Search the title and body of the article for the keyword. |
|
Target |
Title |
To narrow results |
Search just the title of the article for the keyword. |
|
Target |
Body |
To expand results |
Search just the body of the article for the keyword. Best used when keywords do not appear in the title of an article. |
|
Condition |
Contains All |
To narrow results |
Results must include all of the keywords entered. |
|
Condition |
Contains Any |
To expand results |
Results include any of the keywords entered. |
|
Condition |
Exact Phrase |
To narrow results |
Results must include all of the keywords entered. |
|
Condition |
Doesn’t Contain |
To narrow results |
Excludes results that contain keywords that are irrelevant to the search. Should only be used when the “Match All” option is selected. |
|
Narrow Search |
On (selected) |
To narrow results to those most relevant to the company |
Searches for articles where the company name appears in the title or four (or more) times in the body of the article. |
|
Narrow Search |
Off |
To expand results to find any mention of the company in the article |
Searches for articles where the company name appears anywhere in the title or the body. |