Adobe® Marketing Cloud
Adobe Target
Contents Adobe Target Product Documentation..................................................................8 Target Release Notes - Latest Release................................................................10 Introduction to Target............................................................................................13 Deciding Between Adobe Target Standard, Premium, and Classic.......................................15 Training Videos for Adobe Target Standard and Premium.....................................................15
Setting Up Target...................................................................................................17 Preferences...........................................................................................................................17 Implementation......................................................................................................................21 Target Requirements................................................................................................................................21 Understanding the Target JavaScript Libraries.........................................................................................22 at.js Implementation ................................................................................................................................24 Mbox.js Implementation...........................................................................................................................54 Customize a Global Mbox........................................................................................................................76 Transitioning from Target Classic to Target Standard Premium................................................................79
Users.....................................................................................................................................87 Troubleshooting User Management.........................................................................................................88
Scene7 Settings....................................................................................................................89 Hosts.....................................................................................................................................90 Recognizing Hosts...................................................................................................................................90 Manage Hosts and Environments............................................................................................................91 Troubleshooting Hosts..............................................................................................................................94
Getting Started.......................................................................................................95 Access Target from the Adobe Marketing Cloud...................................................................95 Basic Concepts.....................................................................................................................97 Activities and Tests...................................................................................................................................97 Locations..................................................................................................................................................99
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Adobe Target
Contents
Experiences and Page Designs...............................................................................................................99 Offers......................................................................................................................................................100 Audiences...............................................................................................................................................100
How Adobe Target Works....................................................................................................101 The Edge Network.................................................................................................................................102 Protected User Experience....................................................................................................................102 Search Engine Optimization Friendly Testing.........................................................................................103
Administrator First Steps.....................................................................................................104 Invite Users to Target..............................................................................................................................105 Accept the Invitation...............................................................................................................................106 Assign Yourself the Approver Role.........................................................................................................107
Syncing Between Target Standard and Classic...................................................................107 Training and Certification.....................................................................................................108
Integrating Adobe Target with the Marketing Cloud ........................................110 Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Adobe Target...............................................110 How the Target and Analytics Integration Works....................................................................................111 Before You Implement............................................................................................................................111 Analytics for Target Implementation.......................................................................................................113 User Permission Requirements..............................................................................................................114 Activity Creation.....................................................................................................................................116 Using an Analytics Tracking Server .......................................................................................................118 Reporting................................................................................................................................................119 Troubleshooting Analytics and Target Integration...................................................................................120 A4T Frequently Asked Questions...........................................................................................................122
Marketing Cloud Audiences................................................................................................127 Integrating Target with Adobe Campaign............................................................................127
Activities...............................................................................................................129 A/B Test...............................................................................................................................134 Plan Your A/B Test..................................................................................................................................135 Create an A/B Test.................................................................................................................................142 Multiple Experience Versions in an A/B Test .........................................................................................162
Automated Personalization..................................................................................................164
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Adobe Target
Random Forest Algorithm......................................................................................................................170 Inputting Data for Automated Personalization........................................................................................171 Automated Personalization Data Collection...........................................................................................172 Estimate the Traffic Required for Success..............................................................................................174 Preview Experiences for an Automated Personalization Test.................................................................177 Target AP Offers.....................................................................................................................................178 Exclude Duplicate Offers........................................................................................................................179 Troubleshooting Automated Personalization..........................................................................................180
Experience Targeting...........................................................................................................181 Create an Experience Targeting Activity................................................................................................181
Multivariate Test...................................................................................................................196 Multivariate Test Best Practices..............................................................................................................198 Plan a Multivariate Test..........................................................................................................................200 Create a Multivariate Test.......................................................................................................................200 Analyze Your Multivariate Test Results...................................................................................................221 Troubleshooting Multivariate Tests.........................................................................................................224
Recommendations..............................................................................................................224 Planning and Implementation.................................................................................................................228 Products.................................................................................................................................................233 Create a Recommendations Activity......................................................................................................246 Integrating Recommendations with Email..............................................................................................273
Priority.................................................................................................................................274 Activity Settings...................................................................................................................277 Activity Change Log............................................................................................................278 Troubleshooting Activities....................................................................................................278
Experiences..........................................................................................................282 Visual Experience Composer Options................................................................................287 Include the Same Experience on Similar Pages.................................................................289 Multipage Activity................................................................................................................291 View Experience URLs........................................................................................................292 Activity Collisions................................................................................................................294 Code Editor.........................................................................................................................295
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Adobe Target
Contents
Element Selectors Used in the Visual Experience Composer.............................................301 Mobile Viewports for Responsive Experiences...................................................................303 Mobile Viewport Configuration...............................................................................................................304 Create Responsive Experience..............................................................................................................305 Use Case: Target Two iPhone Versions..................................................................................................306
Visual Experience Composer Best Practices and Limitations.............................................309 Troubleshooting the Visual Experience Composer..............................................................317 Enabling Mixed Content in Your Browser................................................................................................320 Page Modification Scenarios..................................................................................................................320
Redirect to a URL................................................................................................................324 Creating Carousels that Work in the Visual Experience Composer....................................326 Form-Based Experience Composer....................................................................................326
Success Metrics...................................................................................................330 Click Tracking......................................................................................................................333
Targeting and Audiences....................................................................................334 How Targeting Works...........................................................................................................334 Levels of Targeting..............................................................................................................335 Audiences............................................................................................................................337 Creating an Audience.............................................................................................................................339 Combining Multiple Audiences...............................................................................................................341 Categories for Audiences.......................................................................................................................345 Customer Attributes...............................................................................................................................363
Rule-Based Targeting..........................................................................................................364 Behavioral Targeting...............................................................................................................................364 Percentage Targeting.............................................................................................................................373 Combined Rules-Based and Percentage Targeting...............................................................................373 How Target Decides Who Sees What Content.......................................................................................374 Validating a Targeted Campaign.............................................................................................................374 Profile Attributes.....................................................................................................................................375 Real-Time Profile Syncing for mbox3rdPartyID......................................................................................378
Visitor Profile.......................................................................................................................378
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Adobe Target
Target Cookie ........................................................................................................................................378 Visitor Profile Lifetime.............................................................................................................................381 Category Affinity.....................................................................................................................................382 Privacy....................................................................................................................................................384
Targets and Audiences Frequently Asked Questions..........................................................385
Estimating Lift in Revenue..................................................................................386 Content.................................................................................................................387 Create Content Folder.........................................................................................................387 Uploading Content..............................................................................................................389 Create Redirect Offers........................................................................................................389 Create Remote Offers.........................................................................................................390 How Dynamic Remote Offers Work........................................................................................................392 Remote Offer Selection Matrix...............................................................................................................393
Working with Content in the Library....................................................................................393 Search Content and Create Smart Collections...................................................................395 Pass Dynamic Data into Offers...........................................................................................397 Troubleshooting Content Delivery.......................................................................................399
Reports.................................................................................................................404 Report Settings...................................................................................................................405 Automated Personalization Reports....................................................................................408 Report Parameters..............................................................................................................411 Conversion Rate..................................................................................................................412 Confidence Level and Confidence Interval.............................................................................................413 Counting Methodology...........................................................................................................................415 Conversion Success Metric....................................................................................................................416
Reporting Frequently Asked Questions...............................................................................416
Notifications.........................................................................................................418 Target for Mobile Apps........................................................................................421
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Adobe Target
Contents
How Target Works in Mobile Apps.......................................................................................421 Enable Target in the SDK....................................................................................................423 iOS - Create a Target Location and Success Metric...........................................................424 iOS - Send Custom User Data............................................................................................426
Troubleshooting Target.......................................................................................428 Known Issues......................................................................................................................429
Delete the Target Cookie.....................................................................................431 Glossary...............................................................................................................432 Useful Variables, Profiles, Parameters, and Methods.......................................439 Target Security Overview....................................................................................446 Documentation Changes....................................................................................447 Past Release Notes..............................................................................................475 2016 Releases....................................................................................................................475 2015 Releases....................................................................................................................505 2014 Releases....................................................................................................................522
Contacting Adobe................................................................................................533 Contact and Legal Information...........................................................................535
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Adobe Target
Adobe Target Product Documentation
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Adobe Target Product Documentation Adobe Target is the Adobe Marketing Cloud solution that provides everything you need to tailor and personalize your customers' experience so you can maximize revenue on your web and mobile sites, apps, social media, and other digital channels. Last Updated: September 22, 2016 Release Notes & Documentation Changes
Activities
• Release Notes
• Activities
What's new, including new features, enhancements, and fixes for each release. • Documentation Changes Detailed information about updates to this guide that might not be included in the Release Notes. Troubleshooting • Troubleshooting Target Information to help you resolve issues in Target, including troubleshooting topics and FAQs.
Test page designs and target content to specific audiences: • A/B Test Compare the results of two or more experiences to determine which performs best to different audiences. • Automated Personalization Use advanced machine learning algorithms to provide automated personalized content and improved conversion rates. • Experience Targeting
Introduction to Adobe Target Information to help you get up and running with Target: • Introduction to Target Information about Target and its components. • Training Videos Training videos to help you get the most out of Target. • Basic Concepts Important concepts you should understand before using Target.
Target rule-based experiences to specific audiences. • Multivariate Test Compare all possible combinations of offers on your page to help determine the best possible combination of content for a particular audience. • Recommendations Automatically display products or content that might interest your customers based on previous user activity or other algorithms.
Setting Up Target
Transition from Target Classic to Target Standard and Premium
Information for technical personnel who set up and implement Target in your environment:
• Transition Information
• Setting Up Target Information to help you set up Target, including preferences, implementation, user management, Scene7 settings, and host management. • Target JavaScript Libraries Implement Target by referencing one of two Target libraries on your web pages:
Information you need to successfully transition from Target Classic to Target Standard and Premium. • Adobe Target Transition Hub Everything you need to know to make the move from Target Classic to Target Standard and Premium. • Syncing Between Target Standard and Classic
Adobe Target Product Documentation
• at.js Implementation
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Information to help you sync activities and audiences between the two solutions.
Information about the at.js library, a new implementation library for Target designed for typical Target for Mobile Applications web implementations and single-page applications. • Target for Mobile Apps • mbox.js Implemenation Use Target for mobile app optimization and Information about the mbox.js library, the legacy personalization. implementation library for Target. Adobe Target Solutions Help • Best Practices for Implementing Target using Dynamic • Target Standard and Premium Tag Management • Target Classic Information about the preferred method of implementing • Premium Recommendations Target using Dynamic Tag Management (DTM). • Recommendations Classic Integrating Target with the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Search&Promote • Integrating Adobe Target with the Marketing Cloud Use the same data, audiences, and metrics across solutions. • Analytics as the Reporting Source for Target
• Target API Documentation Marketing Cloud Resources • Target Community Forum • Marketing Cloud Release Notes
• Marketing Cloud Help Home Create tests based on Analytics conversion metrics and • Adobe Training and Tutorials audience segments, and use Analytics reports to • Featured Solutions Center examine your data and results.
Target Release Notes - Latest Release
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Target Release Notes - Latest Release These release notes provide information about features, enhancements, fixes, and known issues for each Target Standard and Target Premium release. This section contains the following information: • Target Platform Changes • Target Standard/Premium 16.9.1 (September 22, 2016) • Release Notes for Other Adobe Target Capabilities • Documentation Changes, Past Release Notes, and Marketing Cloud Release Notes • Prerelease Information Target Platform Changes Change
Details
at.js version 0.9.2
September 21, 2016 at.js version 0.9.2 is available.
• Added an optoutEnabled setting to enable or disable the Device Graph opt-out. If this setting is set to true and the visitor has opted out of tracking, the visitor's browser will not make any mbox calls. Device Graph is currently in Beta. This setting is set to false by default, but must be set to true if you are using Device Graph. A similar option is part of mbox.js v61. • Added CustomEvent support for the notification mechanism. Previously, the at.js event notification mechanism could not be used via standard DOM APIs, such as document.addEventListener(). Now you can use document.addEventListener() to subscribe to at.js events, such as request events and content rendering events. • Fixed an issue related to offers created in the Visual Experience Composer (VEC). Prior to this release, Target hid the selectors and un-hid them only when all selectors matched. In at.js 0.9.2 Target un-hides the selectors as soon as they are matched. For more information, see at.js Version Details.
Target Standard/Premium 16.9.1 (September 22, 2016) This release includes the following features and enhancements:
Target Release Notes - Latest Release
Feature Combine audiences
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Description Combine multiple audiences (including Adobe Marketing Cloud audiences and Target audiences) on the fly during the activity-creation workflow. For example, you can target all loyalty customers by including a specific Audience Manager segment for loyalty status and combine it with a Target segment made up of people who signed up for your loyalty program during the current session, instead of creating a third, permanent audience. For more information, see Combining Multiple Audiences.
Target visitors during a specific time period
Add start and end dates to target an audience. For example, using the new combined, ad-hoc audiences mentioned above, you can target low-spenders with specific content during the three days leading up to Black Friday and other content after Black Friday. For more information, see Time Frame.
Save smart collections
Search functionality on the Content page now includes saved folders, called smart collections, to save time when performing similar searches. For more information, see Search Content and Create Smart Collections.
Form-based Experience Composer
Add a link to an image. The link can be a click-through link, destination link, or a landing link. For more information, see Form-Based Experience Composer.
Enhancements This release includes the following enhancements: Enhancement
Description
Visual Experience Composer (VEC)
Improved error messaging.
Known Issues • The Render Using JavaScript option is currently not supported if it is used along with custom code in the Visual Experience Composer.
Target Release Notes - Latest Release
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Release Notes for Other Adobe Target Capabilities Use the following links to view release notes for Target capabilities other than Target Standard and Target Premium: • Target Classic release notes • Recommendations Classic release notes • Search&Promote release notes Documentation Changes, Past Release Notes, and Marketing Cloud Release Notes In addition to the notes for each release, the following resources provide additional information: Resource
Details
Documentation Changes
View detailed information about updates to this guide that might not be included in these release notes.
Past Release Notes
View information about new features and enhancements in previous releases of Target Standard and Target Premium.
Marketing Cloud Release Notes
View the latest release notes for the Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions.
Prerelease Information Enhancement
Description
Adobe Priority Product Update list
To receive advance notifications about upcoming product enhancements, sign up for the Adobe Priority Product Update: https://campaign.adobe.com/webApp/adbePriorityProductSubscribe
Current and upcoming release notes
For information about the current month's Target releases, including prerelease information, see the Adobe Target Release Notes page.
Introduction to Target
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Introduction to Target Adobe Target is the Adobe Marketing Cloud solution that provides everything you need to tailor and personalize your customers' experience to maximize revenue on your web and mobile sites, apps, social media, and other digital channels. The Adobe Target solution contains several components: Component Target Standard
Target Premium Target Classic Recommendations Classic
Description Provides a visual interface for creating and managing A/B tests and rules-based targeting activities. Adds premium features to the Target Standard interface. Provides a form-based interface for setting up tests and optimizations. Automatically displays products or content that might interest your customers based on previous user activity on your Web site.
Target Standard and Target Classic (formerly Test&Target) can be used side by side, so it's helpful to understand the key differences between them. See Comparison to Target Classic. We recommend that users use the new visual workflow of Target Standard or Target Premium. However, some users might require Target Classic for some tests. Note: Using Target Standard or Target Premium does not affect any Target Classic campaigns that might already be running. Target Standard Target Standard is a front-end to Adobe Target that helps you visually create and manage A/B tests and rules-based targeting activities, and connect to the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Target Standard supports custom code insertion both in and out of the Visual Experience Composer workflow. Target Standard offers a simplified implementation strategy with your digital properties: just a single line of code on each page manages all communication required between your site and Adobe Target. Industry best practices are built into Target Standard, and it is designed to be used by both new and experienced users.You can share data and results and collaborate easily with other team members who use the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Target Standard will continue to be enhanced with functionality currently found in Target Classic, over the next several releases. The following video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium and how Target's three-step guided workflow can help you achieve your site goals. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target
Introduction to Target
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Activity Types
9:03 • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Target Premium Target Premium is an advanced Target license that adds premium features to Target Standard. Target Premium will continue to be enhanced with functionality currently found in Target Classic, over the next several releases. Target Premium includes the following premium features: Premium Feature
Description
Automated Personalization
Automated Personalization provides advanced machine learning algorithms to drive personalized experiences and improved conversion rates for digital experiences. Automated personalization (formerly Test&Target 1:1) records visitor activity on the site, building a profile of visitors so content can be targeted to similar visitors. It tracks responses to content, both for individuals and the population as a whole, then uses sophisticated modeling approaches to automatically target each individual by accounting for everything known about that visitor. Automated personalization learns by itself and requires minimum human analysis. Fully automated, it learns continuously. The system builds models and automatically learns what products an individual visitor is most likely to be interested in. Every time a visitor interacts with the site, information is collected and stored in the visitor profile. Multiple algorithms are available to provide the best model for your system.
Recommendations
Recommendations activities automatically display products or content that might interest your customers based on previous user activity. Recommendations help direct customers to relevant items they might otherwise not know about. A recommendation determines how a product is suggested to a customer, depending on that customer's activities on the site. For example: • Encourage people who purchase a backpack to consider buying hiking shoes and trekking poles. Create a recommendation that shows items that are often purchased together, using the "People who bought this also bought that" criteria. • Increase the time visitors spend on your media site by recommending similar video content to what they are currently watching.
Introduction to Target
Premium Feature
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Description Create a recommendation that suggests other videos, using the "People who viewed this viewed that" criteria. • Suggest that customers who viewed information about savings plans at your bank also read about IRA accounts. Show other products people purchased after viewing one product without showing the first product in the recommendations, using the "people who viewed this also bought" criteria.
Target Classic Adobe Target Classic, formerly known as Adobe Test&Target, uses a form-based workflow to create and manage sophisticated A/B and multivariate tests. Digital marketers maintain complete control by quickly and easily testing multiple onsite and offsite scenarios. For more information, see the Adobe Target Classic documentation. Recommendations Classic Recommendations Classic automatically displays products or content that might interest your customers based on previous user activity on your website. Recommendations help direct customers to items they might otherwise not know about, improving sales generated on your website. For more information, see the Recommendations Classic documentation.
Deciding Between Adobe Target Standard, Premium, and Classic Information to help you decide which Target component best suits your needs. Keep the following in mind when deciding whether to use Target Standard or Target Classic: • You must update your mbox.js file (to v44 or later) or use at.js to use Target Standard. These updates are also useful for integrations with Adobe Analytics. For more information about the latest versions of these libraries, see • Communication with your sites is managed through Adobe's globally distributed Edge network, regardless of which interface you use. No changes have been made to this system. Although the Standard interface offers a new way to create activities, stability and performance of content delivery remains at the same level as before. • Standard currently works best in Google Chrome and Mozilla Firefox. If you require Microsoft Internet Explorer for your admin activities, continue to use Classic. Content delivery to sites works across all browsers in Standard, just as it does with Classic. For more information, see Supported Browsers.
Training Videos for Adobe Target Standard and Premium Watch training videos to help you get the most out of Target Standard and Target Premium. Video introductions to Target concepts and tools are available on Adobe EnterpriseTV.
Introduction to Target
More than 20 videos are available in the following categories: • Marketing Cloud and General Capabilities • Creating Activities • Audiences and Targeting • Asset Management • Settings and Preferences • Implementation and Troubleshooting
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Setting Up Target
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Setting Up Target Information to help you set up Adobe Target, including preferences, implementation, user management, Scene7 settings, and host management. To access the Setup menu items, click Setup in the top menu bar, then click the desired tab along the left side: • Preferences • Implementation • Users • Scene7 Settings • Hosts
Preferences Set your account preferences to configure Target Standard or Target Premium to work correctly with your account.
Setting Up Target
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This video includes information about account preferences. Account Preferences
7:33
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pjeWM2MjE61Ueaobi_ZfBsbsTLKoctZN
• Describe the account settings available in Target Standard
To set your account preferences, click Setup > Preferences, configure your preferences as desired, then click Submit. The following illustration shows the available settings on the Account Preferences page.
The following sections contain more information. Note that some of these preferences are available only if you have Target Premium. • Site Details • Results and Reporting • CSS Selectors • Visual Experience Composer • Mobile Viewport Configuration Site Details Select the optional custom mbox name you are using to deliver Target activities. This global mbox must be empty, meaning it has no default content. Only save this setting once the updated mbox.js file is installed on your site. : Configuring this setting incorrectly may result in an outage for existing activities. Results and Reporting Set options that determine what data is used for your results and reports.
Setting Up Target
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Option
Description
Marketing Cloud solution used for reporting
Select the reporting source for your activities, either Target or Adobe Analytics.You can choose to select your reporting source per activity.
Show estimated lift in revenue
You can also choose to show the estimated lift in revenue if you enter a monetary value for your goal. Target can estimate the revenue lift you would attain if all users view the winning experience. The estimated lift feature is disabled by default. Only Marketing Cloud Admin users can enable or disable this feature. If estimated lift is disabled, the corresponding fields do not appear in the interface. Disabling the feature does not result in a loss of data, including the data used for your estimates. The estimates are based on data that is collected whether or not the feature is enabled. For detailed information, see Estimating Lift in Revenue.
CSS Selectors Specify how Target generates CSS selectors. These options help Target understand your site's structure to generate better CSS selectors for content delivery. By default, Target generates selectors based on element IDs on the page. If your site uses few IDs, or duplicates IDs on the same page, then using classes might be a better option. You can choose one or both of the following options: Option
Description
Use element IDs
Deselect this option if the same ID is used for multiple elements or if element ID might change on page load.
Use element classes
By default, Target only uses element IDs. However, if your page is designed to use classes to identify elements, such as a page built with Adobe Experience Manager, you should also select Use element classes. Note: Although everything has been done to assure accuracy, be aware that using classes can result in errors. If you do not select either option, accuracy is also affected. The order of accuracy is IDs > classes > neither option. Always be sure to test your page to make sure the selectors are correct.
Setting Up Target
Option
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Description You can override this setting per activity (click the Settings gear icon, then select CSS Selectors). This is especially useful if you have multiple sites that are configured differently. Note: Overriding the setting per activity is not available in Automated Personalization and Multivariate Testing activities. See Element Selectors Used in the Visual Experience Composer for additional information about selectors.
Visual Experience Composer Option
Description
Default Visual Experience Composer URL
Set the default URL used by the Visual Experience Composer. This is the default page, such as your home page, used whenever you set up an experience for each new activity. If you do not set a default URL, you must enter a URL for each activity when you create it.
Enable Enhanced Experience Composer
Allows editing on iFrame-busting sites and sites with mixed content. Some sites may not be compatible with the enhanced version. Uncheck this option to revert to the original Experience Composer. Activity delivery on sites is not affected by this choice. For more information, see Troubleshooting the Visual Experience Composer. Note: You can also enable the Enhanced Experience Composer at the activity level. For more information, see Experiences.
Generate Experience Snapshots
Enabling experience snapshots generates thumbnails for your experiences in the activity workflow diagram. Disabling snapshots might result in faster performance for some users.
Mobile Viewport Configuration You can add devices to use when previewing experiences. Each device has an associated audience.
Setting Up Target
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Option
Description
Add New
Click Add New, specify a descriptive name for the mobile viewport, specify the width and height, select the desired operating system, then click Save. For information about how to add a mobile viewport, see Mobile Viewport Configuration.
Implementation Before you start using Adobe Target, you should implement it on your site, understand a few basic concepts and terms, be familiar with how Target works and integrates with your infrastructure, and understand how visitors are tracked by the Target system.
Target Requirements Information about the minimum Target library requirements (mbox.js or at.js). To implement Target, you need one of the following Target libraries: Library
Minimum Requirements
at.js
Version 0.9.1 or later. For more information, see at.js Implementation.
mbox.js
Version 53 or later. Version 58 or later is recommended. If the Marketing Cloud ID Service and Adobe Analytics in Target (A4T) are being used, v58 is the minimum-supported mbox.js version. For more information, see Mbox.js Implementation.
Supported Browsers The Adobe Target application and content delivery has been tested across a wide range of browsers and devices. Target Standard/Premium Interface The Target Standard/Premium interface supports the following browsers and devices: Device Type Desktop
Browser Version • Chrome (Latest, Latest minus 1) • Firefox (Latest, Latest minus 1) • Internet Explorer 10 • Internet Explorer 11 • Edge+
Setting Up Target
Device Type Mac
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Browser Version • Chrome (latest) • Safari (latest)
Surface
• Chrome (latest) • Firefox (latest)
Content Delivery Content delivery has been tested across the following browsers and devices: Device Type Desktop
Browser Version • Chrome (Latest, Latest minus 1) • Firefox (Latest, Latest minus 1) • Safari (Latest) • Internet Explorer 8 (Not tested) • Internet Explorer 9 (Tested using IE Emulator mode) • Internet Explorer 10 • Internet Explorer 11 • Edge+
Mobile/Tablet
• iPad (iOS, latest) • Android (Android 4, stock browser)
Note: Other browsers might not deliver content, in which case default content is displayed.
Understanding the Target JavaScript Libraries Implement Target by referencing the Target libraries (at.js or mbox.js) on your web pages. You can use either of two library references: at.js or mbox.js. The following table explains the differences between the two libraries: Library Reference at.js
Description at.js replaces mbox.js for Target implementations. Although at.js replaces mbox.js, mbox.js will continue to be supported. For most people, at.js provides advantages over mbox.js. This gives you time to test at.js and to change the implementation on your pages. Among other benefits, at.js improves page-load times for web implementations, improves security, and provides better implementation options for single-page applications. For more information, see at.js Implementation.
Setting Up Target
Library Reference mbox.js
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Description Prior to Target 16.3.1, Target required a call to mbox.js to create the global mbox required for Adobe Target to deliver Target activities, track clicks, and track most success metrics. This file contains the libraries needed for all of your activities.You do not need to maintain different activity-specific versions of the file. If you already have mboxes on your pages from a former Test&Target implementation, these mboxes can still be used in the new interface. The updated mbox.js file is still required, but these mboxes can be selected for activities and edited using the Visual Experience Composer. Target Standard and Premium update and supplement mbox.js with a reference to a target.js file. The target.js file is hosted by Adobe. The Target.js file makes it possible to edit content on any page using the Visual Experience Composer, even if the page does not contain predefined mboxes.You must reference this file on every page on your site. For more information, see Mbox.js Implementation. Note: Target requires a minimum version of mbox.js. For more information, see Target Requirements.
How you implement Target on your pages depends on the version of Target you use. Target Version
Implementation Method
Target Standard and Premium
Reference one JavaScript library (mbox.js or at.js) on each page. You can manage this implementation yourself, or use Adobe Dynamic Tag Management (DTM) to manage the references. The following video explains how to deploy Target using DTM and includes information to help you: • Log in to DTM • Create the Adobe Target tool • Deploy and manage the Target JavaScript library file Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Y0dXBhMzE6YwUaRV6hx1u0QU4O7LA6yJ To manage content, Target makes a call on your page. This call allows Target to deliver content and to track visitor behavior for use in targeting and reporting. In Target Standard or Target Premium, call at.js or mbox.js with a single line of code in the section of each page.
Target Classic
Target Classic uses mboxes around each area on your page.
Setting Up Target
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at.js Implementation The at.js library is a new implementation library for Adobe Target designed for both typical web implementations and single-page applications. Among other benefits, at.js improves page-load times for web implementations and provides better implementation options for single-page applications. at.js replaces mbox.js for Target implementations. The at.js library also includes the components that were included in target.js, so there is no longer a call to target.js. Note: at.js is not currently compatible with the embedded Target integration with Adobe Experience Manager (all versions). We recommend that you use mbox.js. Contact your Customer Success Manager or Consultant to discuss options. This functionality is planned for a future AEM release. To use at.js, replace the mbox.js reference on pages where you want to implement it. You cannot use both mbox.js and at.js on a single page. However, you can use either on each page on your site. The at.js library works for existing implementations using the mboxCreate(), mboxDefine(), and mboxUpdate() functions and supports new functionality focused on single-page-app based implementations. You can use at.js anywhere you currently use mbox.js. The at.js library offers several improvements over the mbox.js library, including: • Completely asynchronous communication via cross domain AJAX Important: Although at.js communicates with the Target servers asynchronously, the at.js file itself must load synchronously in the section of your page. Ideally, it should be one of the first scripts loaded. Once loaded, at.js executes mbox calls asynchronously through XMLHttpRequest, and does not block page rendering. • No more blocking calls • No document.write() used • No immediate execution of JavaScript in Target responses • Better timeout and error handling • Customizable timeout per call • No reloads on timeouts • Functions designed specifically for single-page apps/MVC frameworks Configure at.js Instructions to configure the at.js library. Migrate to at.js Migrating from mbox.js to at.js is a straightforward process. Note: If you are new to Adobe Target and don't use mbox.js on any of your pages, you can skip this page. Use the following steps to migrate from mbox.js to at.js and to check your migration.
Setting Up Target
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1. Determine your organization's browser support requirements. Note: If you need to support Internet Explorer 8, make sure that, in IE8, the site renders in Standards mode (not Quirks mode). 2. Download the "at.js readiness" bookmarklet from the Debugging page and test it on the types of pages where you are using Target. The bookmarklet helps you find any interference with basic browser capabilities that at.js uses. Don't worry if there is an error for "support for adobe.target.{getOffer,getAndApplyOffer,reportEvent} available." This error is expected at this point and is resolved after you have deployed at.js. 3. Check your website's current mbox.js implementation for capabilities that are not supported by at.js. When auditing your implementation, look for the following: What types of mboxes do you currently use? • Auto-created global mbox The auto-created global mbox is created when the only line of Target code on your site is the mbox.js file. That file automatically generates an mbox call. • Global, empty mboxCreate It is recommended that you switch to the auto-created global mbox. • Wrapping mboxCreate Migration should be simple, as long as your mboxCreate() is preceded by the . • mboxUpdate Migration should be simple when is used in conjunction with mboxDefine() or . mboxUpdate() does not update the auto-created global mbox or an mbox originally created by getOffer(). In these circumstances, a combination of should be used to replace mboxUpdate() when migrating to at.js. • Custom clicktracking mboxes, including mboxTrack We recommend that you update your code to use trackEvent(). Do you have any customizations to your mbox.js file? • mboxParameters() • mboxSupported() • mboxCookieDomain() • Extra Javascript • Other locations Most of the mbox.js objects and methods (such as mbox, mboxCurrent, mboxFactoryDefault, mboxFactories, and others) are not supported. Alternate approaches might be possible to accomplish what you are trying to do. Do you integrate Target with any other Adobe solutions? • Analytics (A4T) • Analytics (legacy integration) • AAM (backend)
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• AAM (legacy frontend) • AEM • Data Workbench Some of the legacy integrations are not supported by at.js. For more information, see the Integrations page. Do you integrate Target with any 3rd parties? • Other Analytics tools • Other DMPs • Demandbase • Click-tale • Other These integreations might need to be adjusted to work with at.js. For more information, see the Integrations page. Do you use a tag manager? • DTM • Ensighten • Tealium • Signal/BrightTag If you are not currently using a tag manager to deploy Target, now might be a good time to consider it. Adobe's Dynamic Tag Management is free to Target customers and provides the best support for Adobe Target. For more information, see at.js Integrations. Download at.js Using the Target Download API Instructions for downloading at.js using the API. 1. Get your client code. Your client code is available at the top of the Setup > Implementation > Edit Mbox.js Settings page of the Target interface. 2. Get your admin number. Load this URL: https://admin.testandtarget.omniture.com/rest/v1/endpoint/
Replace with the client code from Step 1. The result of loading this URL should look similar to the following example: { "api": "https://admin6.testandtarget.omniture.com/admin/rest/v1" }
In this example, "6" is the admin number. 3. Download at.js. Load this URL with the following structure: https://admin.testandtarget.omniture.com/admin/rest/v1/libraries/atjs/download?client=
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• Replace with your admin number. • Replace with the client code from Step 1. Loading this URL starts the download of your customized at.js file. Download at.js Using the Target Interface Instructions for downloading at.js from the Target interface. 1. Click Setup > Implementation. 2. Select at.js. 3. Click Edit at.js Settings. The Settings page shows your at.js settings. Some of these settings are informational only. 4. Change any settings as needed. Setting Auto create global mbox Global mbox name Advanced Settings Code Settings
Description Use at.js to auto-deploy target-global-mbox for a single line of code implementation. Specify a name for the global mbox. The default is target-global-mbox. Refer to at.js Advanced Settings. (Optional) Specify custom code to include in the page header and footer. We recommend that you consult with Client Care before changing these settings.
5. Click Code and enter any custom header and footer JavaScript to execute at the top of the library, such as targetPageParams. If you used mbox.js in the past, you might notice fewer fields. However, there are ways to do many of the same things in at.js that you did in mbox.js. For example, if you used mbox parameters in mbox.js, in at.js you can use targetPageParamsAll. The mbox.js Extra JavaScript field is replaced by the at.js Header and Footer fields, which provide more control of the code. 6. Click Save. 7. Return to the Implementation page and click Download at.js. Test at.js There are multiple ways to safely test at.js in a non-production environment. Below are some techniques to consider. Technique Deploy to DTM Staging
Description If you use DTM, you can easily save at.js in your Adobe Target Tool configuration. After you have saved the library, use the DTM Switch tool to test it against your production code. This will also make it easy for your Adobe consultants to support you.
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Technique
Description
Use "Requestly" Chrome Requestly is a free Chrome extension built by an Adobe Target engineer that lets extension to map to another file you redirect requests to an alternate URL. You deploy at.js to a URL, and then use Requestly to map your current mbox.js file URL to the new at.js URL. Then, any time your website tries to load mbox.js, it loads at.js instead. This approach also make it easier for Adobe to provide support. Deploy to a development, staging, or QA environment
If you host mbox.js in your codebase and are able to easily make updates to your code environments, deploy at.js to one of your lower environments. For better support from Adobe, deploy the file to an environment that Adobe can access.
Use Charles or Fiddler to map to a local file
Charles Web Debugging Proxy is an application available for Mac and Windows whose Map Local feature can be used to map the loading of your production mbox.js file to a local copy of at.js. A free trial version is available for download for Mac and Windows. Fiddler is a similar tool available as a free download for Windows.
Deploy to another tag manager If you are using another tag manager, it probably has a way to deploy at.js environment safely without impacting your production traffic. After you deploy at.js to a non-production environment, make sure all of the standard website functionality is working. Here are some things you can do while testing to confirm that at.js is working as expected: • Make sure all of your current activities work with the new library. • Reactivate some recent activities (with QA params) and make sure that they continue to work as expected. • Confirm that all integrations and plugins you need to use work as expected. • Confirm that other common testing techniques you use continue to work • Make sure you are comfortable debugging with the approaches available with at.js. Single-Page Application Implementation There are many options for implementing Target in single-page applications with at.js. Use a combination of the following techniques for the best capabilities. We strongly recommend that you implement Target using Adobe's Dynamic Tag Management, a free Core Service offering that can be used to quickly adapt your Target implementation as needed. For more information, see the Dynamic Tag Management documentation. Implementation Framework
DTM-Implementable Recommended Demo/Documentation mbox Name
ngRoute
Yes
Angular
target-global-mbox Demo/ Documentation
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Implementation Framework
DTM-Implementable Recommended Demo/Documentation mbox Name
Ui-router
Angular
Yes
target-global-mbox Demo/ Documentation
Directive
Angular
No
Custom per content
Custom event
All
Yes
target-global-mbox Documentation
hashchange
All
Yes
target-global-mbox Demo/ Documentation
Demo/ Documentation
Note: If you previously used or TNT.createGlobalMbox() to fire the global mbox on view changes within your app, you need to migrate to using a combination of for this purpose.
at.js Limitations There are some differences between at.js and mbox.js. This section lists some of the differences and limitations, to help you be successful with at.js. This section contains the following information: • Known Visual Experience Composer Limitations • Browser Support • Integrations and Plugins • Asynchronous Considerations Known Visual Experience Composer Limitations • Insert Element and Rearrange options in the Visual Experience Composer should be avoided in single-page apps. Because the DOM is not cleared on page load events in single-page apps like it is with traditional websites, the Insert Element and Rearrange manipulations might be reapplied multiple times depending on how the visitor navigates the SPA. Browser Support For content delivery, all modern browsers are supported, except Internet Explorer browsers earlier than version 8 (see Supported Browsers). To have the best experience while using Internet Explorer 8, ensure that your site or single-page application is using HTML 5 "doctype." For example: Integrations and Plugins The at.js library is not currently compatible with the embedded Adobe Target integration with Adobe Experience Manager (all versions). If you require this integration, we recommend that you use mbox.js and contact your Customer Success Manager or Consultant to discuss options. This functionality is planned for a future AEM release. Some functions within mbox.js are not available in at.js. Internal mbox.js objects and methods (such as mbox, mboxCurrent, mboxFactoryDefault, mboxFactories, and others) are no longer supported by at.js (example: mboxFactoryDefault). This is by design, intended to discourage you from "hacking" at.js to develop unsupported
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functionality that over the long term can cripple an implementation and make it impossible to upgrade. The only exposed methods are covered in the API pages of this documentation. Because of this: • Legacy, page-based integrations with other Adobe solutions might not work and should be upgraded to newer, server-side integrations. • Custom plugins developed for mbox.js might not work unless updated for at.js. Make sure you include any plugins as part of your testing. Asynchronous Considerations Because all mboxes are now asynchronous, they won't block page rendering or return in the order in which they fired. • Legacy page-based Target to Analytics integration will not work. This integration requires that the Target call is made before the Analytics call. • Beware of JavaScript dependencies between your offer and the page. You should not assume that the JavaScript in your offer is going to execute before the hardcoded JavaScript below the mbox. • Beware of JavaScript dependencies between multiple offers on the page. You can no longer assume that the offer delivered by the first mbox is going to execute before the offer delivered by your second mbox. • DOM Manipulation and Redirect offers should be delivered through the auto-created global mbox in at.js and delivered in the . An mboxCreate() function at the top of the will likely result in flicker of default content. at.js Advanced Settings Information to help you set several settings on the at.js Settings page. Note: You can override settings in the at.js library, rather than configuring the settings in the Target Standard/Premium UI or by using REST APIs. For more information, see at.js Settings Override(). To open the Settings page, click Implementation, select at.js, then click Edit at.js Settings. The following settings appear on this page: • Content Delivery Settings • Advanced Settings • Code Settings Content Delivery Settings Please consult with Client Care before changing these settings. These settings are required for most implementations. Setting Autocreate global mbox
Description Select whether to embed the global mbox call in the at.js file to automatically fire on each page load.
Setting Up Target
Setting
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Description Changing this setting affects both at.js and mbox.js.
Global mbox name
Select a name for the global mbox. By default, this name is target-global-mbox. Changing this setting affects both at.js and mbox.js.
Advanced Settings Setting Client Code
Description The client code is a client-specific sequence of characters often required when using the Target APIs. This setting cannot be changed.
IMS Organization ID
This ID ties your implementation to your Adobe Marketing Cloud account. This setting cannot be changed.
Profile Lifetime
This setting determines how long visitor profiles are stored. By default, profiles are stored for two weeks. To change the Profile Lifetime setting, contact Client Care.
X-Domain
Determines whether the browser sets cookies in your own domain (1st party cookies), Target's domain, or both. Changing this setting affects both at.js and mbox.js.
Timeout
If Target does not respond with content within the defined period, the server call times out and default content is displayed. Additional calls continue to be attempted during the visitor's session. The default is 15 seconds. Changing this setting affects both at.js and mbox.js.
Legacy Browser Support
Legacy browsers are older browsers that do not fully support CORS (Cross Origin Resource Sharing). These browsers include: Internet Explorer browsers earlier than version 11 and Safari versions 6 and below. If Legacy Browser Support is disabled, Target does not deliver content or count visitors in reports on these browsers. If this option is enabled, it is recommended to do quality assurance across older browsers to ensure a good customer experience.
Code Settings Please consult with Client Care before changing these settings. These settings are required for most implementations.
Setting Up Target
Setting Library Header Library Footer
32
Description Add any custom JavaScript to include at the top of the library. Add any custom JavaScript to include at the bottom of the library.
at.js Integrations Information about common integrations with Target and their support status with at.js. If there are additional integrations you use or if you have a compelling need for an integration that is not supported, please contact your account representative or consultant. This section contains the following information: • Supported Integrations • Unsupported Integrations • Third-Party Integrations Supported Integrations Integration
Details
Analytics for Target (A4T) Profiles & Audiences (P&A) VisitorId Service Dynamic Tag Management (DTM) Consider the following when using a DTM integration: • Library Management: Use the "Custom" hosting option. "Automatic" management is not currently supported. • Global Mbox Parameters work • Wrapping Mboxes in page-load rules now fire immediately instead of at the end of page load. • JavaScript/Third Party Tags: Mbox creation and parameter passing methods can be used in the JavaScript/Third Party Tag sections of Page Load Rules, Event-based Rules, and Direct Call Rules. For example, many customers already trigger view change mboxes using the "pushState or hashChange" or "custom event" conditions in DTM's Event-based Rules.
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Unsupported Integrations Integration
Details
Legacy Target to SiteCatalyst Integration
This was the integration that sent campaign and recipe ids to SiteCatalyst via the page call so you could do reporting in the SiteCatalyst UI. This functionality is replaced by A4T.
Legacy Target to SiteCatalyst Integration
This was the integration that made mbox calls named "SiteCatalyst: Event" and "SiteCatalyst: Purchase" so you could build success metrics and user profiles based on evars and props. This functionality is replaced by A4T and P&A.
Legacy Audience Manager (AAM) This was the integration that made a front-end API call to retrieve AAM to Target Integration segments and then sent them as mbox parameters on every mbox call on the page. It's possible to replicate this integration using the adobe.target.registerExtension() method in at.js. AEM Cloud Service
The AEM Cloud Service that enables the access to Target capabilities from within the AEM workflow currently does not support at.js. A future AEM release will incorporate at.js with the AEM Cloud Service. In the interim, at.js can be deployed outside of the AEM Cloud Service so that AEM published pages can be optimized through Target's VEC as an alternate approach.
Third-Party Integrations Integration
Details
Other Tag Managers
at.js should work with non-Adobe tag management platforms, but be careful using custom integration features that other vendors have developed. Their integrations might be dependent on internal mbox.js functions that no longer exist in at.js.
Third-party data providers (e.g. Demandbase, Bluekai, weather APIs)
Many third-party data providers used to supplement Target's user profiling can be replicated using registerExtension().
at.js Plug-ins Information about supported and not-supported at.js plug-ins. Many people have built customized plugins and response plug-ins for mbox.js. These custom plug-ins might not be supported by at.js without being updated. If you are using a plug-in that is not listed here and you would like to know the status, please contact your account representative. Here is the current status of some of the plug-ins that are used by many customers when used with at.js:
Setting Up Target
Plugin mboxTrack
34
Details Not supported. This is replaced by the adobe.target.trackEvent(options) function. Update your plug-ins to apply the new function. See the integrations page.
Persistent Profile Backup Plugin
Not supported. This plug-in was deprecated when the Target profile lifetime was extended from two weeks to 90 days. Check the expiration date of your mbox cookie to see the profile lifetime setting on your account. Contact ClientCare if you would like to extended the profile lifetime to 90 days.
ttMeta
Supported. This plug-in should continue to work with at.js.
Debugging at.js Information about the status of traditional Target debugging techniques when used with at.js. Debugging options are slightly different for mbox calls using at.js. The following video demonstrates tools for troubleshooting at.js: Tools for Troubleshooting Adobe Target
14:14
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Z2NWh0NDE6lelRmnzkAq5kkxZkVOUz3i
• Use native browser tools for inspecting mbox requests • Use the Marketing Cloud Debugger, mboxTrace, and ttMETA • Understand the Target timeout
Debugging Technique
Details
Adobe Marketing Cloud Debugger
Not supported.
atList
Supported. http://dwright.businesscatalyst.com/bookmarklets.html
All mbox calls with at.js use XHR requests, which are not exposed by MC debugger. Instead, use your browser's Developer Tools to inspect the Network requests, filtering to "mbox" to isolate mbox calls.
atList shows Mbox Names, Activity Names, Experience Names, Offer Names dev console as an alert or both (true/false configs are at the beginning of the bookmarklet). Requires ttMETA response plugin.
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Debugging Technique
Details
mboxHighlight
New version. mboxHighlightJSON outlines wrapping mboxes created with at.js. Use atList to expose activity details.
mboxTrace=console
Supported, but in a different location. Instead of popping a new browser window or outputting to the console, you will need to inspect the Network request and look under Preview (Chrome) or Response (Firefox).
mboxDisable=1
Supported.
mboxDebug=1
Supported, but behaves differently. With at.js, mboxDebug=1 will expose console.log statements about what at.js is doing. Use your browser's developer tools to see if mboxes are firing and examine cookie values.
mboxDebug=x-profile
Not Supported. Use mboxTrace to expose profile information.
mboxDebug=x-cookie
Not Supported.
VEC Offer Debugging (_AT_Debug=console
Not supported.
bookmarklets
at-js-readiness
mboxDebug=1 will show the details of Visual Experience Composer offer delivery.
This bookmarklet will check at.js readiness. Copy into clipboard. javascript:void(0);!function(){function e(e,t){function n(){return t.isObject(e.XMLHttpRequest)}function o(){return n()&&"onload"in new e.XMLHttpRequest}function r(){return o()&&"withCredentials"in new e.XMLHttpRequest}function a(){return t.isObject(e.XDomainRequest)}return{isXhrSupported:n,isStandardXhrSupported:o,isStandardCrossDomainXhrSupported:r,isIeCrossDomainXhrSupported:a}}var t={getItem:function(e){return e?decodeURIComponent(document.cookie.replace(RegExp("(?:(?:^|.*;)\\s*"+encodeURIComponent(e).replace(/[\-\.\+\*]/g,"\\$&")+"\\s*\\=\\s*([^;]*).*$)|^.*$"),"$1"))||null:null},setItem:function(e,t,n,o,r,a){if(!e||/^(?:expires|max\-age|path|domain|secure)$/i.test(e))return!1;var i="";if(n)switch(n.constructor){case Number:i=n===1/0?"; expires=Fri, 31 Dec 9999 23:59:59 GMT":"; max-age="+n;break;case String:i="; expires="+n;break;case Date:i="; expires="+n.toUTCString()}return document.cookie=encodeURIComponent(e)+"="+encodeURIComponent(t)+i+(r?"; domain="+r:"")+(o?"; path="+o:"")+(a?"; secure":""),!0}},n=function(){for(var e,t=3,n=document.createElement("div");n.innerHTML="",n.getElementsByTagName("i")[0];);return t>4?t:e}(),o={isObject:function(e){var t=typeof e;return!!e&&("object"==t||"function"==t)},isString:function(e){var t=typeof e;return!!e&&"string"==t},isFunction:function(e){var t=Object.prototype,n=t.toString,o=o="[object Function]";return this.isObject(e)&&n.call(e)==o},ie:n};!function(e,t,n){function
Setting Up Target
Debugging Technique
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Details o(e,t){return{name:e,value:t}}function r(e){var t,n=!0;for(t=0;t Implementation in Target Standard. 2. Click Download mbox.js and follow the prompts to save the file. 3. (Conditional) If you use mbox.js version 60 or later, you can configure the library to automatically hide page content by default until mboxes load to reduce flicker on responsive sites.
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For more information, see "Suppress page-load flicker" in mbox.js Advanced Settings. 4. Create the mbox.js reference on the website. Beginning with mbox.js version 57, the mbox.js reference can be placed anywhere within the section of the page. Important: If you use a version of mbox.js prior to version 57, the reference must be the last item in the section of your pages. If the reference is not the last item, serious display or performance issues could result. See Technical Implementation Details for more information. 5. Upload the saved mbox.js file to the location in your hosting environment that you specified in the code. Alternative Download Option You can also download mbox.js using the Target API. The Mbox.js Download API is a REST API with the following structure: https://admin3.testandtarget.omniture.com/admin/rest/v1/mboxjs/download/v58?client=CLIENTCODE&email=youremail&password=yourpassword
Replace "admin3" with the admin environment your account uses in Target Classic. To find the right value, log in to Target Classic and look at the beginning of the URL. Options include: • admin3 • admin4 • admin5 • admin6 • admin7 • admin8 • admin9 • admin10 • admin12 • admin16 v58 is the version of the mbox.js file being requested. All versions back to version 51 are supported by this API. CLIENTCODE is the value for your client code. youremail and yourpassword are your Adobe Target Classic login credentials. Downloading Older Versions of Mbox.js Although it is recommended that you use the latest version of mbox.js, in some cases it might be necessary to download an older version. You can use the Download API to download an older version of mbox.js by specifying the version number. The following example downloads version 51: https://admin3.testandtarget.omniture.com/admin/rest/v1/mboxjs/download/v51?client=demo3
mbox.js Advanced Settings Information to help you set several settings on the mbox.js Settings page. The default settings of the mbox.js function library serve the needs of most Target customers. This video explains how to implement mbox.js.
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Mbox.js Implementation Overview
8:52
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pqc2RoMzE6kadv87gfsP4J9K62R1bl_x
• Select the correct settings for your mbox.js file • Implement Target by adding the mbox.js file to the of your site
If needed, consult your account representative to change the mbox.js settings. Whether mbox.js is edited from Target Standard/Premium or Target Classic, the changes are applied across Target. The latest changes take precedence. Setting
Description
Client
The client code for your account. When viewing Setup > Implementation > Edit Mbox.js Settings, the Client at the top is the client code for your account.
Server Domain
The unique domain name where mbox requests are sent. If you are using 3rd party cookies, this is also the domain where your cookie is set.
XDomain
Determines whether the browser sets cookies in your own domain (1st party cookies), Target's domain, or both. Changing this setting affects both mbox.js and at.js.
Compression Level
Determines how compressed the mbox.js library file is. Increasing the compression level decreases the page-load time.
Client Session Id Support
Enables the ability to forcibly use your own sessionId as the mbox sessionId. This identifier must contain 20 characters or fewer. This setting is useful for tracking. Default: disabled
Client PC Id Support
Enables the ability to forcibly use your own unique identifier instead of the Target Classic unique identifier (mboxPC). This identifier must contain 20 characters or fewer. Manually set this setting if you want the API to update the same PcId when repeated offline conversions occur for the same visitor.
Setting Up Target
Setting
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Description Default: disabled
Pass Page/Referring URL
Passes the page URL and referring URL on each request. Default: enabled
Traffic Level
Sets a percentage limit on the total number of site visitors who can make mbox calls. Some clients with high traffic volumes lower this percentage to keep mbox calls within contract. If you set this percentage below 100%, some new (or converted) visitors might be blocked. People who are already part of a test remain in the experience for every visit during the entire duration of the test or campaign.
Traffic Duration
Excludes a visitor for the specified duration. Applies only if you set your traffic level to less than 100%.
mboxParameters() function body
Returns extra parameters to pass to each mbox call. For example: return "test=123";
mboxSupported() function body
Returns false to exclude specific users. For example: return !navigator.userAgent.indexOf('Safari') != -1;
The following browsers can be accepted or excluded: • IE 5.0 or greater (Windows) • Netscape 5.0 or greater (Mac, Windows, Linux) • Safari 1.2.4 or greater (Mac) • Mozilla Firefox 1.0 or greater (Mac, Windows, Linux) mboxCookieDomain() function body
Returns a string describing the domain to set first-party cookies. For example: return "YOUR-DOMAIN";
Extra JavaScript
Includes any additional JavaScript you want to execute on each page.
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Setting
Description
SiteCatalyst plug-in
Enables the Analytics Target plug-in. If enabled, the Analytics plug-in generates plug-in code in mbox.js. This sends Analytics tag information to Target servers as an mbox request on every page tagged with Analytics. Note that the Analytics plug-in must still be referenced on the page.
Get mbox.js as self-extracting JavaScript
To receive your mbox.js file as a self-extracting JavaScript file, enable this setting. Note: The self-extracting JavaScript option is considered an experimental feature and should be used with caution. This option is useful for people who do not have server-side compression enabled. If selected, you receive a compressed mbox.js file, which is automatically extracted in your browser. Server-side compression provides advantages over this option: • The resulting file is smaller. • Decompression on the client side uses a browser-native implementation, which is faster than the self-extracting decompression by JavaScript.
The following can be set by editing the website above the reference to mbox.js. These values must be included on every page, or as part of a tag management implementation. Setting Timeout
Description Mbox.js sets timeout values in case the visitor ID service does not return. Default timeout for the visitor ID service is 500ms (0.5 seconds). An additional timeout sets the upper limit for how long the tag will be hidden. That default is 500ms (0.5 seconds). These timeouts can be changed by inserting the following code before the mbox.js reference on each page: window.targetGlobalSettings = { visitorApiTimeout: 500, visitorApiPageDisplayTimeout: 500 };
Setting Up Target
Setting Suppress page-load flicker
61
Description Applicable for mbox.js version 60 or later. By default, page content is not hidden. Version 60 hides page content only when the "auto-create global mbox" option is enabled. It uses the CSS opacity:0 property for page hiding instead of display:none. This ensures proper delivery for responsive sites and aligns with at.js. You can enable body hiding using two settings: • bodyHidingEnabled The default value is false, which means HTML BODY is not hidden. • bodyHiddenStyle The default value is body{opacity:0}. This value can be changed to something different, like body{display:none}. These settings can be overridden by including something like: window.targetGlobalSettings = { bodyHidingEnabled: true, bodyHiddenStyle: "body{opacity:0}", visitorPageDisplayTimeout: 2000 };
The page hiding technique uses style tags to add and remove styles. This ensures that the site's styles remain unchanged after the page hiding code executes.
Target Page Methods by mbox.js Library Version The way Target makes and responds to calls from your page depends on the version of the Target library you are using, whether the Marketing Cloud Visitor ID implementation is present, and whether the visitor ID exists. Note: If you use at.js, all calls are made using JSON. This page provides details about mbox.js library versions. The behaviors described in the scenarios below do not apply to at.js. This section provides information about how each version of the Target library responds to the Target call from your page in each of the following scenarios: • No Visitor ID Implementation • Visitor ID Implementation Present, but No Visitor ID Set • Visitor ID Implementation Present, and Visitor ID Exists
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There are several types or endpoints, depending on your implementation and library version. You should be familiar with each type to understand how Target responds to calls in each scenario. Type/Endpoint
Call Method
Response Content
autocreate global mbox - synchronous document.write to make call
JavaScript without document.write()
autocreate global mbox asynchronous
JavaScript without document.write()
standard
createElement() to append call to body
JavaScript with document.write()
document.write to make call
ajax
createElement() to append call to body
json
XMLHTTPrequest() to make call
JavaScript without document.write()
returns JSON response
Important: For any type but standard, all custom code and offers should be written to support an ajax environment. For example, if you use a JavaScript that includes document.write(), the script will not work as expected. No Visitor ID Implementation If you are using Target Standard or Premium with mbox.js, and you have enabled Create Global Mbox for your account, the autocreate global mbox synchronous type of call and response is made, regardless of mbox.js version. If you write your own custom code rather than using the Visual Experience Composer actions, make sure your code is appropriate for an ajax environment. For example, if you use a JavaScript that includes document.write(), the script will not work as expected. Note: Multiple ajax mbox calls with the same mbox name but different parameters will not work on the same page. Only the first call will be made. If you use "auto-create global mbox" but also have mboxCreate calls on your page, for example, if you are implementing Target Standard or Premium on a page that previously used Target Classic, the global mbox calls are made using the autocreate global mbox - standard endpoint and the mboxCreate calls are made using the standard endpoint. The standard endpoint uses document.write() to make the call and to respond. This blocks the page load, including content delivered in the ajax response, until all information is downloaded. If you use only mboxCreate, for example on pages created using Target Classic, the page works as it always has. Creation Method
mbox.js v57
mbox.js v58
mbox.js v59
mbox.js v60
autocreate global mbox
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
mboxCreate
standard
standard
standard
standard
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Visitor ID Implementation Present, but No Visitor ID Set If no visitor ID has been set, there is no Marketing Cloud visitor cookie for the user. The page calls out to the Visitor ID service to get the visitor ID. Target waits for the response with the ID making the call to Target. Note: Mbox.js v58 is strongly recommended to ensure that the visitor ID returns before the Target call is made. If you are using mbox.js version 57 in this scenario, everything works as it does if there is no visitor ID implementation, as described in the previous scenario. Beginning with mbox.js version 58, the Marketing Cloud Visitor ID service returns with a visitor ID before Target calls are made. This ensures that audience data shared through the Profiles and Audiences core service are available for the first Target call in the visitor's session. To avoid flickering of default content before test content returns, Target hides the until the visitor ID service returns. In version 58, display:none is used to hide the page.This creates some problems with responsive sites, so beginning with version 59, opacity:0 is used to hide the content. Creation Method
mbox.js v57
mbox.js v58
mbox.js v59
autocreate global mbox
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global autocreate global autocreate global mbox - asynchronous mbox - asynchronous mbox - asynchronous
mboxCreate
standard
ajax
ajax
mbox.js v60
ajax
Visitor ID Implementation Present, and Visitor ID Exists If the visitor ID cookie exists, Target does not need to make a call to the Visitor ID service. In this case, there is no need to wait for the Visitor ID service before displaying content. For versions 57 to 59, the autocreate global mbox - synchronous type is used, so the page waits for the call to Target to return before continuing to load. This ensures no flicker of default content is seen. For v60, the global mbox-asynchronous type is used to ensure Target waits for the Marketing Cloud opt-out service to respond. The opt-out service is part of the Data Co-op releasing in the fall of 2016. Because all calls are returned using ajax ,document.write() should not be used with mbox.js version 60. Creation Method
mbox.js v57
mbox.js v58
mbox.js v59
mbox.js v60
autocreate global mbox
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - synchronous
autocreate global mbox - asynchronous (to support development of the Data Co-op, which will be released later in 2016)
mboxCreate
standard
standard
standard
ajax
Using a Global Mbox from Target Classic By default, Target Standard creates a global mbox called target-global-mbox, which is used to run activities created in Target Standard. However, if you have already created a global mbox on your pages for your Target Classic campaigns, you can use that mbox for your Target Standard activities.
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Note: You can have only one global mbox per account. To use your existing global mbox for both Target Standard and Target Classic, you must set a few parameters. 1. Go to Target Standard, then click Setup > Implementation. By default, Auto Create Global Mbox is enabled, and the custom global mbox is named target-global-mbox. 2. If you want to use an existing mbox, disable Auto Create Global Mbox, and specify the name of a previously created global mbox in the Custom Global Mbox field. The Custom Global Mbox drop-down lists all mboxes in your account. If you want to use an mbox that does not yet exist, create the mbox in Target Classic. 3. Click Save. The mbox.js settings for your account are updated. 4. Download the new mbox.js file and reference it on your site. After you've updated your production site with the new mbox.js file, you are ready to set your preferences. 5. Click Setup > Preferences. 6. In the Custom Global Mbox field, specify the name of the global mbox you selected on the Implementation page. 7. Click Submit. All existing activities update to use the specified global mbox, including activities that have previously been created and implemented. The global mbox changes you make in Target Standard are also visible in Target Classic. In Target Classic, go to Configuration > mbox.js > Edit. There are several fields for the global mbox near the bottom of the page. Although visible to everyone, these fields can be edited by Adobe employees only. When you set up your global mbox in Target Standard, all fields for the global mbox are automatically filled, except the optional Global DOM Element ID for HTML Offer Delivery field. This optional field is used to deliver offers to a specific location on the page. This requires an empty element with an ID on your page, such as an empty with an ID. Other element types will also work, as long as they are empty and have an ID. Offers delivered through the custom global mbox are inserted into the element with the specified ID. If there is not already an ID associated with the element, you must create one in the HTML code. In most cases, no value is provided, and an empty is created immediately following the tag. Troubleshooting Global Mbox Implementation Why is the global mbox not loading, or why is there latency in loading the global mbox when the page loads? Make sure the mbox.js reference is the first JavaScript call on the page. For other solutions to this problem, see Mbox.js Implementation. Customize Your Mbox.js Implementation You can customize your mbox.js implementation by passing parameters to the global mbox.You might, for example, want to create and Order Confirm Page mbox. Passing Parameters to a Global Mbox The JavaScript targetPageParams function is used to pass parameters to the global mbox. This is needed in any scenario where additional targeting/context information is to be passed into Target.
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For example, in a Recommendations activity, use the parameters to represent the current product or category that is being viewed. The code to call the JavaScript function must come before the global mbox on the page, whether the global mbox is fired as a part of mbox.js or is manually included in the page code. You can pass in parameters to target-global-mbox using the targetPageParams() function in any of the following ways: • An array • A JSON object • An ampersand-delimited list Use these three methods to verify that the parameters are being passed correctly. You might also be able to verify the passing of parameters using the Adobe Marketing Cloud Debugger. You must define the JavaScript function before adding the global mbox to the page. The name must be targetPageParams. Query String p1=v1&p2=v2&p3=hello%20world
• Name: targetPageParams • Return value: a "&" delimited parameters, with URL encoded parameter values. Example: In this example, p3 has the value hello world, which is URL encoded. The following is an example of how the code for the page might look: Title here.. function targetPageParams() { return "p1=v1&p2=v2&p3=hello%20world"; } Body here...
This example sends the following data to the mbox edge: • p1=v1 • p2=v2 • p3=hello world Array targetPageParams = function() { return ["a=1", "b=2", "c=hello world"]; };
Values do not need to be URL encoded. For example, if a value contains a space, there is no need to encode the space. This example sends the following data to the mbox edge:
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• a=1 • b=2 • c=hello world JSON JSON is a powerful way to pass parameters. Target uses the JSON object keys to flatten complicated structures into simple parameters. targetPageParams = function() { return { "a": 1, "b": 2, "profile": { "memberStatus": Gold, "country": { "city": "San Francisco" } } }; };
Values do not need to be URL encoded. For example, "San Francisco" does not require the space to be encoded. A space suffices. This example sends the following data to the mbox edge: • a=1 • b=2 • profile.age=26 • profile.country.city=San Francisco Using DTM to Add mbox Parameters This video explains how to add mbox parameters using DTM. Adding mbox Parameters via Activation (DTM)
4:25
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=4yZHFhMzE6DYj4JwstsqreuVy0rbJprG
• Map a static name/value pair to a parameter or profile parameter in the target-global-mbox • understand the basics of a data element • Map a dynamic data element value to a parameter or profile parameter in the target-global-mbox
Create an orderConfirmPage Mbox The orderConfirmPage mbox records details about your product, permitting reports on sales data, orders, and recommendations. 1. In your order details page, insert the mbox script following the model below. 2. Replace the WORDS IN CAPITAL LETTERS with either dynamic or static values from your catalog.
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Note: Use comma delimiting to separate multiple product IDs. Tip: You can also pass order information to any mbox (not only the orderConfirmPage mbox). You can also pass order information to multiple mboxes within the same campaign. mboxCreate('orderConfirmPage', 'productPurchasedId=PRODUCT ID FROM YOUR ORDER PAGE, PRODUCT ID2, PRODUCT ID3', 'orderTotal=ORDER TOTAL FROM YOUR ORDER PAGE', 'orderId=ORDER ID FROM YOUR ORDER PAGE');
The orderConfirmPage mbox uses the following parameters: Parameter
Description
orderId
Unique value to identify an order for conversion counting. The orderId must be unique. Duplicate orders are ignored in reports.
orderTotal
Monetary value of the purchase. Do not pass the currency symbol. Use a decimal point (not a comma) to indicate decimal values.
productPurchasedId
Comma-separated list of product IDs purchased in the order. These product IDs display in the audit report to support additional reporting analysis.
mbox.js Frequently Asked Questions Answers to frequently asked questions about mbox.js. Does at.js support Safari and cross domain set to x-only? No, if cross domain is set to x-only and Safari has third-party cookies disabled, then both mbox.js and at.js will set a disabled cookie and no mbox requests will be executed for that particular client's domain. mbox.js Version Details This page shows changes to each version of mbox.js.
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The way Target responds to calls from your page depends on the version of the Target library you are using, whether the visitor ID implementation is present, and whether the visitor ID exists. For information, see Target Page Methods by mbox.js Library Version. • mbox.js version 61 • mbox.js version 60 • mbox.js version 59 • mbox.js version 58 • mbox.js version 57 • mbox.js version 56 • Previous Releases mbox.js version 61 Target Release: 16.7.2 Release Date: July 28, 2016 mbox.js version 61 contains the following enhancements: • The mboxSession ID generation algorithm in the JavaScript Date API now generates a random string instead of using a timestamp plus a random string. • The following details apply only if you have the Visitor API on the page: • mbox.js version 61 doesn't override the Visitor API loadTimeout property. Clients can use visitorApiTimeout + visitorApiPageDisplayTimeout to control Visitor API integration. • Added an optoutEnabled setting to support future Adobe Marketing Cloud opt-out functionality. The default value is false. If this property is enabled, all requests execute asynchronously against the /ajax endpoint, just like version 60. • Body hiding is disabled by default. Target uses body hiding only when global mbox auto-create is enabled and body hiding is enabled. • If there are no Marketing Cloud Visitor ID cookies, all requests execute asynchronously against /ajax on the first page load. On the second page load, Target uses the normal flow because Visitor ID values are already present. • If you use Adobe Analytics as your activity's reporting source, you do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using mbox.js version 61 (or later) or at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The mbox.js or at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page.
mbox.js version 60 Target Release: 16.4.1 Release Date: April 21, 2016 By default, page content is not hidden. Version 60 hides page content only when the "auto-create global mbox" option is enabled. It uses the CSS opacity:0 property for page hiding instead of display:none. This ensures proper delivery for responsive sites and aligns with at.js. You can enable body hiding using two settings:
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• bodyHidingEnabled The default value is false, which means HTML BODY is not hidden. • bodyHiddenStyle The default value is body{opacity:0}.This value can be changed to something different, like body{display:none}. These settings can be overridden by including something like: window.targetGlobalSettings = { bodyHidingEnabled: true, bodyHiddenStyle: "body{opacity:0}", visitorPageDisplayTimeout: 2000 };
The page hiding technique uses style tags to add and remove styles. This ensures that the site's styles remain unchanged after the page hiding code executes. DTM Users: Note that this will prevent you from using the Automatic import option since there is no way to save the above configuration in the Target UI. You will have to use the instructions above and then paste the contents into the code box of the Custom hosting option. Also in Version 60, if the visitorAPI.js file is present for the Marketing Cloud Visitor ID service, all mboxes are requested via an AJAX endpoint. This is required because Visitor API methods are asynchronous. One benefit of this approach is that the Start Render time is decreased dramatically, because mbox requests do not block rendering. However, this also means that all Target offer content runs asynchronously, so all offer code must be written accordingly. Offers containing document.write and other code that assumes it will run on initial page load will not execute as expected. • V60 asynchronous calls When using v60 with the visitor id service, all mbox calls are made asynchronously. This is a change from how mboxes have always worked, so be careful if upgrading to this version. Review the Asynchronous Considerations section of the at.js documentation (at.js also uses asynchronous calls) to understand some of the risks. • New Visitor scenarios might have flicker When using v58 to v60 with the visitor id service, mbox calls will wait for the visitor id to be set before firing (or until a timeout has occurred). This happens on the first page load of a new visitor. mbox.js version 59 Target Release: 16.2.1 Release Date: February 17, 2016 mbox.js version 59 contains the following enhancements: • Mbox disabled has been lowered to 30 minutes • An issue related to page hiding/unhiding has been fixed Rather than using display:none to hide the page as in version 58, opacity:0 is used. This resolves issues with responsive-designed sites that resulted from the previous method of hiding the page.
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mbox.js version 58 Target Release: 15.7.1 Release Date: July 30, 2015 This version of mbox.js is required if you use Analytics as the reporting source for Target and is highly recommended for Profiles and Audiences. Version 58 of mbox.js ensures the Marketing Cloud Visitor ID service returns with a visitor ID before Target calls are made. This ensures that audience data shared through the Profiles and Audiences core service are available for the first Target call in the visitor's session. To avoid flickering of default content before test content returns, Target hides the until the visitor ID service returns. display:none is used to hide the page. This update also fixes an issue when using Analytics as the reporting source for Target that caused an inflated number of visitors to be reported in Analytics for visits that only included one page. Mbox.js sets timeout values in case the visitor ID service does not return. Default timeout for the visitor ID service is 500ms (0.5 seconds). An additional timeout sets the upper limit for how long the tag will be hidden. That default is 500ms (0.5 seconds). These timeouts can be changed by inserting the following code before the mbox.js reference on each page: window.targetGlobalSettings = { visitorApiTimeout: 500, visitorApiPageDisplayTimeout: 500 };
Mbox.js version 58 and later executes non-JavaScript content for the global mbox immediately after the HTML BODY tag is present. JavaScript content inside tags for the global mbox executes after the DOMContentLoaded event is fired. This order of content delivery ensures that JavaScript content for the global mbox is delivered and rendered properly. mbox.js version 57 Target Release: 15.4.1 Release Date: April 21, 2015 The following changes have been made in this version: • Auto-created global mbox response for Target Standard no longer uses document.write() or creates a element. This removes the requirement for the mbox.js file to be the last item in the of the page. Strong QA is recommended when upgrading to this new version. This change might cause changes in behavior when delivering some offer types. Here are the specific conditions that will need to be considered: • HTML content returned as part of a "plug in offer" does not render correctly, but JavaScript within the offers executes as expected. • JavaScript offers that are being returned to the global mbox can have the JavaScript code embedded in the tag, or referenced by a src attribute. To do this, add the async attribute to the script call, as follows:
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Note that the async attribute has limited support in Internet Explorer (details here: https://developer.mozilla.org/en/docs/Web/HTML/Element/script#Browser_compatibility) so you should exclude visitors who use older IE versions from tests that include these 3rd party scripts. • Fixed problems reported in Version 56 due to changes in the Extra JavaScript section of mbox.js. All code in the Extra JavaScript section is again available in the global scope. The following functionality is not supported in mbox.js version 57: • An auto-created global mbox generated in Target Standard does not work with hosted offer types from Target Classic. Hosted offer types include "offer on your site" and "offer outside Test&Target." This means that in Target Classic, you must not select the auto-created global mbox from Target Standard when one of these offers is required. Refer to About Dynamic Content in the Target Classic help for more information about these offer types. • Only JavaScript plugins are supported. If a plugin's offer combines JavaScript code, and HTML, then the JavaScript code is executed but the HTML content is not shown. mbox.js version 57 also includes important fixes: • Fixed an issue that caused the SiteCatalyst plugin to not work in mbox.js v56. • Fixed an issue that resulted in extra JavaScript errors due to scoping change. • Revert changes to constructor of mboxFactory. mbox.js version 56 Target Release: 15.1.2 Release Date: February 17, 2015 The following changes have been made in this version: • Changes for Premium Recommendations to support passing parameters into global mbox • Adds a 5 second timeout to the target.js load call. In the rare case that the file doesn't load, the page will render and no Target Standard activities will display. • Moved "extra JavaScript" to be executed before global mbox All settings in v56+ are name spaced. If there are functions declared in "extra JavaScript," they must be prefixed with window. For example: function foo { }
Becomes: window.foo = function() { }
Any variables that should be globally accessible must also be prefixed with window.
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• Added a cookie called "em-disabled" that mbox.js gives to the user if target.js fails to load during delivery. This cookie prevents offers created using the Visual Experience Composer from rendering on the site. Users with this cookie neither see the test content nor get counted in those activity reports. All other offer content (from campaigns in Target Classic for example) will continue to load. The cookie has a lifetime of 30 min from the time of load failure. Previous Releases Version
Target Release
Date
Changes
55
15.1
January 19, 2015
Modifies version 53 with IE fixes.
54
14.9.2
September 30, 2014
53
14.9.1
September 14, 2014
52
14.8
August 14, 2014
Changes the global mbox implementation to AJAX from document.write. This removes the requirement for the mbox.js file to be the last item in the page's section. This version is only available via API. Clients can download it and use this mbox.js file. Some sites experience content flicker with this implementation, so please validate the integration on your site. Fixed an issue where Target page params do not fire correctly in Internet Explorer. mboxParameter function
now works in Target Standard and Premium. Fixed an issue that kept Analytics tracking from working in IE 9 & 11. This change only affects users of Analytics. Now you can pass in parameters as an array, as a JSON object, or as a comma-delimited list (previously supported) to target-global-mbox using
Setting Up Target
Version
73
Target Release
Date
Changes the targetPageParams() function. Renamed M2PcId and everything related to VisitorId. Allow the defaultDiv of a registered mbox to be cleared.
51
14.6
June 25, 2014
Fixed a bug that set an incorrect cookie in sites with two characters in their top-level domain. Fixed a minor bug in mbox.js that caused hashtag values to be returned.
50
Improved synchronization between Target Standard and Target Classic.
49
Improved Internet Explorer 10 support for nested mboxes.
48
Added support for Adobe Analytics as the reporting source for Target.
47
mbox.js now supports using a custom global mbox name for Target Standard.
46
Added complete support for Marketing Cloud visitor ID service for Target Standard's single-line-of-code implementation. This enables server-side Adobe Analytics integration and the Marketing Cloud shared profile. Fixed an issue with delivering content in IE10 in document mode.
Setting Up Target
Version
74
Target Release
Date
Changes
45
Added complete support for Marketing Cloud visitor ID service. This enables server-side Adobe Analytics integration and the Marketing Cloud shared profile.
44
Added new parameter in URL by mboxVizTarget: mboxDOMLoaded
43
Added support for Target Standard.
42
Added initial support for Marketing Cloud shared visitor ID service.
41
1. Even with x-only setting, disable the first party cookie to improve load time and prevent continuous page refreshes A timeout cookie is set if the call to Target fails to return in time. This is a faster method than using only the 3rd-party cookie. With just the 3rd-party cookie, the page is continually refreshed while waiting for a good response from Target's servers. 2. Fixed traffic limitation to occur only when mbox.js is enabled This issue occurred if a customer had a traffic limitation on their mbox.js, causing the timeout setting to not work. This resulted in the page refreshing while waiting foir a good
Setting Up Target
Version
75
Target Release
Date
Changes response from the Target servers. 3. Fixed SiteCalyst plugin to always use the Ajax fetcher Prior to this change, there were some situations for users of the Test&Target to SiteCatalyst plugin where, depending on when the plugin loaded, a document.write that would wipe out the page could be triggered.
38
Added support for page-based SiteCatalyst to Test&Target integration (must be enabled)
37
Encoded URL keys
36
Changed mbox to use tt.omtrdc.net
35
1. Mbox debug is now always remote 2. Added the mboxTime parameter. This parameter is the time as the user sees it, in ms since the epoch, GMT. This is only calculated once.
34
1. Always try to get the latest default div instead of referring to a cached version. This fixes a problem with a cached default content div not being in the DOM due to an mboxUpdate, which
Setting Up Target
Version
76
Target Release
Date
Changes provided the content for the default div. mbox.getDefaultDiv
has a new optional boolean parameter. If true, it returns the current default div. If false, it returns the last cached default div. 2. Updated mbox.loaded to support Ajax load 3. mboxURL parameter is now encoded using encodeURIComponent rather than escape
4. Test whether encodeURIComponent is
supported by the browser and show default content if it isn't. Also removed the following mbox.js config options: • encode_mbox_parameters • mbox_signal_support
Customize a Global Mbox Information to help you customize a global mbox for both at.js and mbox.js. 1. Edit mbox.js. Go to Target > Setup > Implementation. • For mbox.js, click Edit mbox.js Settings. • For at.js, select at.js under the Implementation Method, and then click Edit mbox.js Settings.
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2. Edit mbox.js or at.js. Disable Auto create global mbox, then add the name of the custom global mbox that you would like to use to deliver activities from Target Standard/Premium. This custom global mbox is also used for click tracking.
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Click Save when you are finished. 3. Implement the mbox.js or at.js library on your site. • For mbox.js, see Mbox.js Implementation. • For at.js, see at.js Implementation. 4. Time the transition with your release. As soon as you are ready for Target Standard/Premium to start using your global mbox for all activities moving forward, you can proceed with this step. Update the name of the custom global mbox to match the name used in Step 2, above.
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Important: When you save, all activities in your account sync with this mbox. If this mbox is not on your site, all activities will stop functioning. Click Save.
Transitioning from Target Classic to Target Standard Premium This section contains the information you need to successfully transition from Target Classic to Target Standard/Premium. If you already have mboxes on your page from a former Test&Target implementation, then these mboxes can still be used in the new interface. The updated mbox.js file is still required, but these mboxes can be selected for activities and edited using the Visual Experience Composer. Transitioning from Target Classic to Target Standard/Premium involves the following process: Step
Task
Description
Understand terminology differences between Target Classic and Target Standard/Premium
Several terms and concepts have been updated or made more consistent across the Adobe Marketing Cloud
Meet prerequisites so you can be provisioned for Prerequisites ensure that: Target. • You are entitled to use Target. • You have been provisioned for Target. • You have been invited to Target.
Setting Up Target
Step
80
Task
Description
Implement Targeton your website.
To implement Target you must: • Implement either mbox.js or at.js on your pages, with no incompatible plugins. • Create a global mbox either across your entire site or on the pages where testing or tracking will occur.
Consider how some Target Classic advanced features change in Target Standard/Premium.
When considering advanced features, you must: • Migrate the advanced features you use. • Recognize that some advanced features are not necessary for migration, either because they are implemented differently in Target Standard/Premium or they are not supported.
Complete a series ofoperational milestones to make sure your migration to Target Standard/Premium is successful.
1. Deploy either mbox.js or at.js on your site. 2. Deactivate and archive or delete Target Classic activities when they end. 3. Move evergreen activities to Target Standard/Premium. 4. Rebuild your audiences in Target Standard/Premium. 5. Create all of your new activities in Target Standard/Premium 6. Run a test using the Visual Experience Composer.
Terminology Comparison Between Target Classic and Standard Target Standard introduces several terms and concepts that are different than those used in Target Classic. These terms are shared across the Adobe Marketing Cloud, so your marketing teams can easily work together. Key terms from Target Classic (formerly Test&Target) have changed in Target Standard: Target Classic Terms and Concepts 1:1
Target Standard Terms and Concepts Automated Personalization Automated Personalization is available as part of the Target Premium solution. It is not included with Target Standard without a Target Premium license. If you have a Target Premium license, the Target Premium card replaces the Target Standard card in the Adobe Marketing Cloud.
Setting Up Target
Target Classic Terms and Concepts
81
Target Standard Terms and Concepts Major differences between 1:1 and Automated Personalization include: • Modeling groups have been replaced by reporting groups • The new Random Forest algorithm creates individual decision trees for each model offer. This algorithm creates more efficient models by retaining the information that the Residual Variance Model algorithm discards after a decision is made that does not use that data. The Decision Tree Ensemble algorithm uses this data to learn faster, providing faster results.
Campaign
Activity Activities have a broader definition than only a campaign. They include tests and content targeted to a specific audience. Every activity has an objective and a goal. The objective is a high-level description of what you hope to achieve with the activity. The goal clearly specifies what action a visitor performs to count as a success. For example, you might want to increase revenue (objective), measured by the number of page views of your Checkout Confirmation page (goal).
Campaign Summary
Activity diagram The Activity diagram shows the audience, experiences, and other information for an activity. The diagram leads you through the creation and editing of an activity.
Campaign Targeting
Activity Targeting Activities are targeted to a specific audience. Visitors are evaluated during each page load to determine whether they still meet the audience criteria. In Target Classic, activity entrants are evaluated one time for campaign entry and continue to see content until they convert, even if their segment membership changes.
Click from Display Mboxes
"Clicked a Link" Target Classic only tracks clicks inside mboxes used in the campaign, and the user must land on a page with the mbox.js file. Standard tracks clicks on any element on
Setting Up Target
Target Classic Terms and Concepts
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Target Standard Terms and Concepts the page, with no code required other than the single mbox.js reference, and no page destination limitations.
Conversion
Conversion The conversion event is set to "always convert" in Target Standard. The visitor always sees the test content. In Target Classic, a visitor who converts and then reenters the campaign is counted as a new user. In Target Standard, a visitor who converts and then renters the campaign is not counted as a new user. However, each time that visitor converts, the conversion is counted.
Mboxes Around Content Areas
Offers
A single line of code is referenced once per page. This JavaScript library manages all communication required between your site and Adobe Target. You can also continue to use mboxes already on your site for displaying content and tracking user behavior. Content Content refers to both HTML offers and image "assets." The Content Library in Standard stores images and HTML offers. Images can be delivered directly to your site if you are an Adobe Scene7 customer. If you do not use Scene7, you can reference images hosted on your own server or content delivery network (CDN). Although you can create HTML offers separately from the activity, they are typically set up using the Visual Experience Composer during activity creation. If you use the Visual Experience Composer to change content on your site, those changes are specific to that experience and do not get saved to the Content Library for reuse.
Segments
Audiences An audience, like a Target Classic segment, is a set of site visitors who meet specific criteria. Activities are often targeted at a specific audience. An audience might be visitors who use a particular browser, operating system, search engine, or any of several other criteria. Multiple criteria can be combined to define an audience.
Setting Up Target
Target Classic Terms and Concepts
83
Target Standard Terms and Concepts Separate audiences can be created for content delivery or reporting. Reusable segments in Target Classic are synced with Target Standard for use in Activities. Audiences are created globally. In other words, any audience you create is available in the Audiences list for reuse in other activities.
Prerequisites and Provisioning The first stage of the transition from Target Classic to target Standard/Premium depends on the type of SKU you are on. Once the SKU is known, you can provision your account and obtain training. The prerequisites and provisioning stage is complete when you are: Step
Task Entitled to Target
Provisioned for Target
Invited to Target
Prequisites I am on a Target Classic, or Test&Target Classic, or other Legacy SKU • Billing applies using server calls. • Adobe Target uses a global mbox. • Check with CSM or Account Manager for billing. I am on an Adobe Target Standard or Adobe Target Premium SKU Billing applies using page view model. You may deploy Target globally according to your page views. I do not know what SKU I am on Contact your CSM or Account Manager. Provisioning After you meet the prerequisites, you are ready for the provisioning step. Marketing Cloud Account is provisioned Verify the existence of a Marketing Cloud account that supports your company. If none exists, contact Customer Care or your CSM. For information about Marketing Cloud provisioning, see Administration - User Management and FAQ. For information about signing into the Adobe Marketing Cloud, see Sign in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud.
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Adobe Target Standard/Premium is provisioned Verify the existence of an Adobe Target Standard or Premium account that supports your company. If none exists, contact Customer Care or your CSM. For information about logging in to Target, see Access Target from the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Optional: Adobe Consulting team is part of Marketing Cloud Invite your Adobe partners to join the Marketing Cloud to help support your migration and program. Integration Target integrates more seamlessly than ever with other Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions and services. To take full advantage of these optional integrations (recommended for full benefit of Target), make sure you are: • Eligible and have been provisioned for Core Services • Eligible and have been provisioned for Visitor ID Services • Have deployed and enabled Analytics for Target, Profiles & Audiences, and Customer Attributes Work with your Account Representative if you have questions about these or other integrations. Training Optional: Complete Adobe Target Training You can schedule training on the Adobe Training Services website. Optional: Review Adobe Target Standard/Premium videos on Enterprise TV View the free solution overview videos at Adobe Enterprise TV Next Step Technical Implementation Technical Implementation How you implement Target depends on whether you use mbox.js or at.js, and whether you use Adobe DTM. The technical implementation phase is complete when you have completed the following steps: Step
Task Implement mbox.js or at.js, with no incompatible plugins.
A global mbox firing successfully either across your site globally or on pages where testing or tracking will occur. Optional: My organization uses Adobe DTM to deploy the Marketing Cloud Follow the deployment steps for DTM. My digital properties are deployed on the latest library files for Target, either at.js or mbox.js V53+ Either update your mbox.js file or update to at.js.
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Note: mbox.js V58 is the minimum version if using Marketing Cloud Core Services.
mbox.js Choose the option below that applies to you: • I want to use my JavaScript library to auto-deploy my target-global-mbox for a Single Line of Code implementation Make sure the Auto Create option in the mbox.js download settings is enabled. To set the Auto Create option, click Setup > Implementation > Edit mbox.js Settings, then enable Auto create global mbox. Note: If you are on a Target Classic SKU, you might exceed your allotted number of server calls. • I already have a global mbox deployed (hard coded) and want to keep it Ensure that the Auto Create option in the mbox.js download settings is enabled. To set the Auto Create option, click Setup > Implementation > Edit mbox.js Settings, then enable Auto create global mbox. • I have already deployed (hard coded) a global mbox, but I want to get rid of it in favor of auto deployment 1. Make sure the Auto Create option in the mbox.js download settings is enabled. To set the Auto Create option, click Setup > Implementation > Edit mbox.js Settings, then enable Auto create global mbox. 2. Remove your hard coded global mbox from your site code. 3. Deploy the mbox.js file with these settings enabled. Note: If you are on a Target Classic SKU, you might exceed your allotted number of server calls. • I want to migrate to only a global mbox to reduce server calls 1. Make sure no Target Classic campaigns are running against your classic regional mboxes. 2. Deactivate other mboxes in the Target UI first to verify site experience. 3. Remove Target Classic regional mboxes from your site code. For information about implementing mbox.js, see Mbox.js Implementation. at.js My digital property uses a Single Page Application Design and I want to use at.js instead of mbox.js Review the at.js documentation to make sure your Target implementation is compatible with the at.js library file. Our deployment of Target uses Response Plugins Audit Response Plugins for illegal methods deprecated in the file. See at.js Plug-ins. Our mbox.js features custom code modifications or other edits Audit Custom Code for illegal methods deprecated in the file, for example AAM>Target. See at.js Limitations. We make sure of custom site code using documented mbox.js methods Audit site code for illegal methods deprecated in the file, such as mboxFactory. See at.js Limitations.
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We fire a global mbox on a hash change, route change, or state change Work with Adobe Target Consulting to build an SPA Framework Plan for implementation. Next Step Advanced Feature Considerations Advanced Feature Considerations If you use certain Target Classic advanced features, be aware of the considerations in this topic when transitioning to Target Standard/Premium. The advanced feature considerations phase is complete when you have either: Step
Task Migrated the advanced features you use.
Deemed the advanced features unnecessary for migration.
I use Expression Targets Consider any of the following alternatives: • Migrate your Expression Targets to Profile Scripts • Use the customized audiences capabilities in Target Standard/Premium to re-create your audiences • Use Analytics or Audience Manager I use Remote Offers on my site Remote Offers will be available in Target Standard/Premium in 2016. I use plugins Plugin Compatibility will be addressed in a future Target Standard/Premium update. If you use Target Classic, your Target Classic plugins will continue to work when using Target Standard or Premium. Audit any plugins currently in use to see which plugins can be managed by Dynamic Tag Management with the Activation Core Service or shared audiences from the Marketing Cloud. Some plugins have been made obsolete by newer features. For example: Plugin
Replaced By
Test&Target to SiteCatalyst
Analytics as the reporting source for Target
Adobe Account Manager to Test&Target
Audiences Core Service
In many cases, it is possible that he benefit you received from a plugin is now available through Target features. Your Account Representative can help you determine whether your specific plugin is still needed. I use host groups Host group management in Target Standard/Premium is planned for later in 2016.
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Next Step Operational Milestones Operational Milestones Operational milestones help you determine whether your migration is complete. Check the following operational milestones: Step
Milestone Deploy either mbox.js or at.js on your site
Details Deploy one of the following: • at.js • mbox.js version 53 or later (if not using Marketing Cloud Core Services) • mbox.js version 58 or later (if using Marketing Cloud Core Services)
Deactivate and archive or delete Target Classic activities when they end
Build a deactivation schedule for any remaining Target Classic activities.
Move evergreen activities to Target Standard/Premium
Re-create your evergreen campaigns in Target Standard (or hard code if available) and close the Target Classic campaigns.
Rebuild your audiences in Target Standard/Premium (Audiences + Expression Targets)
Use the customized audiences capabilities in Target Standard/Premium to re-create your audiences.
Create all of your newactivities in Target Set all Target Classic users to Read Only or Editor to Standard/Premium prevent new activities from being published from Target Classic. Run a test using the Visual Experience Composer
Verify successful delivery and reporting.
Users You can add users and manage their permissions in the Adobe Marketing Cloud User Management interface. In addition, some user roles and permissions can be managed in Adobe Target Standard. This video explains how to set up Target users and administrators. User Management
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• Create new Target users at the Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pleWM2MjE6ZW211Fs1NCVG1ZVReGhK06 appropriate access level • Create new Target administrators
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Only Adobe Marketing Cloud Admin users can add users and manage their permissions. The Admin role is assigned at the Marketing Cloud level. Marketing Cloud roles are separate from the roles managed in each solution. Users can be managed across all products throughout the entire Adobe Marketing Cloud. To manage users for the entire Adobe Marketing Cloud, click Adobe Marketing Cloud > Tools > User Management. Additional Target-specific user management is performed within the Adobe Target interface. Note: When you get started with Adobe Target, you will find IDs (ending in Adobe.com) pre-populated in your Adobe Marketing Cloud account. These IDs are for members of Adobe teams so that they can assist you with your new account and with your use of Adobe Target, should you need help. To get assistance, reach out to your Adobe teams in the usual way. Only Marketing Cloud Admins can set user roles in Adobe Testing and Targeting Standard. For example, a Standard approver user cannot change an observer to an approver, without also having Marketing Cloud Admin rights. Admin users must add users to the system. Users are not automatically added. They are invited by email from the Marketing Cloud and must confirm their email addresses before their accounts are registered. You can also use the Enterprise Dashboard to create groups within Target for each level of access: observer, editor, and approver. Then, when you add a new user to one of those groups, they receive the right access immediately. For more information about managing users in the Adobe Marketing Cloud, see User and Group Administration in the Adobe Marketing Cloud Documentation. After users are registered with the system, the Admin user can set them up in Standard. Note: You will not see the new user listed on the Users page until the user logs in using his or her Adobe Marketing Cloud account and then logs in to Target Standard/Premium by clicking the Target card. In the Standard interface, click Setup > Users, then assign one of the following roles to each user: Role
Description
Observer
Can view activities, but cannot create or edit them.
Editor
Can create and edit activities before they are live, but cannot approve the launch of an activity.
Approver
Can create, edit, and activate or stop activities.
By default all Target users start with observer permissions. Marketing Cloud Admin users are identified in the Standard Users list. Contact one of those Admin users if you need your access level changed.
Troubleshooting User Management Troubleshooting information about managing users in Adobe Target. This section contains the following information: • I invited a user to Target, but his or her name does not display in the Users list (Setup > Users).
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I invited a user to Target, but his or her name does not display in the Users list (Setup > Users). You will not see the new user listed on the Users page until the user logs in using his or her Adobe Marketing Cloud account and then logs in to Target Standard/Premium by clicking the Target card.
Scene7 Settings Target Standard can be integrated with Adobe Scene7 to provide Digital Asset Management (DAM) in the Content Library. Note: Integrating Target with Scene7 enables delivery of assets (as part of activities) uploaded to the Marketing Cloud assets folder. This integration does not enable access to all assets uploaded in Scene7 for delivery in Target activities. To integrate with Scene7, you need to specify some of your Scene7 information. 1. Click Setup > Scene7 Settings. 2. Specify the following Scene7 account information: Scene7 region: The region for your Scene7 account: North America, Europe, or Asia. Scene7 adhoc folder: The location for content that resides outside the target folder and are manually uploaded to Scene7. Scene7 email address: The email address used to log in to Scene7. Scene7 password: The password used to log in to Scene7.
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3. Click Submit.
Hosts Organize your sites and pre-production environments for easy management and separated reporting. Similar functionality existed in Target Classic. Host groups in Target Classic are called "environments" in Target Standard/Premium. The primary goal of host management is to ensure that no inactive content accidentally appears on websites. Host management also lets you separate report data by environment. A host is any web server (or web domain) from where you serve content during any stage of your project. Any host serving an mbox is recognized. Hosts are bundled into environments for ease of management. For example, you might have dozens of hosts grouped in two or three environments. The preset environments include Production, Staging, and Development. You can add new environments and rename your environments, if desired. One environment, the default environment, is pre-named Production. This default environment cannot be deleted, even if you rename it. Target assumes that this is where you will serve final, approved activities and tests. When an mbox request is received from new websites or domains, these new domains always appear in the Production environment. The Production environment cannot have its settings changed, so unknown or new sites are guaranteed to see only content that is active and ready. Host management also lets you easily ensure the quality of new activities and content in your test, staging, and development environments before you activate the activities. Target does not limit a host that can send and receive mboxes, so when new servers or domains come up, they automatically work (unless you've set up a whitelist or blacklist). This also enables ad testing on different domains you don't know or can't anticipate. To manage hosts and environments, click Setup > Hosts.
Recognizing Hosts Information about the conditions that must be met for Target to recognize a host and add it to the Hosts list. To recognize a host, the following conditions must be met:
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• At least one mbox must exist on the host • A page on the host must have the following: • An accurate mbox.js reference • An mbox or an auto-generated global mbox call • The page with the mbox must be viewed in a browser After the page is viewed, the host is listed in the Hosts list, allowing you to manage it in an environment as well as preview and launch activities and tests. Note: This includes any personal development servers. After a host is added to the Host list, make sure that the host is recognized. 1. Click Setup > Hosts. 2. If your host is not listed, refresh your browser. By default, a newly recognized host is placed in the Production environment. This is the safest environment because it does not allow inactive activities to be viewed from these hosts. 3. (Conditional) Move the host into the Development or Staging environment. Note: The Production environment cannot be deleted, even if you rename it. It is assumed that this is where you will serve final, active activities and tests. The default environment does not allow inactive campaigns to be viewed.
Manage Hosts and Environments Information to help you manage hosts and environments (host groups,) including setting the default host for reporting, creating whitelists, changing an environment's name, moving a host to another environment, and deleting a host or environment. To access the Hosts list, click Setup > Hosts.
This section contains the following information: • Filter, Sort, or Search the Hosts List
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• Select Multiple Hosts • Create an Environment • Set the Default Host for Reporting • Create Whitelists that Specify Hosts That are Authorized to Send mbox Calls to Target. • Change the Name of an Environment • Move a Host to a Different Environment • Delete a Host • Delete an Environment Filter, Sort, or Search the Hosts List To filter the Hosts lists by environment, click the All drop-down list, then select the desired environment (Production, Staging, Development, or a custom environment you have created). To sort the Hosts list, click any column header (Name, Environment, or Last Requested) to sort the list in ascending or descending order. To search the Hosts list, type a search term in the Search box. Select Multiple Hosts To select multiple hosts, select the check boxes next to the Name column for the desired hosts. You can then move or delete all selected hosts. Create an Environment 1. From the Hosts list, click the Environments tab. 2. Click Create Environment. 3. Specify a descriptive name for the environment. 4. Specify the desired active mode for the environment: Active Activities or Active and Inactive Activities. 5. Click Save. Set the Default Host for Reporting You can select the environment you want to use as the default for all activity reports. If you use Production as your default, all unknown hosts automatically are added here and report data from there is included in the default report view. Instead, creating a "clean" environment ensures only your core sites/domains are included. To set the default environment for reporting: 1. From the Hosts list, click the Settings tab. 2. Select the default host from the Environment Settings drop-down list. 3. Click Save. Note: Automated Personalization activities cannot use this feature because Automated Personalization does not support non-production host groups. Recommendations users must rebuild their behavior database and product database if hosts switch host groups.
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Create Whitelists that Specify Hosts That are Authorized to Send mbox Calls to Target. You can create a whitelist that specifies hosts (domains) that are authorized to send mbox calls to Target. All other hosts generating calls will get a commented-out authorization error response. By default, any host that contains an mbox call registers with Target in the Production environment and has access to all active and approved activities. If this is not the desired approach, you can instead use the whitelist to record specific hosts that are eligible to make mbox calls and receive Target content. All hosts will continue to display in the Hosts list, and environments can still be used to group these hosts and assign different levels to each, such as whether the host can see active and/or inactive campaigns. To create a whitelist: 1. From the Hosts list, click the Settings tab. 2. Select Enable Authorized Hosts for Content Delivery checkbox. 3. Add the desired hosts in the Host Contains box, as desired. Multiple hosts can be listed, each on its own line. 4. Click Save. If an mbox call is made on an unauthorized host, the call will respond with /* no display - unauthorized mbox host */. The whitelist takes precedence over environments. You should clear out all hosts before using the whitelist feature, then only the hosts allowed by the whitelist appear in your hosts list. You can then move the hosts into the desired environment. Sometimes domains from other sites appear in your environments. A domain appears in the list if the domain makes a call to your mbox.js. For example, if somebody copies one of your web pages to their server, that domain appears in your environment.You might also see domains from spider engines, language translator sites, or local disk drives. In cases where mboxHost is passed in an API call, conversion is recorded for the environment that is passed in. If no environment is passed, the host in the call defaults to Production. You can also create a blacklist that specifies hosts (domains) than cannot send mbox calls to Target by adding the desired hosts in the Host Does Not Contain box. Change the Name of an Environment 1. From the Hosts list, click the Environments tab. 2.
Hover over the desired environment, then click the Edit icon (
).
3. Change the environment name. 4. Click Save. Move a Host to a Different Environment 1. From the Hosts list, hover over the host you want to move. 2.
Click the Move icon (
).
3. Select the desired environment from the drop-down list, then click the check mark icon.
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Delete a Host You can delete a host when it is no longer needed. 1. From the Hosts list, hover over the host you want to delete. 2.
Click the Delete icon (
).
3. Click Delete to confirm the deletion. Note: The host will be listed again if anyone browses to an mboxed page on the host.
Delete an Environment You can delete an environment when it is no longer needed. 1. From the Hosts list, click the Environments tab. 2. Hover over the environment you want to delete. 3.
Click the Delete icon (
).
4. Click Delete to confirm the deletion. Note: You cannot delete the Production environment, but you can rename it.
Troubleshooting Hosts Best practices for managing and troubleshooting hosts in Adobe Target. Try the following troubleshooting tips if you experience problems with your hosts: Host does not appear in mbox list for your account. • Refresh the Hosts page in your browser. • Confirm that the mbox code is correct, including the mbox.js reference. • Try browsing to one of the mboxes on the host. It's possible that no mbox on the host was ever rendered in a browser. Random or unknown domains appear in the Host list. A domain appears in this list if a call to Target is made from the domain. Often, you could see domains from spider engines, language translator sites, or local disk drives. If the listed domain is not one your team uses, you can click Delete to remove it. My mbox call returns /* no display - unauthorized mbox host */. If an mbox call is made on an unauthorized host, the call will respond with /* no display - unauthorized mbox host */.
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Getting Started Information to help users access Target from the Adobe Marketing Cloud, understand basic concepts and how Target works, syncing between Target Standard/Premium and Target Classic, and how to obtain training and certifications.
Access Target from the Adobe Marketing Cloud Instructions to access Adobe Target from the Adobe Marketing Cloud. This video includes information about Adobe Target in the Marketing Cloud. Adobe Target in the Marketing Cloud
4:52
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Z0NWh0NDE6WisImzeYJ5mSu2RRaHt05K
• Describe and understand the value of the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Log in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud with your Adobe ID or create an Adobe ID • Invite a new user to the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Link your Target account to the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Set Adobe Target as your default landing page
1.
After signing into the Marketing Cloud, click the App icon (
) in the navigation bar.
Getting Started
2. Click the Target icon in the App menu.
3. Click Launch on the Target card.
4. (Optional) To set Target as your default view when you log in to the Marketing Cloud, click Edit Profile under your profile avatar, then set your landing page preference.
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Basic Concepts Descriptions of several important concepts that you should understand before using Adobe Target. The following list contains the most basic concepts that you should be understand:
Activities and Tests An activity determines the experiences a site visitor might encounter. Note: In Target Classic, activities are calledcampaigns. Target lets you test different experiences to determine which will be most successful. An activity compares two or more experiences against the success metrics you specify so you can choose the experience that is most likely to provide the results you want. For example, you might design an activity that tests two different landing pages, one that highlights information about women's summer shoes, and one that highlights more general summer apparel.The activity determines the conditions that control when each of these landing pages appears, and the metrics that determine which page is more successful. The activity is configured to start and end when specific conditions are met, such as between specific dates, or to start when the activity is approved and to end when it is deactivated. When designing an activity, you should plan carefully. Determine when the activity will start and how long it will last. Then, list your offers and assign a target audience to each one. There are several types of activities: Activity Type
Description
A/B test
An A/B test (sometimes called an A/B...N test) compares two or more versions of your content to see which best
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Description lifts your conversions, sales, or registrations. A/B tests are well-suited for large changes that might involve new layouts or drastically different treatments of the elements. If your test design does not easily break down into individual page elements, you should run an A/B test before a multivariate test. Also, if you anticipate large interactions between elements, an A/B is the best choice.
A/B test with Analytics data
You can configure an activity to use Adobe Analytics as the reporting source. This activity type requires that you link your Adobe Marketing Cloud account with both Analytics and Target.
Multivariate test
A full factorial multivariate (MVT) test compares all possible combinations of offers in your content areas to help you determine the most successful combination. Multivariate tests also show which location most contributes to campaign success. Use multivariate tests to optimize a page. For example, you might have the layout you want, and you're looking to optimize the individual assets on the page (such as, what's the best image to have in this spot, what's the best headline, and so on). For a predetermined page layout, a multivariate test is your best bet for quickly and accurately optimizing the elements on the page.
Experience targeting
Experience Targeting allows you to use targeting to display different landing page content for different visits. Otherwise, the landing page shows the same content for each visit. This lets you, for example, compare different versions of a landing page to help you see which version produces more successful results.
Automated personalization
Automated personalization uses a sophisticated model built from real data collected about your customers to provide optimized content to customers with a similar profile.
(Target Premium)
Marketers implement one file on their site and that enables them to point and click on any content and then visually create and select additional content options for that area. Then, the modeling system automatically determines which piece of content to deliver to each individual based on all behavioral data the system has about the visitor. This provides a personalized experience
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Description for each visitor. The marketer does not need to run a test, then analyze the results, then deliver a winner before realizing the lift found from optimization.
Recommendations (Target Premium)
A recommendation determines how a product is suggested to a website user, depending on that user's activities on the site. For example, you might want to encourage people who purchase a backpack to consider buying hiking shoes and trekking poles. You could create a recommendation that shows items that are often purchased together, using the "People who bought this also bought that" algorithm. Or, you might want to encourage visitors to spend more time on your media site by recommending similar video to the one they are watching, using the "People who viewed this viewed that" algorithm.
Locations Primarily, a location is a page on your website. It could also refer to a place in a mobile app, an email, or any other place where you run an optimization. A location is the page or area on the page where an offer is displayed. An offer is the actual content that is displayed in the mbox. When a particular offer displays is controlled by an experience. Locations are essential to activities and experiences. You decide whether any location can do one, both, or none of the following: • Display and swap content for visitors. • Log visitor behavior. In Target Standard, a location can be any element on a page, as long as the page contains a single line of code that enables Target in the section of each page you want to track. This line of code calls the JavaScript libraries needed to collect information and deliver targeted experiences to your visitors. See Understanding the Target JavaScript Libraries for more information about the differences between location implementation in Target Standard and the mbox implementation in Target Classic. Locations are combined with audiences to provide an almost endless number of options for targeting information to your customers. For example, if a visitor has never been to the site before, you might display a discount coupon for new customers. Likewise, the page might be changed to display offers that are more optimized to returning customers. You can also use locations to track a visitor's progress through your Web site, or to track whether the visitor completes a specific success metric, such as adding an item to the shopping cart or completing a purchase.
Experiences and Page Designs An experience, sometimes called a recipe, defines the content that displays on your page, as well as other page elements, such as links.
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An experience determines which offer displays in a certain location when specific targeting conditions are met. For example, the experience determines that, when a return visitor visits your site, an offer for two-day shipping displays at the top of the page. The experience also determines that, when a first-time visitor views the page, a 10% discount appears in the same location. An experience consists of the offers, image assets, or other HTML elements (such as links) that appear on the page to help drive the visitor toward the result you desire. Target combines locations, offers, and experiences to determine which content displays on your site during a specific test. An experience can also be a different page design. For example, one experience might have one set of links across the top of the page, where another experience has different links or the same links arranged in a different order. You might want to test whether one image provides more lift than another, or whether an ad is more likely to be clicked near the top of your page or in a different location. Target optimizes experiences for each of your visitors across your digital touchpoints and to test different experiences to determine which will be most successful. By carefully planned targeting of experiences, you can make sure that your site visitors see the most relevant offers in the right locations on your page, improving your chances of a successful visit.
Offers An offer is the content displayed on your webpages during campaigns or activities. When you test your webpages, you measure the success of each experience with different offers in your locations. An offer can contain different types of content, including: • Image • Text • HTML • Link • Button For example, a webpage might display either of two offers, depending on whether the visitor has been to your site before. An experience determines which content displays when particular conditions are met.
Audiences Optimize your targeted content to activity entrants who meet specific criteria. Audiences define the target for your activity and are used anywhere where targeting is available. Target audiences are a defined set of visitor criteria. Offers can be targeted to specific audiences (or segments). Only visitors who belong to that audience see the experience that is targeted to them. For example, you might target an activity to an audience made up of visitors who use a particular browser or operating system. Or, your campaign might be targeted at visitors from one geographical region, or people who access your page from a certain search engine. In Target Classic, you can target a mobile device that meets certain criteria, such as a certain device maker or a specific screen size. So, for example, you might link to either your iPad or Android app.
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Audiences can be saved for reuse in multiple activities, or they can be created for a specific campaign. Audience Type
Description
Reusable audiences
Reusable audiences can be selected for any test. Changing one of these audiences changes it for all activities that use it.
Custom segments
Custom segments (also known as campaign-specific segments) are specific to a campaign in Target Classic. They are created as a part of the campaign and cannot be reused in other campaigns.
Shared audiences
Audiences can be shared across Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions. See Marketing Cloud Audiences for examples.
For information about how the visitor profile tracks information about visitors to your site, see Visitor Profile.
How Adobe Target Works Adobe Target integrates with websites by means of a JavaScript library. Target Standard updates and supplements the mbox.js with a reference to a new target.js file. The target.js file is hosted by Adobe. Target.js makes it possible to edit content on any page using the Visual Experience Composer, even if the page does not contain predefined mboxes. You must also reference this file on every page on your site. For example, you might add it to your global header. Each time a visitor requests a page that has been optimized for Target, a request is sent to the targeting system to determine what content to serve to a visitor. This process occurs in real-time—every time a page is loaded, a request for the content is made and fulfilled by the system. The content is governed by the rules of marketer-controlled activities and experiences and is targeted to the individual site visitor. Content is served that each site visitor is most likely to respond to, interact with, and ultimately purchase, to maximize response rates, acquisition rates, and revenue. The content that displays in a basic A/B test is randomly chosen from the assets you assign to the activity, according to the percentages you choose for each experience. As a result of this random splitting of traffic, it can take a lot of initial traffic before the percentages even out. For example, if you create two experiences, the starting experience is chosen randomly. If there is little traffic, it's possible that the percentage of visitors can be skewed toward one experience. As traffic increases, the percentages should become more equal. You can specify percentage targets for each experience. In this case, a random number is generated and that number is used to choose the experience to display. The resulting percentages might not exactly match the specified targets, but more traffic means that the experiences should be split closer to the target goals. 1. A customer requests a page from your server and it displays in the browser. 2. A first party cookie is set in the customer's browser to store customer behavior. 3. The page calls the targeting system. 4. Content displays based on the rules of your campaign.
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In Target Standard, each element on the page is part of a single experience for the entire page. Each experience includes multiple elements on the page. A page is optimized with a single line of code in the of each page you want to track. In Target Classic, a single page might contain multiple optimized content areas, called mboxes. An mbox is a div tag that wraps around existing content on a Web page. The div tag is followed by a single line of JavaScript to create the mbox instance. An mbox can encompass a single element, multiple elements, or an entire page. A single campaign (A/B, multivariate, or targeting) can use multiple mboxes to control multiple elements across multiple pages. Each mbox is uniquely named, and is immediately available for testing or targeting. In addition, an mbox that is used to serve content for one campaign can also be used to track conversions or log visitor behavior for another. You could use a multi-page campaigns to create a funnel analysis and track a number of different conversions based on their KPIs or specific business criteria.
The Edge Network “Edge” is a geographically distributed serving architecture that ensures optimum response times for end-users requesting content, regardless of where they are located around the globe. To improve response times, Edge environments house only activity logic and cached profile and offer information. Activity and content databases, Analytics data, APIs, and marketer user interfaces are housed in Adobe’s central data environments. Updates are then sent to the Edge nodes. The central environments and Edge nodes are automatically synched to continually update cached campaign data. 1:1 modeling is also stored at each edge, so those more complex requests can also stay on the Edge. Each Edge node has all the information required to respond to the user's content request, and track analytics data on that request. User requests are routed to the nearest Edge node. Adobe currently has data centers on five continents, including multiple regional locations across North America, Europe, and Asia. Rather than respond to all targeting requests from a single location, requests from the Edge environment closest to the point of request mitigate the impact of network/Internet travel time. The network also serves as a fail-over mechanism. If one edge node is not functioning, the request is redirected to the next nearest node, to ensure that the user is not served default content (a typical backup response when a request cannot be completed).
Protected User Experience Adobe ensures that the availability and performance of the targeting infrastructure is as reliable as possible. However, a communication breakdown between an end-user’s browser and Adobe’s servers can cause an interruption in content delivery. To safeguard against service interruptions and connectivity issues, all locations are set up to include default content (defined by the client), which is surfaced if the user’s browser cannot connect to Target. No changes are made to the page if the user’s browser cannot connect within a defined timeout period (by default,15 seconds). If this timeout threshold is reached, a setting is changed in the cookie so the user sees default content for all other locations immediately. This state lasts for a half hour, after which the user’s browser again attempts to contact Adobe’s servers for content requests. Adobe protects the user experience by optimizing and safeguarding performance.
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• Adobe ensures performance benchmarks based on industry standards, which are guaranteed by the Adobe Service Level Agreement. • The Edge Network ensures timely data delivery. • Adobe employs a multi-tiered approach to securing its applications to provide the highest level of availability and reliability for customers. • Target Consulting offers implementation assistance and ongoing product support.
Search Engine Optimization Friendly Testing Adobe Target aligns with search engine guidelines for testing. Google encourages user testing and has stated in its documentation that A/B and multivariate testing will not harm organic search engine rankings as long as a few simple guidelines are followed. For more information, see the following Google resources: • Website testing and Google Search • Experiments and Cloaking Guidelines were presented in a Google Webmaster Central Blog post. Although the post dates back to 2012, it remains Google's most recent statement on the matter and the guidelines remain relevant. • No cloaking - Cloaking is showing one set of content to your users and a different set of content to search engine bots by specifically identifying them and purposely feeding them different content. Target, as a platform, has been configured to treat search engine bots the same as any user. This means that the bots might get included in tests you are running, if they are randomly selected, and "see" the test variations. • Use rel="canonical" - Sometimes an A/B test needs to be set up using different URLs for the variations. In these instances, all variations should contain a rel="canonical" tag that references the original (control) URL. For instance, if Adobe were testing its home page using different URLs for each variation, the following canonical tag for the home page would go in the tag for each of the variations:
• Use 302 (temporary) redirects - In the instances where separate URLs are used for the variation pages in a test, Google recommends using a 302 redirect to direct traffic into the test variations. This tells the search engines that the redirect is temporary and will only be active as long as the test is running. A 302 redirect is a server-side redirect, and Target, along with most optimization providers, uses client-side capabilities. Therefore, this is an area where Target is not fully compliant with Google's recommendations. This, however, impacts only a small fraction of tests. The standard approach for running tests through Target calls for changing content within a single URL, so no redirects are necessary. There are instances when clients need to use multiple URLs to represent their test variations. In these instances, Target uses the JavaScript window.location command to direct users to test variations, which does not explicitly signify whether the redirect is a 301 or 302. Although we continue to look for viable solutions to completely align with search engine guidelines, for those clients that must use separate URLs for testing, we are confident that proper implementation of the canonical tags mentioned above mitigates the risk associated with this approach. • Run experiments only as long as necessary - We believe "as long as necessary" to be as long as it takes to reach statistical significance. Target provides best practices to determine when your test has reached this point. We recommend that you incorporate the hardcoded implementation of winning tests into your testing workflow and allot the appropriate resources.
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Using the Target platform to "publish" winning tests is not recommended as a permanent solution, but as long as the winning test is published for 100% of users 100% of the time, this approach can be used while the process of hardcoding the winning test is completed. It's important to consider what your test has changed as well. Simply updating the color of buttons or other minor non-text-based items on the page will not have any influence over your organic rankings. Changes to text should be hardcoded, however. It's also important to consider the accessibility of the page you're testing. If the page is not accessible to the search engines and was never designed to rank in organic search in the first place, such as a dedicated landing page for an email campaign, then none of the considerations above apply. Googles states that following these guidelines "should result in your tests having little or no impact on your site in search results." In addition to these guidelines, Google also provides one more guideline in the documentation to their Content Experiments tool: • "Your variation pages should maintain the spirit of the content on your original pages. Those variations shouldn't change the meaning of or your user's general perception of that original content." Google states as an example that "if a site's original page is loaded with keywords that don't relate to the combinations being shown to users, we may remove that site from our index." We feel that it would be difficult to unintentionally change the meaning of the original content within test variations, but we do recommend being aware of the keyword themes on a page and maintaining those themes. Changes to page content, especially adding or deleting relevant keywords, can result in ranking changes for the URL in organic search. We recommend that you engage with your SEO partner as part of your testing protocol.
Administrator First Steps This section contains the first steps Target administrators should take after receiving the emailed invitation to the Adobe Marketing Cloud. This video includes information about Adobe Target in the Marketing Cloud. Adobe Target in the Marketing Cloud
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Z0NWh0NDE6WisImzeYJ5mSu2RRaHt05K
• Describe and understand the value of the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Log in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud with your Adobe ID or create an Adobe ID • Invite a new user to the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Link your Target account to the Adobe Marketing Cloud • Set Adobe Target as your default landing page
This video explains how to set up Target users and administrators.
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• Create new Target users at the Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pleWM2MjE6ZW211Fs1NCVG1ZVReGhK06 appropriate access level • Create new target administrators Preparing Target Standard for use requires the following steps:
Invite Users to Target Administrators add users to Target by inviting them to join. This video explains how to set up Target users and administrators. User Management
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• Create new Target users at the Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pleWM2MjE6ZW211Fs1NCVG1ZVReGhK06 appropriate access level • Create new target administrators Target Standard/Premium 1. Add the new user in the role-specific groups in the Enterprise Dashboard. After you add a user, the user receives an invitation email. 2. After the user accepts the invitation and logs in to Target, configure the user's permission level on the Users page in Target Standard/Premium (Setup > Users). You will not see the new user listed on the Users page until the user logs in using his or her Adobe Marketing Cloud account and then logs in to Target Standard/Premium by clicking the Target card.
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Target Classic Add the user in the Target Classic interface, and then give the user the generated password.
Accept the Invitation After receiving the invitation to join the Adobe Marketing Cloud, accept the invitation, log in, and accept the End User Licence Agreement (EULA). This video explains how to set up Target users and administrators. User Management
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• Create new Target users at the Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pleWM2MjE6ZW211Fs1NCVG1ZVReGhK06 appropriate access level • Create new target administrators 1. Accept the invitation to the Adobe Marketing Cloud. 2. If you do not already have an Adobe ID, you are prompted to create one. If you do have an Adobe ID, then your Adobe ID is recognized and you are prompted to sign in. 3. Accept the Terms of Use. 4. Review the summary of what you have done so far, then click Continue to Marketing Cloud. 5. Sign in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud and click Link Account.
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Note: If you do not link your account, you will not be able to access Adobe Target Standard. All Marketing Cloud products appear on the linking page. Click Link Test&Target and enter your Test&Target username and password to access Standard and Classic. 6. Click Continue to Marketing Cloud. At this point, you do not yet have any groups set up with entitlements for you to link. 7. If desired, watch the video introducing you to the Adobe Marketing Cloud. 8. To see your new privileges and access the product, sign out of Adobe Marketing Cloud, then sign back in. 9. Continue to the next step, assigning yourself the Approver role.
Assign Yourself the Approver Role After accepting the invitation to join the Adobe Marketing Cloud and logging in, confirm that Standard has been added to your Marketing Cloud account, then assign yourself the Approver role in Target Standard. This video explains how to set up Target users and administrators. User Management
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• Create new Target users at the Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=pleWM2MjE6ZW211Fs1NCVG1ZVReGhK06 appropriate access level • Create new target administrators 1. After you log in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud, click Target. The Target Standard card displays.This confirms that you have added Standard to your Marketing Cloud account. At this time, you are not able to create an activity because you have not been given the Approver role. 2. Click the Target Standard card, then in Standard click Setup > Users. Your name appears in the users list. 3. Click the Approver radio button. Now that you are an approver, you can create and edit activities, audiences, and content. You are also able to approve activities. 4. Continue to the next step, setting up users and roles.
Syncing Between Target Standard and Classic Adobe Target Standard operates as a simplified front end for Adobe Target. In order to operate correctly, what you do in Standard is synchronized with the Classic workflow. This syncing makes possible the functionality of Target Standard. Note: Using Target Standard or Premium does not affect any Target Classic campaigns that might already be running.
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Changes made in Target Classic can take several minutes to appear in Target Standard. For example, if you archive a campaign in Target Classic, that activity continues to display as active in Target Standard for approximately ten minutes. Activities If you use both Standard and Classic, you will see the activities you create in Standard as read-only campaigns in the Campaigns list. This means you can view information about your activities, including reports, in the Classic interface, but you cannot make changes. The Edit button is disabled in Classic. Syncing activities with Target Classic is required, even for clients whose contract does not include access to the Target Classic workflow and functionality. If an activity does not sync correctly after you create it, a message displays, and the activity cannot be used. The syncing happens in the background without any action by the user. Audiences Reusable segments created in Target Classic are available as audiences in Target Standard. This means that audiences that cannot be created at this time in Target Standard can be created as a segment in Target Classic and used in Target Standard. For example, you can create a geo-targeted segment in Target Classic and use it in Target Standard, although you cannot edit the synchronized audience in the Target Standard interface. Likewise, audiences created in Target Standard are available in Target Classic. Segments created in Target Classic appear in Target Standard as read-only audiences. You can create a complex segment in Target Classic and use it as an audience in Target Standard. This was the intended use case. Audiences created in Target Standard synchronize with Target Classic if you use the audience in an activity. However, the original definitions in the audience are not visible, and modifying them may cause them to disappear from Standard. Sync Errors The following are common causes of synchronization errors: • Special characters in the audience or activity name • Exceeding Target activity limitations. See Limitations. • Percentage defined for each experience does not add up to 100 • Lack of access to the specified report suite Some mbox.js configurations in new accounts are out of synch between Target Standard and Target Classic. In Standard, the target-global-mbox is autocreated and target.js is downloaded by default. This is not the case in Classic. If implementing with DTM and using the Automatic library download, DTM pulls the file from Classic and so the auto-created global mbox will not fire, the VEC will not work, etc. The workaround is to go to Standard, click Setup>Implementation>Edit mbox.js and then click Save. The Classic and Standard should synchronize as expected and DTM can be used to import the correct file.
Training and Certification Adobe Training Services provides classes and certifications. For a list of available instructor-led and online courses, visit the Adobe Customer Training website. For more information, contact the Adobe Training Services center for your geographical area.
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USA
[email protected]
Europe, the Middle East, and Africa
[email protected]
Asia-Pacific
[email protected]
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Integrating Adobe Target with the Marketing Cloud Integrating Adobe Target with Adobe Analytics and other Marketing Cloud solutions enables the use of the same data, audiences, and metrics in both solutions. Note: Currently, you must contact Adobe Consulting to enable integration with Adobe Analytics. This integration requires both the Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics solutions of the Adobe Marketing Cloud. Additional features are available if the Adobe Audience Manager solution is also used. Integrations Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Adobe Target Marketing Cloud Audiences Target and Dynamic Tag Management Target Data Integration with Adobe Audience Management
Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Adobe Target If you use Analytics as the reporting framework for an activity, all reporting and segmentation for that activity is based on Analytics. Using data from Adobe Analytics in Target (A4T) makes it possible to create tests based on Analytics conversion metrics and audience segments. It also enables you to use Analytics reports to examine your data and results. All success metrics available to your test are Analytics metrics, except that your activity conversion can be a Target metric. Note: The reporting source is set for each activity. Any existing Target activities continue to use Target reports and are not affected by this capability. Target continues to collect data to use in reporting and Target data is still available if you prefer to base an activity on data collected by Target. To use Adobe Analytics as the reporting source for Adobe Target (A4T), both you and your company must have access to Adobe Analytics and to Adobe Target. Contact your account representative if you need either solution. The three primary reasons to use Analytics data in Target are: • Marketers can dynamically apply Analytics success metrics or reporting segments to Target activity reports at any time. It is not required to specify everything before running the test. • Increased clarity in analytics results, achieved by minimizing sources of data to compare. • Existing Adobe Analytics implementation collects all required data. There is no need to implement mboxes on pages for the sole purpose of collecting data for reports. You can use the Analytics data that you trust when working with Target, rather than a second set of data collected by another system. You can also use the success metrics and other tools that you have set up in Analytics. If you don't use Adobe Analytics, you can use data collected by Target. You must use one method or the other. You can not collect data from both sources for a single campaign.
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When selecting Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you select an Analytics report suite to receive Target activity data. To do this, first choose from any of the Analytics companies your account is tied to, and then select the appropriate report suite for the activity. Only report suites that are provisioned to connect to Adobe Target will be available for selection. If you don't see the report suite(s) you expect, first try logging out and logging back in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud to try again. If the report suite is still missing from the list, please contact Customer Care. The result is one source of data, a single source of metrics, and one set of reports, eliminating the discrepancies that occur when combining two separate systems. Using Analytics as your data system means you can apply Analytics success metrics and segments to your reports without setting them before the test runs. After you set Analytics as your data source for Target, Target uses the Analytics metrics. For example, if you use the Visitor metric in Target, you are using the Analytics visitor metric, not the Target Visitors metric, which is now called Entrants. This difference is especially important for basic traffic metrics (Visitors, Visits, Page Views) and conversion metrics.
How the Target and Analytics Integration Works It is useful to understand how the integration between Adobe Target and Adobe Analytics works. The integration that enables Adobe Analytics as the data source for Adobe Target (A4T) represents the next generation of the Test&Target to SiteCatalyst plug-in. This plug-in has been deprecated, but is still supported for customers who already use it. A server-to-server call from Target to Analytics sends campaign and experience information to Analytics. Note: This integration does not result in additional server calls for either Target or Analytics. The "Target Activities" report in Adobe Analytics provides data about Target experiences and activities. At this time, this report does not include the lift and confidence information that you might know from reports in Target. Target Standard uses Analytics web services to pull the data into Target Standard. Lift and confidence information is available there. All Analytics metrics (including calculated, etc) are available in Target Standard and the Target Activities report in Analytics. Likewise, any segment available in Analytics can be applied to the Target Activities report in Analytics, as well as in Target Standard. Segments created in Analytics can be applied to any test, even if the segments are created after the test has completed. Target-based reports are not available when using Analytics as the reporting source.
Before You Implement Several changes occur in your data collection process when enabling Analytics as the reporting source for Target (A4T). Before you decide to use this integration, review the following sections and consider the impact to your reporting processes: • Implementation Requirements • Things to Know Before You Implement • Latency
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• Supplemental ID Implementation Requirements This integration requires that you implement the following: • AppMeasurement for JavaScript 1.4.1 or later OR Analytics scode.js version H.27 or later • Marketing Cloud Visitor ID Service (VisitorAPI.js) 1.5 or later • Target requires mbox.js version 58 or later for a successful implementation of Analytics as the reporting source. Download and deployment instructions are listed in Adobe for Target Implementation. Things to Know Before You Implement • This integration is enabled on new activities when you select to use Analytics as the reporting source. After you make the implementation changes described in this document, your existing campaigns are not impacted. • The process of setting up Analytics as the reporting source for Target includes several implementation steps, followed by a provisioning step. It is a good idea to read through the process as described below before implementing. After you complete these steps, you will be ready to use Analytics as your reporting source as soon as it is enabled for you. The provisioning process can take up to five business days. • The Visitor ID service creates a shared Visitor ID across the Marketing Cloud. While it does not replace the Target mboxPC id or Audience Manager UUID, it does replace the way Analytics identifies new visitors. If set up properly, returning Analytics visitors should also be identified via their old Analytics ID to prevent visitor cliffing. Similarly, because the Target mboxPCid remains intact, no Target visitor profile data is lost when you upgrade to the Visitor ID service. • The Visitor ID service must execute before your Analytics and Target page code. Make sure that VisitorAPI.js appears above the tags for all other Marketing Cloud products. • This integration works with Target Standard and Target Classic. Latency After this integration is enabled, you will experience an additional 5-10 minutes of latency in Adobe Analytics. This latency increase allows data from Adobe Analytics and Adobe Target to be stored on the same hit, allowing you to break down tests by page and site section. This increase is reflected in all Adobe Analytics services and tools, including the live stream and real-time reporting, and applies in the following scenarios: • For live stream, real-time reports & API requests, and current data for traffic variables, only hits with a supplemental data ID are delayed. • For current data on conversion metrics, finalized data, and data feeds, all hits are delayed an additional 5-7 minutes. Be aware that the latency increase starts after you implement the Marketing Cloud visitor ID service, even if you have not fully implemented this integration. Supplemental ID Hits that contain data from Analytics and Target contain a supplemental data ID. You can see this ID in the Adobe Debugger as the sdid parameter. For example: sdid=2F3C18E511F618CC-45F83E994AEE93A0. This ID is generated anytime the following criteria are in place: • The visitor ID service is in implemented • A version of mbox.js that supports this integration is implemented. When troubleshooting, be sure to confirm that the supplemental ID is present on Analytics hits.
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Analytics for Target Implementation Several steps are required when implementing Adobe Analytics as the reporting source for Target (A4T). Implementation Steps The following table describes the steps required to deploy this integration to your site. Step
Task
Description
Request provisioning for After you implement Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you must be Analytics and Target. provisioned for Analytics and Target. Use this form to request to be provisioned. Set up user permissions.
User account requirements must be met before you can create an Adobe Analytics-based activity in Adobe Target. See User Permission Requirements.
Implement the Marketing Cloud Visitor ID service. The visitor ID service lets you identify users across Marketing Cloud solutions. This integration requires that you implement or migrate to Visitor ID Service 1.5 or later. See Marketing Cloud Visitor ID Service. Update AppMeasurement for JavaScript or s_code.
This integration requires AppMeasurement for JavaScript 1.4.1 or later or Analytics scode.js version H.27 or later . For new implementations, see Analytics JavaScript Implementation. For a migration, see Migrating to AppMeasurement for JavaScript.
Download and update mbox.js.
If your organization uses only Target Classic, download and deploy the updated version 58 mbox.js from Test&Target using your production account. No modifications are required on the code. If you use Target Standard, download and deploy mbox.js from the Target Standard UI, so the Target Standard specific code will be appended to the mbox.js file.
Host mbox.js.
If you previously deployed mbox.js, you can replace your existing file with the updated version. Otherwise, this file can be hosted along with the Visitor ID service and AppMeasurement for JavaScript files. These files must be hosted on a web server that is accessible to all pages on your site. You need the path to these files in the next step.
Reference mbox.js on all site pages.
Include mbox.js below VisitorAPI.js by adding the following line of code in the tag on each page:
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Description It is essential that VisitorAPI.js is loaded before mbox.js, so if you are updating an existing mbox.js file, make sure that you verify the load order.
(Optional) Remove previous integration code.
Enable the options for using Analytics as the reporting source for Target.
It is recommended that you remove the previous integration to simplify your implementation and eliminate the need to sort out discrepancies between the systems. You can remove any code you might have deployed for a previous SC to T&T integration, including mboxLoadSCPlugin. In Target, click Setup > Preferences and choose either Select per activity or Adobe Analytics to enable the options. • Select per activity lets you choose between Target and Analytics when creating each activity. • Adobe Analytics sets Analytics as the reporting source for all activities.
User Permission Requirements User account requirements to create an Adobe Analytics-based activity in Adobe Target (A4T). Before a report suite can be selected when defining an Analytics activity, you need both an Analytics user account and a Target user account. Your user accounts must be configured as described in the following sections: • Adobe Marketing Cloud • Adobe Analytics • Adobe Target Adobe Marketing Cloud See Join the Marketing Cloud for more information. • Linked Accounts. Your Analytics and Target user accounts must be linked to your Adobe ID. To verify, open Account Settings > Organization & Product Access.
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• Marketing Cloud group membership. You must be a member of one or more Marketing Cloud groups that have access to Analytics and Target. Verify that Analytics and Target appear in the Marketing Apps section of the left navigation:
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Also verify that when you click on Analytics you see your full Analytics account. If you only see a welcome page with no access to your data, relink your account. Adobe Analytics • Analytics report suite access. Before creating or viewing reports for an Analytics-powered activity, you must be a member of the All Report Access group, or member of a group that has access to at least one report in the report suite that you want to use. If you are unable to view reports, make sure you are a member of one of these groups. See Groups for more information. • Web Services Access Group You must belong to the Web Services Access group in Adobe Analytics to be able to use Analytics as the reporting source for Target. Adobe Target No additional privileges are required.
Activity Creation You can configure a campaign in Target Classic or an activity in Target Standard to use Adobe Analytics as the reporting source (A4T). Before you set up an activity that uses Analytics as the reporting source, establish the goal for the activity, such as improving revenue per visitor (RPV) or increasing clicks on your shopping cart. Choose a final success metric for the activity. Although you can select additional metrics at any time in Analytics, you must still specify a particular metric you expect this test to affect. Target Standard Creating a Target Standard activity that uses Analytics as the reporting source is similar to setting up a regular Target Standard activity, with a few important differences. For example, you cannot select a segment for reporting while creating the activity because all segments available in Analytics can be applied when viewing a report. 1. Click Create Activity. Note: An activity name cannot include the "%" character if Analytics is used as the reporting source.
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2. Select the activity type and begin setting up the activity. 3. When you get to the Settings portion of the activity creation flow, choose Adobe Analytics and specify your company. 4. Select a report suite You can choose any report suite that is available to you in Adobe Analytics. The report suite defines where the collected data will be available. Virtual report suites are not included in the report suite list Note: If you are a member of multiple Analytics companies, and report suites from the incorrect company appear in the dropdown, then log in to Analytics, switch to the correct company, and return to Target. If you get an error that no report suites are available, but your account is properly set up, you might need to check your Analytics company. If your Marketing Cloud account is tied to more than one Analytics company, log out of Target, and log in to Analytics under the right company. Then return to Target, and the report suites will load. 5. Specify your tracking server. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server. Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your activity's reporting source, you do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using mbox.js version 61 (or later) or at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The mbox.js or at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page. 6. Define the experience. 7. Specify the activity goal. You are required to select a success metric to uses as a goal for each test. Your activity goal is the conversion activity that signals a successful activity. It is best practice never to run a test without having a goal to improve in some specific way. You can choose any Analytics metric available in the Analytics metric selector. Note: You can send a custom Target-based metric to Analytics rather than relying only on Analytics data. For example, you can monitor clicking on a page, which is usually not tracked by Analytics. This custom metric is sent to Analytics automatically from the Target server, and appears as the "Target Conversion" metric in the metrics selector in Analytics. The Target Conversion metric is empty if you choose to use Analytics metrics. Setting a goal doesn't mean you can't use another metric when evaluating test results. The goal is, however, a reminder of the one thing you want to improve with the activity. The visitor remains in the activity after they reach the goal. The visitor continues to see activity content but is not counted as a new activity entry. Note: When setting up activity after setting up Analytics as your reporting source, there is no option to set up audiences for reporting. Analytics segments are available in the Target Activities report. 8. Click Save. Target Classic The process for setting up a Target Classic campaign for Analytics data is similar to any other campaign, with the addition of two options on the Campaign Create page:
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• Analytics report suite: You can choose any report suite that is available to you in Adobe Analytics. A default report suite is automatically selected in the dropdown for every new campaign.You can change the report suite, or choose "Use Adobe Target for Reporting" to not use the integration on a campaign-by-campaign basis. The report suite defines where the collected data will be available. Any additional data collected by Target is not available in an activity that uses Analytics as its reporting source. • Analytics Tracking Server: The tracking server used for your report suite. This field is filled automatically. You can change it if required for your campaign, but most people use the default. Adobe Target segments are ignored. Target Classic allows you to choose multiple success metrics. No reporting is available in Target Classic. Instead, a link leads directly to the Target Activities report in Analytics.
Using an Analytics Tracking Server If you are using an older version of at.js or mbox.js, you must specify an analytics tracking server for activities that use Analytics for Target (A4T). Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your activity's reporting source, you do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using mbox.js version 61 (or later) or at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The mbox.js or at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page. To ensure that data from Target goes to the correct location in Analytics, A4T requires an analytics tracking server to be sent in all calls to Modstats from Target. For implementations using multiple tracking servers you can use the Adobe Marketing Cloud Debugger to determine the correct tracking server for your activity. The debugger should be viewed on a page where the activity will be delivered to ensure you select the correct tracking server. You can also specify a default tracking server for each account. Contact Customer Care to specify or modify the default. 1. From the page on which you are creating your activity, open the Adobe Marketing Cloud Debugger. If you have not installed the debugger, follow the Adobe Debugger installation instructions.
The analytics tracking server is found in the SiteCatalyst Image section of the debugger. The field is called First Party Cookies or Third Party Cookies depending on the implementation, and the Analytics tracking server value will be in one of these formats: • metrics.company.com (for CNAME implementations) • Company.112.2o7.net (for non-RDC implementations)
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• Company.d1.sc.omtrdc.net (for RDC implementation) Company represents the Analytics company name, metrics is an example of a CNAME value, and d1 is an example of an Analytics data center. 2. Copy the entire contents of the field. 3. In the Reporting Settings section of the Goal & Settings screen of your activity, paste the tracking server information in the Tracking Server field. You must select Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for your activity for the Tracking Server field to be available.
Reporting Using Analytics as your reporting source for Target (A4T) gives you access to Analytics reports for your Target activities. You can view reports for your activities in both Analytics and Target Standard. Note: If you are using Target Classic, you cannot see reports. In this case, the reports are only available in Analytics. Both Analytics and Target Standard reports measure entrants (the people who enter the tests), rather than visitors to the site. Every time a visitor sees activity content on the page, Target makes a direct server-to-server call to Analytics, including which campaign and experience the visitor saw. Target also calls Analytics whenever the conversion is made. Analytics adds the conversion as a specific new Analytics event named "Activity Conversion," which is tracked along with other data collected by Analytics. When the Select operation is used and you sort on Entrants, then only experiences that received entrants during the selected time period are displayed in the reports. Note: Reports powered by Target have a latency of four minutes. For activities powered by A4T, in both the Target and Analytics reports, it can take up to 24 hours after the activity is initially saved before the report data can be broken down by experiences. The data collected in that first 24 hours is still accurate and is assigned to the right experience. Reports in Analytics In Analytics, click Target>Target Activities in the left nav. In Target Standard, the activity's reports automatically show Analytics data, metrics, and segments. Data appears in these reports approximately an hour after it is collected from the site. All metrics, segments, and values in the reports come from the report suite you selected when you set up the activity. In Analytics, use the Target Activities report to view the results of your Target test. Test&Target (Legacy) Reports provides information about your old Test&Target plug-in style page integrations, and does not include Analytics for Target data. In the Activities report, view information about your Target experiences. Click Metrics, then select the Target metric type. Two metrics are available for your report: • Activity Entries Matches the Entrants number in the Target report.
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• Activity Conversions Matches the Custom Conversions number in the Target report. Note: Target lift and confidence details are also available in Analytics. If your Target Activities report in Analytics says "unspecified" instead of listing your activities, an update is required to your provisioned account. Please contact Customer Care to resolve this issue. Reports in Target Standard When Analytics is used as the reporting source, reports in Target Standard show the data gathered from Analytics. The report differs somewhat from other Target Standard reports: • The Audiences list shows the audiences available to your Analytics report suite. • The Metric list shows every metric available through Analytics. Every metric is available, including any custom or calculated metrics that are built-in in Analytics. Be aware that any numbers that increase are shown as positives in the report, even when an increase is actually undesired. For example, even though you want a lower bounce rate, the higher bounce rate is shown as the winner with highest lift. Be aware of these and similar metrics, and whether you'd prefer to decrease or increase the numbers, when making decisions based on your reports. You can apply the metric or audience to the report in Target Standard after the test has started, or even after the test has completed. You don't have to know exactly what you want to measure beforehand. Click to view the full Analytics report directly from the activity report page. Note: If your activities or campaigns are unavailable in the Analytics reports, make sure your Analytics Tracking Server is set up correctly in the Campaign Setup in Target Classic. Activity Creation During activity creation, you must specify a goal for the activity on the Settings page. This goal becomes the default metric for the report and is always listed as the first option in the metrics selector. You cannot select segments for reporting like you would for a regular Target Standard activity. A test with Analytics uses Adobe Analytics segments rather than Target Standard audiences.
Troubleshooting Analytics and Target Integration This topic covers some common issues that have been encountered when using Analytics as the reporting source for Target (A4T). Activities do not show data in Analytics, but are instead listed as "unspecified." There are several reasons why this could happen: • Classification in Target hasn't fully processed. Classification can take as many as 24 hours to process from the first save of the activity. • The report suite doesn't contain any data, but Target has tried to classify hits. Target cannot classify data until the first hit occurs.
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Ensure that the report suite has had at least one hit. • The classification call from Target to Analytics failed. Contact Customer Care for assistance. Sometimes data displays correctly in reports, but then reverts back to "unspecified" because a new activity was added that hasn’t completed classification. Remember that it can take as many as 24 hours to classify reports after the first save. Note: No data is lost when listed as "unspecified." The data is properly assigned to the appropriate activity or experience after the classification runs. My Analytics data shows an inflated visit or visitor count since starting A4T. In most situations, a Target hit is stitched with an Analytics hit on each webpage. This stitching happens if there is a consistent SDID in both the Target and Analytics call and a Marketing Cloud ID (MCID) in the Analytics call on the same page. Target typically has the MCID as well, but if the call to Target happens before the visitor ID returns, the hit will still be stitched because of the SDID. Also, the user must remain on the page long enough to fire an Analytics call after a Target call was fired. This is the ideal scenario. • Unstitched Hits: Users sometimes don't remain on a page long enough to send an Analytics call, but Target has a proper MCID. This results in "unstitched" hits (hits with no Analytics page view). If these users come back to your site and view a page containing Analytics code, they'll be properly counted as returning visitors. These are hits that would have been lost if you had only Analytics code on the page. Some clients don't want data for these hits because they inflate certain metrics (visits) and deflate other metrics (page views per visit, time per visit, and so forth). You will also see visits without any page views. However, there are still valid reasons for keeping this data. To minimize unstitched hits, you can make your page load faster, move the Analytics call farther up on the page, or create a virtual report suite that excludes those hits. For step-by-step instructions, see Creating Virtual Report Suites in the Analytics product documentation. • Orphaned Hits: In fewer situations, users don't remain on the page long enough for an Analytics call and Target didn't get a proper MCID. These are what we define as "orphaned" hits. These hits represent customers that rarely return and they inflate visit and visitor counts inappropriately. To minimize these "orphaned" hits, you can create a virtual report suite that excludes those hits. Estimated lift in revenue metric does not show correct data. Lift and confidence details are not available in Analytics. They are, however, available in the Target reports. Activities do not appear in Analytics reports. A4T activities require an analytics tracking server to be specified. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server to make sure your Analytics Tracking Server is set up correctly. Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your activity's reporting source, you do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using mbox.js version 61 (or later) or at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The mbox.js or at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page. My Analytics segments don't appear in Target. Make sure you have the right permissions before you start creating A4T activities:
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• You must belong to the Web Services Access group in Adobe Analytics to be able to use Analytics as the reporting source for Target. • You must be a member of one or more Marketing Cloud groups that have access to Analytics and Target. • Verify that Analytics and Target appear in the Marketing Apps section of the left navigation. Bounce rates, bounces, and exits metrics appear as positives in reports. This is a known issue. Although these metrics are negative, the lift is shown as if they were positive in the Target reports. For example, even though you want a lower bounce rate, the higher bounce rate is shown as the winner with highest lift. Be aware of these and similar metrics, and whether you'd prefer to decrease or increase the numbers, when making decisions based on your reports. The report suite I need does not appear. The list of report suites that appears in Target Standard/Premium is the list of report suites that have been configured for Analytics as the reporting source for Target. This means you might not see every report suite you have. If you don't see the report suite you are looking for, you should contact ClientCare to get it enabled.
A4T Frequently Asked Questions This topic contains answer to questions that are frequently asked about using Analytics as the reporting source for Target (A4T). These FAQs are divided into the following sections: • Activity Setup • Initial Provisioning • Lift and Confidence • Metric Definition • Old Integration • Sharing • Viewing Reports Activity Setup I just created an activity. Why don't I see any data coming in? When an activity is created, Target sends a classification file to Analytics. Although Analytics is capturing the and processing the data, it does not show in the reports until the classification file has been updated. This can take up to 24 hours. If after 48 hours you don't see your data, please contact Client Care. Alternately, if you know you will launch an activity, you can create the activity a few days beforehand and the classifications will be sent when the activity is saved. That way, data appears in the reports upon launch. Please note that it takes 45-90 minutes for data to be processed in Analytics. I can't select Analytics as my reporting source when I create a new activity. You can change your Reporting Settings options in Setup. 1. In Adobe Target, click Setup. 2. In the Marketing cloud solution used for reporting drop-down list, click Select per Activity.
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The Reporting Source drop-down list is enabled in the Goal & Settings screen for creating and editing activities. To always use Analytics as the reporting source, select Adobe Analytics from the drop-down list in Setup. Initial Provisioning How do I link Target to Adobe Marketing Cloud and to Target Classic? 1. After receiving the emailed invitation to the Adobe Marketing Cloud, accept the invitation. See Accept the Invitation. 2. If you do not already have an AdobeID, you are prompted to create one. If you do have an AdobeID, then your AdobeID is recognized and you are prompted to sign in. 3. Accept the Terms of Use. 4. Review the summary of what you have done so far, then click Continue to Marketing Cloud. 5. Sign in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud and click Link Account. All Marketing Cloud products appear on the linking page. 6. If you have a Target Classic account, click Link Test&Target and enter your Target Classic username and password. You can also check the groups to which you are added under the Enterprise Dashboard. My report suites aren't loading. I don't see analytics options in Target. I don't see A4T report in Analytics. My reports are blank in Target. The root cause of each of these problems is the same. Check the following if any of these problems occur: 1. Make sure your Analytics and Target accounts are linked in the Marketing Cloud.
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2. If you are using multiple Analytics company logins in the same Marketing Cloud company, make sure that the last Analytics company you logged in to is the one that is tied to the Target account for the integration. 3. If you have been logged in to the Marketing Cloud for several hours, sometimes the Analytics session can expire. Log out and log back in to try again. If these solutions fail, contact ClientCare. I enabled A4T and now my visitor count is inflated in Analytics. What should I do? There are a few reasons this could happen. 1. If the Marketing Cloud visitor ID service is not installed or not installed properly on the site, the A4T hits are counted as new visitors. (See Marketing Cloud Visitor ID Service.) 2. If the SDID isn't getting set on both the Analytics Hit and the Target MBox requests the hits might not be properly stitched together and could, in some cases, cause an inflation of visitors. 3. Finally, if you launch a Target campaign on a site that doesn't have Analytics, Analytics has visibility into traffic it wasn't previously tracking. This can appear as an inflation of visitors. However, A4T calls that aren't stitched to Analytics calls are tracked similarly to link click and are not counted as page views. Instead, they are counted as visits and visitors. How can I tell whether A4T is enabled on my Target account? Before a report suite can be selected when defining an Analytics activity, you need both an Analytics user account and a Target user account. Your user accounts must be configured as described in the documentation. See User Permission Requirements . Once you are a member of one or more Marketing Cloud groups that have access to Analytics and Target and you have access to all report suites, you should see the option to create an A/B test using Analytics under Create Activity. If provisioning issues occur, check whether A4T is provisioned correctly. Lift and Confidence How is lift calculated? Lift is the percent difference between your control page results and a successful test variant. How is confidence calculated? The confidence level is the probability that the measured conversion rate differs from the champion page conversion rate for reasons other than chance alone. Why can't I see lift and confidence on calculated metrics? Lift and confidence can't currently be generated for calculated metrics. However, in most cases, this should not be a problem because lift is normalized by the normalization metric. For example, if you select lift for orders and the normalization metric is visits, lift is calculate on the ratio of the two, which is conversion rate. How does A4T handle confidence calculations? Does it always use a non-binary metric calculation? Or does it infer based on the metric type whether the confidence calculation should be binary or non-binary? If it uses a non-binary metric calculation for confidence, how does it estimate the variance? Does the variance estimate include metric variance, extreme order or behavioral filtering, variance on number of conversions per visitor, or the ability to filter visitors that convert many times?
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A4T uses non-binary metric calculations with the sum of square data. The variance is calculated using the sum of squares data. Extreme orders are not taken into account. Any Analytics segment can be applied to the report. That is how you can get the "extreme order" among other segment options. A metric could also be built to limit things like how many times a visitor converted. Do lift and confidence work in Ad Hoc and Report Builder? If it's not native, can I do it in there myself? Lift and confidence do not work in Ad Hoc or Report Builder, and cannot be calculated yourself for continuous variables. It is possible to calculate it manually for binary metrics. Metric Definition What's the expiration for activity membership? How long after visitors enter the activity will their actions be counted in the activity if they don't see it again? The default expiration for the activity is 30 days after a visitor's last interaction with the activity. This can be adjusted by ClientCare if needed. This setting is global for all activities, however, so it should not be adjusted for one case. Do the advanced options for success metrics in Target work with A4T? These options do not currently work with A4T. What are calculated metrics and how do they replace the SiteCatalyst:Event mbox I used to use? Calculated metrics let you create custom metrics that are derived from segments or mathematical calculations. In the past, when you might have used the SiteCatlayst:Event mbox where evar27=shoes and the event is purchase, you would now create a segment where evar27=shoes and then create a calculated metric where the event is purchase with the segment applied. The advantage to this is these metrics can be created at any time, even after the activity is underway. They can then be used on any report in Analytics. Does A4T attribute conversions to multiple campaigns? Yes. This is done using the "Full Allocation" setting. Old Integration I'm looking for my activity data and I dont see it in the Campaign>Recipe report. The SiteCatalyst to Test&Target integration (the old integration) and Analytics for Target are different. Though they share some similarities, the data for one will not display in the other. How do I turn off the old integration report? Contact ClientCare to turn off the report. They can immediately turn off the report. The report will be hidden, but the underlying data is still available if it needs to be re-enabled. Sharing How can I curate a report for my users? Often, you want to create a view of a test for different groups of users to make it easier for them to look at the test results. In Analytics, it is possible to create a bookmark that will save the current view of a report (the metrics, date ranges, segments, etc.). For more information, see Create a Bookmark. How can I make sure metrics and segments are shared with my optimization team?
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If you are using special metrics and segments with a test, you might consider creating a user group for your optimization team. Share those metrics and segments with the group instead of individual members to make sure they all have access to the segments and metrics. Only Admins can share with groups. See Sharing Segments and Sharing Calculated Metrics. Viewing Reports What is the counting methodology and how do I use it? The counting methodology specifies what Target uses as the denominator for the conversion rates. The choices are: • impressions • visitors • visits Can I set a default metric for the Target reports? For the Activities report, Admins can change the default metric so every time they run the report it shows the same metrics. Otherwise, the report defaults to the last metric you applied to your last report. For more information, see Default Metrics on Reports. When do I apply a segment to the metric (with a calculated metric) versus applying the segment to the report? Segments applied to the reports are like applying segments in Target classic. This technique is most useful for seeing how a the test affects a subset of people (for example, how did this test perform for people in the UK?). It is possible to apply segments to metrics with a calculated metric. This is generally done when you want to create a new type of success event. For example, if you want to see how many return visitors your activity generated, or how many visitors made it to a certain page who see your test. Please note that lift and confidence cannot currently be generated for calculated metrics. Should I use visitors, activity impressions, or visits when viewing reports? There are several options, each with its own advantages: • Unique visitors includes users' activities after they've entered the test, even if they don't interact with test content after entering the activity. • Visits includes user visits to the page, even if the activity is not entered. • Activity impressions increments each time a visitor sees the actual test content (counts each server call from Target to Analytics). • Instances increments once per page when activity content is viewed. Once a visitor visits a page with an activity on it, a variable is set for that visitor, which contains that activity. After that, any time the same visitor visits a page--whether or not that activity content is present--the number of instances goes up. The activity impression number is only incremented when a customer actually views the activity. Impressions and instances are equal, unless there are multiple mbox calls on the same page in the same activity, This causes multiple impressions to be counted, but only a single instance. What does "activity conversions" mean if the marketer picks an Analytics metric during activity setup? "Activity conversions" will be empty if an Analytics metric was selected as the conversion metric for the activity.
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Why do I see "unspecified" in the Analytics reports? What does it mean?
In other reports, "unspecified" means data did not meet a classification rule, but in A4T this should never happen. If you see "unspecified," then the classification service hasn't run yet. It can take up to 36 hours for activity data to appear in the reports. Even though the activities do not appear in this report until that time, all visitor data tied to those activities is captured and will appear when the classification is complete. Why is a deactivated activity still getting conversions attributed to it? The Target variable sent to Analytics has a default 90-day expiration period. This means that activities continue to get page views, visits, and so forth for up to 90 days after the activity ends for visitors that became part of the activity while it was active. However, if you look at the Activity Impressions metric, you should not see any impressions after the activity ended.
Marketing Cloud Audiences Marketing Cloud Audiences provides the ability for Adobe Marketing Cloud solutions to communicate and share information about website visitors so the same data can be used by each solution. For detailed information, refer to Audiences in the Marketing Cloud Product Documentation.
Integrating Target with Adobe Campaign Use Target with Adobe Campaign to optimize email content. To optimize your email content--for example, to display different offers for male and female recipients--you can create a redirect offer in Target, then use Adobe Campaign to manage the email offers.
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The integration takes place when the email is opened. When the customer opens the email, a call is made to Target and a dynamic version of the content appears. The content consists of a static image supported by all browsers. Target tracks the reaction to the offer at the audience or session level and that data is available in Target reports. Target can track the following data: • User agent • IP address • Geographical location • Segment associated with the visitor's ID in Target (subject to legal approval) • Data from Campaign Datamart There are several limitations: • Because only an image can be used, content cannot be personalized. • Tracking is not consolidated in Adobe Campaign. • No unified user experience. You must use both Target and Campaign to set up different parts of the integration: • The rawbox and the experience in Target • The delivery in Campaign Before You Begin Before you use Adobe Campaign to set up your targeted email offers, set up the following in Target: • Two or more Target redirect offers See Create a Redirect Offer. • A Target activity with an experience for each offer and the desired success metric. See Redirect to a URL. Start the activity in Target before setting up the Campaign portion of the integration. Include a Target Offer in an Adobe Campaign Email 1. Create an email in Adobe Campaign. 2. In the email properties, click Include > Dynamic image served by Adobe Target. 3. Select the default image from the shared assets. 4. Specify the location (rawbox). 5. Add any other decisioning parameters, such as the gender of the recipient. 6. Preview the email, selecting at least one recipient for each offer (in this case, a male and a female). 7. In Campaign, define the Target Edge server you are using to control the activity and the name of the tenant. 8. Specify the external account used for the Marketing Cloud so you can access the resources in the Marketing Cloud. For more information, refer to the Adobe Campaign documentation.
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Activities Activities let you test page designs and target content to specific audiences. All activity types other than Automated Personalization give you the choice to use either Target or Adobe Analytics as the data source. Automated Personalization always uses Target data. Note: Archived and ended activities do not appear in the Activities list. To view these activities, filter them using the advanced filter settings on left rail. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Activities are available to several channels: • Web and mobile sites • Internet-connected screens and devices, including kiosks and ATMs • Email and other acquisition channels or partner sites • Mobile apps • Anywhere else you can deliver tagged content This page includes the following information: • Activities List • Sorting and Filtering the Activities List • Limitations Activities List The Activities list provides an overview of all activities. This video explains how to use the Activities list to manage activities. Managing Activities
5:55
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RlcXBhMzE6-pdjP_Kw-cNfnPgtdbbYbS
• Define the term activity • Find activities in the Activities list • Edit, deactivate, copy, and delete activities
The Activities list displays the following information:
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Element
Description
Type
The activity type, such as A/B or MVT.
Activity Name
The name of the activity.
Objective
The objective appears in lighter text next to the name. If the objective is too long for your screen width, it is truncated.
URL
The URL appears in lighter text below the name. The URL for the activity identifies where the activity is displayed. This helps you quickly identify an activity, and determine whether a particular page already has a test running on it. If a test runs on multiple URLs, a link shows how many more URLs are used. Click the link to view the complete list of URLs for that activity. You can sort or search based on URL. Use the dropdown next to either the Sort or Search box and select to sort or search by URL.
Status
The status of the activity can be one of the following: • Live The activity is currently running. • Inactive The activity has been paused or deactivated. • Scheduled The activity is ready to be activated when the specified start date and time arrives. • Ready The activity is ready to be activated. • Draft The activity setup has started but it is not yet ready to run.
Source
Shows where the activity was created. If the activity was created in Target Standard or Premium, the source column shows "Adobe Target." If the activity was created elsewhere, for example in Target Classic, that is shown in the Source column.
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Description Shows the predicted increase in revenue if 100% of the audience sees the winning experience. Calculated using the following formula: ( - )* This number is rounded to one decimal place, maximum, if the condensed form has only a single digit before the decimal. For example: $1.6M, $60K, $900, $8.5K, $205K This column shows "---" for activities that do not have enough data to call a winner show or do not have a cost estimate. See Estimating Lift in Revenue for more information.
Lift
The amount of lift generated by the activity as compared to default content.
Last Updated By
The date when the activity was last updated, and by whom.
Mouse over an activity to see the available actions. Possible actions include: Action
Description
Edit
Change the activity. Any activity can be edited.
Deactivate
Stop a live or scheduled activity. A deactivated campaign can be reactivated or archived.
Activate
Start an inactive or ready activity.
Archive
Send the activity to the archive. By default, archived activities no longer appear in the Activities list. Change the filter for the activities list to include archived activities to see them. You can activate an archived activity to use it again.
Copy
Copy an activity. Any activity can be copied. Copying an activity creates a new activity with the same name, appended with "Copy." For example, a test called "Browser Offers" is copied to "Browser Offers Copy." Visual offers are copied with the activity. You can safely edit the offers in the copy without impacting the original activity. The only exception is saved offers and images in the Content/Assets folder.
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Action
Description
Delete
Delete a draft or ready activity. Deleted activities cannot be recovered.
Click the > icon to view details about the activity. Sorting and Filtering the Activities List By default, the list is sorted by the date the activity was last modified, with the most recent on top. However, there are several filtering options to help you customize the list to show the activities you want to see. Search Use the search field to search for activities that match your search criteria.
The search field includes a drop-down menu to help you narrow your search by specifying one of the following search filters: • Activity Name • URL • Source Activity List Filters You can determine which activities appear in your Activities list by selecting list filters.
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You can filter by the following options. In each category, if nothing is selected, the default is All. Filter Category
Filter
Type
A/B Test Automated Personalization Experience Targeting Multivariate test Recommendations
Status
Live Draft Scheduled Inactive Ended Archived
Reporting Source
Target Analytics
Experience Composer
Visual Form-Based
Metrics Type
Conversion Revenue Engagement
Activity Source
Adobe Experience Manager Adobe Target
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Sort by Activity Attribute Click one of the following headings to toggle whether the activities are listed in ascending or descending order according to the selected heading. • Status • Activity Name • URL • Source Limitations Each Target activity has the following content limitations: Item Unique selectors
Limit 300 if a selector is repeated in a different experience, it is counted once. However, if it is repeated in the same experience, it is counted again.
Unique mboxes
50
Offers in each experience
350
Click track selectors in metrics
50
Mboxes in metrics
50
If you exceed any of these limits, the activity cannot be saved. Increasing the numbers of these items in your activity also increases the length of time it takes to synchronize the activity across Target. For additional limits of the Visual Experience Composer, see Visual Experience Composer Limitations.
A/B Test An A/B test compares the results of two or more experiences to determine which one performs the best to different audiences. An A/B test (sometimes referred to as an A/B...N test) compares two or more versions of your Web site content to see which best lifts your conversions, sales, or other metrics you identify. Use an A/B test to compare changes to your page against your default page design to determine which experience produces the best results. A/B tests are particularly useful when you have a clear hypothesis of ways to improve your page performance based on success metrics or alternative content delivery. A/B tests are well-suited for large changes that might involve new layouts or drastically different treatments of the elements. If your test design does not easily break down into individual page elements, you should run an A/B test before a multivariate test.
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When you set up your test, you can determine what percentage of visitors see each experience. For example, you might split traffic evenly between the control and a second experience, or you might test out a new, more risky experience by showing it to only 5% of your audience. Note: For detailed information about determining the optimum sample size for an A/B test, see Plan an A/B Test. When the number of different experiences exceeds five and span two or more locations, it's a good idea to consider an MVT test before running your A/B tests. The multivariate test shows which areas on the page are most likely to improve conversion. These are the locations that a marketer should focus on. For example, the MVT test might show that the call to action is the most important location for meeting your goals. Once you have determine which locations and content are most useful for helping you meet your goals, you can run an A/B test to further refine the results, such as to test two specific images against each other, or comparing the wording or colors of a call to action. By following an MVT test with one or more A/B tests, you can determine the best possible content for the results you desire. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. A/B testing is discussed beginning at 3:30. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Plan an A/B Test A successful A/B test requires an adequate number of visitors. The Target Sample Size Calculator helps you determine the sample size needed for a successful test. This section contains the following information: • Overview • Statistical Significance • Statistical Power • Minimum Reliably Detectable Lift • Baseline Conversion Rate • Estimating the Sample Size • Revenue per Visit Metric • Correction for Comparing Multiple Offers • Conclusion
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Overview Before setting up your A/B test, use the sample size calculator. It is important to determine an adequate sample size (number of visitors) prior to doing any A/B test, in order to establish the time that the test should be allowed to run before evaluating the results. Simply monitoring the test until statistical significance is achieved causes the confidence interval to be vastly underestimated, making the test unreliable. The intuition behind this result is that, in the event a statistically significant result is detected, the test is stopped and a winner is declared. However, if the result is not statistically significant the test is allowed to continue. This procedure strongly favors the positive outcome, which increases the false positive rate, and so distorts the effective significance level of the test. This can result in a large number of false positives, which leads to implementation of offers that do not deliver the predicted lift in the long run. Poor lift itself is a dissatisfying outcome, but an even more serious consequence is that over time the inability to accurately predict lift erodes organizational trust in testing as a practice. This article discusses the factors that must be balanced when a sample size is determined and introduces a spreadsheet calculator for estimating an adequate sample size. Calculating the sample size using the sample size calculator before any A/B test begins ensures that you always run high quality A/B tests that comply with statistical standards. There are five user-defined parameters that define an A/B test. These parameters are interlinked so when four of them are established, the fifth can be calculated: • Statistical significance • Statistical power • Minimum reliably detectable lift • Baseline conversion rate • Number of visitors For an A/B test, the statistical significance, statistical power, minimum reliably detectable lift, and baseline conversion rate are set by the analyst and then the required number of visitors is calculated from these numbers. This article discusses these elements and gives guidelines for how to determine these for a specific test.
The figure below illustrates the four possible outcomes of an A/B test:
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It is desirable to get no false positives or false negatives. However, this can never be guaranteed by a statistical test. It is always possible that observed trends are not representative of the underlying conversion rates. For example, in a test to see if heads or tails on a coin flip was more likely, even with a fair coin, you could get 10 heads on 10 tosses just by chance. The statistical significance and power help us quantify the false positive and false negative rates and allow us to keep them at reasonable levels for a given test. Top Statistical Significance The significance level of a test determines how likely it is that the test reports a significant difference in conversion rates between two different offers when in fact there is no real difference. This is known as a false positive or a Type I error. The significance level is a threshold specified by the user and is a trade-off between the tolerance for false positives and the number of visitors that have to be included in the test. In an A/B test, it is initially assumed that both offers have the same conversion rate. Then the probability of the observed outcome is computed based on this assumption. If this probability (the p-value) is smaller than some predefined threshold (the significance level) Target concludes that the initial assumption--that both offers have the same conversion rate--is incorrect and, therefore, the conversion rates of A and B are statistically different at the given significance level. A commonly used significance level in A/B testing is 5%, which corresponds to a confidence level of 95% (confidence level = 100% - significance level). A confidence level of 95% means that every time you do a test, there is a 5% chance of detecting a statistically significant lift even if there is no difference between the offers. Typical interpretations of the confidence level are summarized in the table below: Confidence Level < 90%
90-95%
95-99%
99-99.9%
+99.9%
Interpretation No evidence that there is a difference between the conversion rates Weak evidence that there is a difference between the conversion rates Moderate evidence that there is a difference between the conversion rates Strong evidence that there is a difference between the conversion rates Very strong evidence that there is a difference between the conversion rates
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It is recommended to always using a confidence level of 95% or above. It is desirable to use the highest possible confidence level, so that the test will yield few false positives. However, a higher confidence level requires a larger number of visitors, which increases the time required to do the test. Furthermore, an increase in the confidence level causes a decrease in the statistical power. Top Statistical Power The statistical power of an A/B test is the probability of detecting a real difference in conversion rate of a certain magnitude. Because of the random (stochastic) nature of conversion events it is possible that a statistically significant difference is not observed--just by chance--even though there is a real difference in conversion rate between the two offers. This is called a false negative or a Type II error. The statistical power is often ignored because the determination of statistical power, in contrast to statistical significance, is not required to do an A/B test. However, by ignoring the statistical power there is a substantial chance that real differences between the conversion rates of different offers will not be detected by the test because the sample size is too small. This results in the tests being dominated by false positives. It is desirable to have high statistical power so that the test has a high chance of identifying a real difference in conversion rates and yields fewer false negatives. However, a larger number of visitors is required to increase the statistical power of detecting any given lift, which increases the time required to do the test. A commonly used value for statistical power is 80%, which means that the test has an 80% chance of detecting a difference equal to the minimum reliably detectable lift. The test has a lower probability of detecting smaller lifts and a higher probability of detecting larger lifts. Top Minimum Reliably Detectable Lift Most organizations want to measure the smallest possible difference in conversion rate because even a small lift is worth implementing. However, if you want the A/B test to have a high probability of detecting a very small lift, the number of visitors that must be included in the test would be prohibitively large. The reason for this is that, if the difference in conversion rate is small, both conversion rates must be estimated with high accuracy to identify the difference, which requires a large number of visitors. Therefore, the minimum reliably detectable lift should be determined by the business requirements considering the trade-offs between detecting small lifts and running the test for longer periods of time. For example, suppose that two offers (A and B) have true conversion rates of 10% and 15%, respectively. If these offers are shown to 100 visitors each, there is a 95% chance of observing conversion rates in the range 4% to 16% for offer A and 8% to 22% for offer B due to the stochastic nature of conversions. These ranges are known as confidence intervals in statistics. They represent the confidence in the accuracy of the estimated conversion rates. The larger the sample size (more visitors) the more confident you can be that the estimates of the conversion rates are accurate. The figure below shows these probability distributions.
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Because of the large overlap between the two ranges, the test cannot determine whether the conversion rates are different. Therefore, this test with 100 visitors cannot distinguish between the two offers. However, if we expose the offers to 5,000 visitors each, then there is a 95% chance that the observed conversion rates will fall in the ranges of 9% to 11% and 14% to 16%, respectively.
In this case, it is very unlikely that the test will come to a wrong conclusion, so the test with 5,000 visitors can distinguish between the two offers. The test with 5,000 visitors has a confidence interval of approximately +/-1%. This means the test can detect differences of about 1%. Therefore, even more visitors would be needed if the true conversion rates of the offers were, for example, 10% and 10.5% instead of 10% and 15%. Top Baseline Conversion Rate The baseline conversion rate is the conversion rate of the control offer (offer A). Often, you have a good sense of the conversion level for the offer based on prior experience. If that is not the case, for example because it is a new type of offer or creative, the test can be allowed to run for a day or so to get a rough estimate of the baseline conversion rate that can be used in the sample size calculation. Top
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Estimating the Sample Size It can be difficult to balance the opportunity costs of running a test for a long time with the risk of false positives and false negatives. Obviously, you do not want to make the wrong decisions, but being paralyzed by too strict or rigid testing standards is not desirable either. As a general guideline, a 95% confidence level and an 80% statistical power are recommended. The sample size calculator asks you to decide on the statistical significance (recommendation: 95%), and the statistical power (recommendation: 80%). After entering the baseline conversion rate and the daily traffic across all offers, the spreadsheet outputs the number of visitors required for detecting a lift of 1%, 2%, 5%, 10%, 15%, and 20% with a probability equal to the specified power of the test. The spreadsheet also allows the user to input a custom minimum reliably detectable lift. Furthermore, the spreadsheet outputs the number of weeks required for the test based on the traffic level entered by the user. The required number of weeks is rounded up to the nearest whole week in order to avoid day-of-week effects influencing the results. There is a trade-off between the minimum lift that can be reliably identified by the test and the required number of visitors. The figure below, which is valid for a baseline (control) conversion rate of 5%, shows strong diminishing returns for increasing the number of visitors. The minimum lift that can be reliably detected improves tremendously when adding the first few visitors to the test, but it takes an increasingly larger number of visitors to improve the test. The figure helps in finding an adequate tradeoff between the time required to run the test (as determined by the number of visitors required and the site traffic) and the minimum lift that can be reliably detected by the test.
In this example, you might decide that being able to detect a lift of 5% (corresponding to a conversion rate of the alternative offer of (100%+5%)*5% = 5.25%) in 80 out of 100 tests is adequate, so you need a sample size of 100,000 visitors to each offer. If the site has 20,000 visitors per day and you are testing two offers, the test should be allowed to run for 2*100,000/20,000 = 10 days before it can be determined whether the alternative offer is statistically significantly superior to the control offer. Again, it is recommended that the required time always be rounded up to the nearest whole week, so day-of-week effects are avoided. Thus, in this example, the test would be run for two weeks before evaluating the results. Top
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Revenue per Visit Metric When using Revenue per Visit (RPV) as a metric, an additional source of variance is added because RPV is the product of revenue per order and conversion rate (RPV = Revenue / #visitors = (Revenue per order * #orders) / # visitors = Revenue per order * (#visitors * CTR) / #visitors = Revenue per Order * CTR), each with its own variance. The variance of the conversion rate can be estimated directly using a mathematical model but the variance of revenue per order is specific to the campaign. Therefore, use knowledge of this variance from past campaigns or run the A/B test for a few days to estimate the variance in revenue. The variance is calculated from the values of Sum of Sales, Sum of Sales Squared, and Number of visitors that are found in the CSV download file. Once this is established, use the spreadsheet to calculate the required time to complete the test. The sample size calculator can help you configure the RPV metric. When you open the calculator, you'll see a tab labeled RPV Metric. You'll need the following information when using the RPV version of the calculator: • Number of visitors to the control offer • Total revenue for the control offer Make sure the extreme order filter is checked. You can get this information from a CSV download from Target Classic. • The sum of squares revenue for the control offer Make sure the extreme order filter is checked. You can get this information from a CSV download from Target Classic. In general, using RPV as a metric requires 20-30% longer to achieve the same level of statistical confidence for the same level of measured lift, because RPV has the added variance of different order sizes per conversion. That should be a consideration when choosing between straight conversion rate and RPV as the metric on which to base your final business decision. Top Correction for Comparing Multiple Offers Each time you compare two offers the chance of getting a false positive (observing a statistically significant difference even when there is no difference in conversion rate) is equal to the significance level. For example, if five offers are present, A/B/C/D/E, and A is the control offer, then four comparisons are done (control to B, control to C, control to D, and control to E), and the probability of a false positive is 18.5% even when the confidence level is 95% because 4 Pr(at least one false positive) = 1 - Pr(no false positives) = 1 - 0.95 = 18.5%. A false positive is in this context defined as either the control being reported to be better than the alternative or the alternative being reported to be better than the control when, in fact, there is no difference between them. Top Conclusion By using the sample size calculator introduced in this article and allowing the test to run for the amount of time suggested by it, you can ensure that you are always doing high quality A/B tests that adhere to the false positive and false negative rates you have decided are adequate for the specific test. This ensures that your tests are consistent and able to reliably detect the lift you are looking for. Top
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Create an A/B Test Use the Visual Experience Composer in Target to create your test directly on a Target-enabled page and to modify portions of the page within Target. This video demonstrates how to create an A/B test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Creating A/B Tests
8:36
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RhcXBhMzE6fPEnn554RqJNUUMrL_nPJ8
• Create an A/B activity in Adobe Target • Allocate traffic using a manual split or automatic traffic allocation
To Create an A/B test: 1. From the Activities list, click Create Activity > A/B Test.
Note: The available activity types depend on your Target account. Some activity types might not appear in your list. For information about the various activity types, see Activities.
2. Select Visual Experience Composer, if necessary.
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If you prefer to use the Form-Based Experience Composer, select that option. See Form-Based Experience Composer. 3. Specify your activity URL, then click Create. If your account is configured with a default URL, that URL appears by default. You can change from the default to another URL. The Visual Experience Composer opens, showing the page specified in the URL.
4. Type a name for the activity in the space provided.
The following characters are not allowed in an activity name: Character
Description
/
Forward slash
?
Question mark
#
Number sign
:
Colon
5. Create any new experiences by changing the elements on the page. The Visual Experience Composer displays two tabs on the left side after you create a new activity: Experience A and Experience B. Experience A is the control experience. Your focus will be on the Experience B tab, which you can modify as desired. Experience B is the alternate experience you can add to your test. You can add multiple experiences to the test. You can also delete Experience A from the activity if you don't want to include a default site experience as an option.
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For more information about adding and modifying experiences in the Visual Experience Composer, see Add Experience. To modify Experience B, start with Step 3. 6. Click Target at the top of the Visual Experience Composer to move to the next step in the three-step guided workflow. The flow diagram opens.
The flow diagram leads you through the steps of choosing the audience for the activity and setting up experiences. 7.
In the Audience box, click the edit icon ( ), thenselect the audience for your activity. By default, the audience is set to All Visitors. 8. Choose the percentage of qualifying visitors that you want to enter the activity.
For example, you might limit entries to 50% of all visitors or 45% of your "Californians" audience. 9. Set up your traffic allocation. You can show multiple experiences to the same audience. A diagram displays showing your selected audience and the experiences you've added to the activity. If you select Manual, specify the percentage of entrants you want to see each experience. You can split the percentages evenly between all experiences, or specify higher or lower percentages for each experience. The total for all experiences must equal 100%. If you select Auto-allocate to best experience, most activity entrants are automatically directed to higher-performing experiences. Some visitors are allocated to all experiences, to maintain exploration of experiences and to recognize changes in performance trends. See Automated Traffic Allocation. You can also click Add Experience to add another experience to the activity. 10. When you are satisfied with your audience and experience choices, click Next to move to the third step of the three-step guided workflow. 11. Specify the goals and settings for the activity.
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12. Click Save. After you create the activity, the Overview tab shows information about the activity, including a diagram of your activity. Activity URL The Activity URL determines the page that is used in the test and that opens when the test is designed. When prompted during activity creation, specify the activity URL. Type the complete URL (including http://), then click Create. By default, the Visual Experience Composer opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. You can specify a different page during activity creation. To display a different page after the Visual Experience Composer opens, click the Configure gear icon, then select URL. Enter the URL in the Activity URL field. Click Add additional pages to add more pages or sections to the activity.
Set the rule that specifies the additional pages. You can use AND or OR when evaluating multiple URLs. Click Save when you have finished. Note: If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners.You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost.
Add Experience The Visual Experience Composer provides a visual interface for editing the experiences on your page. For additional detail about experiences, see Experiences. 1. Click Add Experience. Note: If you are targeting an experience to an audience, you must select the audience before you can add an experience. A message appears to remind you to choose your audience.
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2. When prompted, enter the activity URL. Type the complete URL (including http://), then click Continue. The Experience Composer (see Experiences) opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. To display a different page, click the Globe icon and enter the URL in the Select URL box in the Experience Composer and click Continue. If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners. You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost. 3. Select the elements you want to change and make the desired changes. As you hover the elements on your page, the elements are highlighted. Any highlighted element can be altered using the Experience Composer. The video below provides information about using the Visual Experience Composer options. Visual Experience Composer (1 of 2)
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=tyNWE2MjE6hs3j0mJNNInRBRzqVstvzo
• Change the content of a page • Change the layout of a page
If you created an mbox on the page using Target Classic (formerly Test&Target), that mbox appears as an element that shows the mbox name, and can be modified like any other element. The following actions can be performed on an element on the displayed page to change the experience: Option Edit Text/HTML
Description Change the HTML code for the element, such as the text for a text area, button, or link. In addition to HTML code, you can edit and inject custom JavaScript. Several rich text formatting options are available when editing text and HTML for A/B and Experience Targeting activities.You can choose a font, select a font style, change text alignment, and other standard text formatting options. When modifying HTML, you can toggle between the code view and rich-editing view of the HTML.
Edit Background Color
Use the color picker to select or configure a background color.You can select a color swatch, and adjust it using RGB values or color hex codes. The red x in the color picker makes the background transparent. Note: This option is not available for an element where a background image is set.
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Description Add any kind of element to your page in addition to modifying existing content. Add text, code, lists, and more to create entirely different experiences to test. Select an element on the page, then click Insert Element and choose whether you want to insert an image, HTML, or text. The inserted element appears after the selected element. The behavior of the inserted element depends on the structure of your page, your CSS, and other page configuration options. Valid HTML is required to make your page appear correctly. Always test your page after inserting an item to make sure it appears as expected. Note: Inserting an image requires that Adobe Scene7 Publishing System is enabled so you have access to the image library.
Edit Link
Change the URL in the link. Use Edit Link to update the selector to point to the same image element. However, linking to a different image element is not supported. To link to a different image element, delete the original action from the code editor and use the Visual Experience Composer to apply the action on the other image element.
Edit CSS Class
Specify the predefined CSS class used for the element. If more than one element is selected, separate multiple CSS classes with a space. Available for A/B, Automated Personalization, and Multivariate test activities.
Swap Offer
Select a different offer from the Content Library. Note: HTML Offers are stored on Target servers. An HTML offer can be up to 256KB in size.
Swap Image
Select a different image from the Content Library. The images available for swapping include the images uploaded to the Marketing Cloud assets folder or uploaded in the Content Library in Target. During initial activity creation, the URL displayed is not the URL used for delivery. Upon activity synching, that URL is updated to a production Scene7 URL. For example, the initial URL might look like the following example: https://test.marketing.adobe.com/content/dam/mac/scholasticinc/Aug_MBM.jpeg?ch_ck=1470774943867
After activity syncing, the delivery URL might look like the following example: http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/TargetTest/Aug_MBM?tm=1470768352933&fit=constrain&hei=173&wid=300
Note: Swapping images requires an Adobe Scene7 Publishing System account.
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Option Remove Item
Description Remove the element. The white space behind the image is removed and the space where the element was is collapsed. Note: Items within a "classic" mbox (an mbox created within a Target Classic campaign) cannot be removed using this option.
Hide Item Rearrange
Hide the element. The white space remains, but the content is removed. Drag the element to another location inside the same parent element or . Other elements shift location to make space for the rearranged element. Note: Click tracking does not work on rearranged items.
Move
Move elements on your page. Unlike the Rearrange option, Move does not shift other elements to make room for the element being moved. Use the arrow keys to fine tune the move. (Planned enhancement: support for making sure moved elements are not hidden behind other elements.) In some cases, such as when a CSS restriction requires an element to remain inside its parent element, you cannot move the element outside its parent.
Resize
Resize an element on your page. When you select Resize, a handle appears in the bottom right corner of the element that lets you drag that corner to resize. Hold the Shift key to retain the same aspect ratio. Note: Inline elements cannot be resized.
Expand Selection
Navigate to this Link Undo/Redo
Select the parent element in addition to the originally selected element. When you select any parent element, all children of that element are automatically selected. You can expand the selection multiple times. Open the destination of the link. Undo changes you make to your activities during an editing session. You can also redo changes that have been previously undone.
Note: If you deliver an image from a source other than your main page (such as an image hosted on akamai.net and delivered on dell.com), then that image does not display in the thumbnail of the page shown in the flow diagram. 4. Click the Check Mark button when you are finished designing the experience. The activity diagram displays:
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If an experience includes cross-domain content, the thumbnail might not display accurately and is replaced by an icon. 5. Specify the percentage of visitors who will see each experience in the activity. You can show multiple experiences to the same audience. A diagram displays showing your selected audience and the experiences you've added to the activity. Specify the percentage of times you want each experience to be shown. You can split the percentages evenly between all experiences, or specify higher or lower percentages for each experience. The total for all experiences must equal 100%. You can also click Add Experience to add another experience to the activity. Click Continue when you are finished with this step.
Select Audience The audience determines which site visitors are entered into your activity. Note: In addition to selecting an existing audience, you can combine multiple audiences to create ad hoc combined audiences rather than creating a new audience. For more information, see Combining Multiple Audiences. This video includes information about using audiences. Using Audiences
6:22
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=9tbjc2MjE6yt_WzVqLMT-kD_dVtt8a_u
• Explain the term "audience" • Explain the two ways audiences are used for optimization • Find audiences in the Audiences List • Target an activity to an audience • Use audiences for passive reporting in an activity
In the Audience box, click the edit icon (
), then select the audience for your activity.
By default, all visitors are your audience. However, you can change the audience. Audiences are selected from the audience library. The audience library contains audiences that have previously been defined, including some common audiences that are pre-built as a part of Target. You can either select an audience from the library, or create a new audience. For an A/B test without specific audience targeting, choose the default, All Visitors.
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When creating an audience, you can select a location (mbox) and specify parameters for that location. Under Custom Parameters, select the mbox, then specify the desired parameters. Note: Audiences are automatically imported in the background when you open the audience list and the imported audiences are more than 10 minutes old. Click the down arrow to remove the existing audience or change the audience. You can specify the percentage of qualifying visitors to include in the activity. For example, you might choose to include 50% of all visitors.
You can also choose to let Target allocate traffic automatically. This video includes information about setting up audiences. Activity Workflow - Targeting
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=VwbjY2MjE6zMJGyrMeh5qgbarCYQ8FHj
• Assign an audience to your activity • Throttle traffic up or down • Select your traffic allocation method • allocate traffic between different experiences
For detailed information, see Audiences. Automated Traffic Allocation You can choose to automatically allocate traffic for conversion-based activities to increase overall campaign lift and discover winning experiences faster. This algorithm increases the overall campaign performance while maintaining the integrity of an A/B test. Note: Automated Traffic Allocation supports all metric types; however, only RPV and Orders are supported for Revenue. Auto Allocate works with only one advanced setting : Increment Count and Keep User in Activity. The following options are not supported: Increment Count, Release User, and Allow Reentry and Increment Count, Release User and Bar from Reentry. Analytics-based metrics are not supported. Once an activity is activated, you cannot change the goal metric. This video includes information about setting up traffic allocation. Activity Workflow - Targeting
2:14
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=VwbjY2MjE6zMJGyrMeh5qgbarCYQ8FHj
• Assign an audience to your activity • Throttle traffic up or down
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2:14 • Select your traffic allocation method • allocate traffic between different experiences
This video demonstrates how to create an A/B test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Automated traffic allocation is discussed beginning at 4:45. Creating A/B Tests
8:36
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RhcXBhMzE6fPEnn554RqJNUUMrL_nPJ8
• Create an A/B activity in Adobe Target • Allocate traffic using a manual split or automatic traffic allocation
Automated traffic allocation requires at least two experiences. Best practice is to have three or more experiences, with only two experiences being compared in the A/B test. • The Challenge • The Solution • When to Use Automated Traffic Allocation versus A/B or Automated Personalization • Key Benefits • Terminology • How the Algorithm Works • Caveats • Frequently Asked Questions The Challenge Standard A/B tests have an inherent cost. You have to spend traffic to measure performance of each experience and through analysis figure out the winning experience. Traffic distribution remains fixed even after you recognize that some experiences are outperforming others. Also, it's complicated to figure out the sample size, and the activity must run its entire course before you can act on a winner. After doing all of this, there is still a chance the identified winner is not a true winner. The Solution Automated Traffic Allocation reduces this cost and overhead. It monitors the conversion rate of all experiences and sending more new entrants to the high-performing experiences proportionately. Enough traffic is reserved to explore the other experiences. The allocation is adjusted if conversion rates improve for experiences that were not performing as well earlier in the test. You can see the benefits of the test on your conversion results, even while the activity is still running: optimization occurs in parallel with learning. Automated Traffic Allocation moves visitors toward winning experiences gradually, rather than requiring that you wait until an activity ends to determine a winner. You benefit from lift more quickly because activity entrants who would have been sent to less successful experiences are shown potential winning experiences.
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When to Use Automated Traffic Allocation versus A/B or Automated Personalization • Use Automated Traffic Allocation when you want to optimize your activity from the beginning and identify the winning experiences as quickly as possible. By serving high-performing experiences more often the overall activity performance is increased. • Use Automated Traffic Allocation when conversion rate is the activity goal. Automated Traffic Allocation optimizes conversion rates. • Use a standard A/B test when you want to characterize the performance of all experiences before optimizing your site. An A/B test helps you rank all of your experiences, whereas Automated Traffic Allocation finds top performers but does not guarantee differentiation among the lower performers. • Use Automated Personalizationwhen you want optimization algorithms of the highest complexity, such as machine-learning models that build predictions based on individual profile attributes. Automated Traffic Allocation looks at the aggregate behavior of experiences (just like standard A/B tests), and doesn't differentiate between visitors. Key Benefits • Preserves the strictness of an A/B test • Finds a statistically significant winner faster than a manual A/B test • Provides higher average campaign lift than a manual A/B test • Allows you to toggle to a manual test at any time Terminology The following terms are useful when discussing Automated Traffic Allocation: • Explore and exploit Automated Traffic Allocation explores the conversion rates or spends traffic to learn the performance of all experiences and exploits the learning by directing more traffic to the high performing experiences. The exploration of all experiences continues, and gives low performing experiences the opportunity to rise up to the top if they develop uplift. The exploitation logic uses a Bayesian approach to model the behavior of each experience. • Multi-armed bandit A multi-armed bandit approach to optimization balances exploratory learning and exploitation of that learning. How the Algorithm Works The overall logic behind Automatic Traffic Allocation incorporates both measured performance (such as conversion rate) and confidence intervals. Unlike a standard A/B test where traffic is split evenly between experiences, Automatic Traffic Allocation uses a multi-armed bandit approach. • 70% of visitors are allocated to higher performing experiences • 30% of visits are randomized to explore visitor behavior and adapt to changes The multi-armed bandit approach keeps some experiences free for exploration while exploiting the experiences that are performing well. More new visitors are placed into better performing experiences while preserving the ability to react to changing conditions. These models update at least once an hour to ensure that the model reacts to the latest data .
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In the early stages of an activity, traffic is distributed evenly and it is hard to determine which experiences perform better. The algorithm starts working once at least two of the experiences in the activity have a minimum of 1000 visitors and 50 conversions. As more visitors enter the activity, some experiences start to be more successful, and more traffic is sent to the successful experiences. 30% of traffic continues to be served randomly to explore all experiences. If one of the lower-performing experiences starts to perform better or the success of a higher-performing activity decreases more traffic is allocated to that experience. For example, if an event causes visitors to look for different information on your media site, or weekend sales on your retail site provide different results. The following illustration represents how the algorithm might perform during a test with three experiences.
The diagram shows how the traffic allocated to each experience progresses over three stages of the activity lifetime. 1. In the early stages of the activity--while there is variation in performance of A, B, and C--the distributions overlap significantly, indicating low confidence in the winner. This stage yields an even split across all experiences. • Experience A=33% • Experience B=33% • Experience C=33%
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2. As the activity progresses, a high-performing experience starts to emerge. Because of overlapping distributions, the algorithm might have a distribution that favors A but is agnostic to B and C. Traffic in this example is allocated as follows. • Experience A=44% • Experience B=27% • Experience C=29% 3. The activity evolves further. B and C exchange spots while A emerges as the winner with high confidence. At this point, the algorithm directs considerable amount of traffic to A. The distribution is: • Experience A=75% • Experience B=14% • Experience C=11% After the model for an Auto-Allocate activity is ready, the following operations from the UI are not allowed: • Switching the "Traffic Allocation" mode to "Manual" • Changing the reporting source from "Adobe Target" to "Analytics" and vice-versa • Changing the goal metric type • Changing options in the "Advanced Settings" panel Caveats • Optimizes to conversion, revenue (RPV), orders, and engagement only You can now choose Revenue (RPV), Orders, and Engagement metrics as goals for A/B activities with Auto-Allocation selected. Previously, only conversion metrics were supported. • Frequent return visitors can inflate experience conversion-rates. If return visitors are randomly distributed, their effect on conversion rates is more likely to be evened out. To mitigate this effect, consider changing the counting method of the success metric to count only once per entrant. For example, if a visitor who sees experience A returns frequently and converts several times, the Conversion Rate (CR) of experience A is artificially increased. Compare this to experience B, where visitors convert but do not return often. As a result, the CR of A looks better than the CR of B, so new visitors are more likely to be allocated to A than to B. If you choose to count once per entrant, the CR of A and CR of B might be identical. • Differentiates among high-performers, not among low-performers. Automated Traffic Allocation is good at differentiating between high-performing experiences (and finding a winner). There could be times when you don't have enough differentiation among the under-performing experiences. If you want to produce statistically significant differentiation between all experiences, switch to manual mode. Direct higher traffic to low-performing segments until the desired result is achieved. • Time-correlated (or contextually-varying) conversion rates can skew allocation amounts. Some factors that can be ignored during a standard A/B test because they affect all experiences equally cannot be ignored in an Automated Traffic Allocation test. The algorithm is sensitive to the observed conversion rates. Following are examples of factors that can affect experience performance unequally: • Experiences with varying contextual (time, location, gender, etc.) relevance.
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For example: • "Thank God it's Friday" results in higher conversions on Friday • "Jump-start your Monday" has higher conversion on Monday • "Gear up for an East-coast winter" provides higher conversion in East-Coast or winter-afflicted locations These can skew the results in an Automated Traffic Allocation test more than in an A/B test because the A/B test analyzes the results over a longer period. • Experiences with varying delays in conversion, possibly due to the urgency of the message. For example, "30% sale ends today" signals the visitor to convert today, but "50% off first purchase" doesn't create the same sense of urgency.
Frequently Asked Questions Are returning visitors automatically reallocated to high-performing experiences? No. Only new visitors are automatically allocated. Returning visitors continue to see their original experience. This protects the validity of the A/B test. How does the algorithm treat false positives? In A/B testing, a winner must be identified. There is cost associated with falsely identifying a winner. Intermediate answers are called false positives. Auto Allocation, on the other hand, adapts to changing winners, so the risk of pushing a false winner is mitigated. How aggressively does the algorithm exploit? The algorithm starts working once at least two of the experiences in the activity have a minimum of 1000 visitors and 50 conversions. Until there is a difference of at least 5% across the conversion rates between the experiences, the allocation won't change. Are losing experiences shown at all? Yes. The multi-armed bandit ensures that at least 30% of traffic is reserved to explore changing patterns or conversion rates across all experiences. What happens to activities with long conversion delays? As long as all experiences being optimized face similar delays, the behavior is the same as an activity with a faster conversion cycle. How is Automated Traffic Allocation different from Automated Personalization? Unlike Automated Personalization, Automated Traffic Allocation optimizes per visitor, not per visit. Automated Traffic Allocation directs more traffic to high-performing experiences without being affected by user attributes that identify specific users. Do returning visitors inflate conversion rate on my success metric? Currently, the logic favors visitors that convert quickly or visit more often. This is because such visitors temporarily inflate the overall conversion rate of the experience they belong to. The algorithm adjusts itself frequently, so the increase in conversion rate is amplified at each snapshot. If the site gets a lot of return visitors, their conversions can potentially inflate the overall conversion rate for the experience they belong to. There is a good chance that return visitors are randomly distributed, in which case the aggregate effect (increased lift) is evened out. To mitigate this effect, consider changing the counting method of the success metric to count only once per entrant.
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Goals and Settings The Goals and Settings page is where you enter information about the goals of the test. • Activity Settings • Reporting Settings • Other Metadata This video includes information about activity settings. Activity Settings
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=ZubjY2MjE6e_Q-yO3QSfL2skTb4Jyy_e
• Enter an objective for your activity • Set the priority level of your activities • Schedule activity start and end times • Add audiences for reporting to create report filters • Enter notes for your activities
This video demonstrates how activity settings fit within the three-step guided workflow when creating an activity. Goals and settings are discussed beginning at 5:30. Creating A/B Tests
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RhcXBhMzE6fPEnn554RqJNUUMrL_nPJ8
• Create an A/B activity in Adobe Target • Allocate traffic using a manual split or automatic traffic allocation
The available settings depend on whether you use Target or Analytics as the data source.
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Activity Settings Settings Objective
Priority
Description Type an optional objective. The objective can be any information that helps you and your team members identify the campaign. Depending on your settings, the UI and options for Priority vary. You can use the legacy settings of Low, Medium, or High, or you can enable fine-grained priorities from 0 to 999. The priority is used if multiple activities are assigned to the same location with the same audience. If two or more activities are assigned to the location, the activity with the highest priority displays. If this option is not enabled in Setup (the default), specify a priority: Low, Medium, or High. To enable fine-grained priorities, click Setup, then toggle the Enable Fine-Grained Priorities option to the "On" position. If this option is enabled, specify a value between 0 and 999: • 0 = Low • 999 = High For activities created in previous versions of Target Standard/Premium, Low priority is converted to 0, Medium is converted to 5, and High is converted to 10. You can adjust these values as necessary. Note: Before you can disable this option after using fine-grained priories, all priorities must be set back to 0, 5, and 10.
Duration
The activity can start when approved, or you can set a specific date and time. Likewise, the activity can either end when it is deactivated or you can set a date and time. The time picker uses a 24-hour clock, with 00:00 being midnight. The time zone is set to the time zone configured in your browser. To use a different time zone, set your browser to another time zone and restart the browser.
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Reporting Settings Settings Reporting Source
Description Specify whether data is collected from Adobe Target or from Adobe Analytics. See Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Target to learn about the differences between the reporting solutions and the advantages of each. When selecting Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you select an Analytics report suite to receive Target activity data. To do this, first choose from any of the Analytics companies your account is tied to, and then select the appropriate report suite for the activity. Only report suites that are provisioned to connect to Adobe Target will be available for selection. If you don't see the report suite(s) you expect, first try logging out and logging back in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud to try again. If the report suite is still missing from the list, please contact Customer Care. If a reporting source is specified in your account settings, the specified source is used and this setting is not visible. Note: You cannot change your reporting source after the activity goes live in order to keep reports consistent.
Goal
Select the action taken by a visitor to achieve the goal. For example, choose a Conversion metric, then set the parameters that determine when success is achieved. For more information about setting metrics, see Set Metrics. Note: If the reporting solution is set to Analytics, the only available goal metric is Conversion. Analytics metrics cannot be selected as a goal. When you select your success metric, a selector displays. Use this selector to choose the specifics for the success metric. If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal, but not for other metrics. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for
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Description any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. For all revenue metrics (Revenue per Visitor, Average Order Value, Total Sales, and Orders), the estimate uses Revenue per Visitor. The data type is currency. After reaching the activity goal, a visitor continues to see the activity content, unless that visitor qualifies for a higher priority activity. If the visitor reaches the goal again, it is counted as another conversion. Note that this is different than the default behavior in Target Classic, which counts visitors as new if they see the test again.
Additional Metrics
Create additional success metrics. This setting is not available if the reporting solution is set to Analytics. In this case, the metrics defined for the Analytics report suite are applied.
Audiences for Reporting
By default, reports show results for all qualified visitors. You can add report audiences to show only information about specific audiences. This setting is not available if you choose Analytics as your reporting solution. The audience defined for the Analytics report suite are applied.
Advanced Settings Advanced settings are available for A/B Test goal metrics.
Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your reporting source, settings are managed by the Analytics server. The advanced settings option will not be available. Setting
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Which success metric must be reached before incrementing this metric?
Use this option to only count someone as reaching the success metric if they’ve previously reached a different success metric. For example a test conversion might only
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Description be valid if the visitor clicks on the offer, or reaches a particular page before converting. You must define both (or multiple) success metrics before you can make one dependent on another.
What will happen after a user encounters this goal metric? There are three options for what happens after a visitor reaches the goal metric: • Select Increment Count & Keep User in Activity to specify how the count is incremented. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Allow Reentry to specify the experience the user sees if they reenter the activity. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Bar from Reentry to specify what the user sees instead of the activity content. See Success Metrics for more information about advanced settings. Other Metadata Settings
Description
Notes
Type any information about your activity that is useful to keep on hand for yourself or other team members. The Notes pane is resizable.
Using Analytics Data You can configure a campaign in Target Classic or an Activity in Target Standard to use Adobe Analytics as the reporting source (A4T). For detailed information about setting up Analytics as the data source for Target, see the Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Adobe Target. Before you set up an activity that uses Analytics as the reporting source, establish the goal for the activity, such as improving revenue per visitor (RPV) or increasing clicks on your shopping cart. Choose a final success metric for the campaign. Although you can select additional metrics at any time in Analytics, you must still specify a particular metric you expect this test to affect. Note: The Adobe Analytics option is available if you've linked your Adobe Marketing Cloud account with both Analytics and Target, even if integration between Target and Analytics has not been set up for your account. When selecting Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you select an Analytics report suite to receive Target activity data. To do this, first choose from any of the Analytics companies your account is tied to, and then select the appropriate report suite for the activity. Only report suites that are provisioned to connect to Adobe Target will be available for selection. If you don't see the report suite(s) you expect, first try logging out and logging back in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud to try again. If the report suite is still missing from the list, please contact Customer Care.
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Analytics for Target requires a tracking server to report results correctly. A default tracking server will appear in the Tracking Server field. If you use more than one tracking server, you should check to ensure you include the correct tracking server in this field. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server for more information. Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your activity's reporting source, you do not need to specify a tracking server during activity creation if you are using mbox.js version 61 (or later) or at.js version 0.9.1 (or later). The mbox.js or at.js library automatically sends tracking server values to Target. During activity creation, you can leave the Tracking Server field empty on the Goals & Settings page. When setting up activity after setting up Analytics as your reporting source, there is no option to set up audiences for reporting. Analytics segments are available in the Target Activities report. You are required to select a success metric to uses as a goal for each test. Your activity goal is the conversion activity that signals a successful campaign. It is best practice never to run a test without having a goal to improve in some specific way. You can choose any Analytics metric available in the Analytics metric selector. Setting a goal doesn't mean you can't use another metric when evaluating test results. The goal is, however, a reminder of the one thing you want to improve with the test. After a visitor completes your goal, that visitor is no longer included in the campaign. If the visitor re-enters your campaign after completing an activity, he or she is counted as a new visitor. Set Metrics Use metrics to determine when a visit is successful. For detailed information about success metrics, see Success Metrics. 1. Specify the goal of the activity. 2. Select a success metric
The Select Metrics page lists the success metrics you can choose for your activity. The success metrics are divided into the following categories: • Conversion • Revenue • Engagement You can use any of the pre-built success metrics, or create a custom success metric. You can also mark a success metric as a primary metric. Reports and Marketing Cloud cards default to show the primary metric, if one is set.
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3. Specify the settings for your metrics. The available settings depend on the success metric you are using. If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. The data type is currency. This field is progressively shown after the user indicates the action taken to satisfy the goal. See Estimating Lift in Revenue for more information. The correct configuration of success metrics is critical for making sure you get the data you expect. For more information, see Success Metrics. 4. (Optional) Add additional metrics. 5. Click Continue when you are finished setting your metrics. This video includes information about working with success metrics. Activity Metrics
7:43
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=J4NWU2MjE60WZdLh3AA5cy11ozayzXN1
• Understand "goal" metrics • Understand and build Conversion, Revenue, and Engagement metrics • Build a click-tracking metric
Multiple Experience Versions in an A/B Test You can target versions of the same experience to different audiences in A/B activities. You can set up multiple audiences for an experience in the Visual Experience Composer or in the Form-Based Experience Composer. For example, if your site uses a consistent design across pages or products and you want to use the same experience for multiple audiences (such as visitors with different browser languages), you can set up multiple versions of the experience. You might present the same experience to English and Japanese speakers, with the only difference being that the text is presented in the visitor's language. Data is collected for the experience, regardless of language, so the report shows the performance of the experience, rather than the version. Without the ability to set up experience versions, you would have to set up different tests for each language (in this example), then manually aggregate the results to try to get an idea how a single experience with both languages might perform. This produces less accurate results. For some tests, these calculations might not even be useful because of the way visitors are randomized. By creating different versions of an experience, you receive more accurate information without the need for manual calculations and assumptions. Scenario You are testing two experiences, a geo-targeted banner vs. a generic banner. The banner for each geography needs to be different, but the overall test is to determine whether geotargeting is better than showing generic content. If you set up a separate experience for each location, you would actually be measuring how each geo performs against the other, rather than whether geotargeting helps meet your success goals when measured against the generic banner.
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In this case, what you need are geo-specific versions of the experience, so you can test the geotargeted experience against a non-geotargeted control. 1. Create an A/B activity as you normally would. When configuring the experience that will have multiple versions, select the audience for each version, as shown in the following steps. 2. Select the experience, then click Configure > Audiences > Multiple Audiences.
3. Click Add Audience, then select the first audience you want to target. Repeat for each audience.
If the audience does not yet exist, click Create Audience and set it up. If a visitor qualifies for more than one audience, the content for all audiences is returned, with the last one in the list actually rendering on the page. 4. Continue setting up the activity. Best Practices • Choose mutually-exclusive audiences. If the activity was created in the VEC, If a visitor matches more than one audience, the content for each audience is returned, with the content for the audience listed last displaying on the page.
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• Activity-entry audiences defined in the diagram are combined with the experience audiences using an AND condition. To enter the activity, a visitor must qualify for the activity audience, and one of the experience audiences. • Add the same audiences as segments for reports. This helps you look at the test results at the high level of experience A vs B, and at the lower level of experience A vs B for just "browser lang ja_JP." This works only for Target-based reports, not Analytics-based reports.
Automated Personalization Automated Personalization provides advanced machine learning algorithms to provide automated personalized content and improved conversion rates for digital experiences. Automated Personalization can be valuable in the discovery phase of testing. It is also useful when you are not sure which rules are most effective when targeting diverse visitors. Overtime, the algorithm learns to predict the most effective content and displays the content most likely to achieve your goals. Note: Automated Personalization is available as part of the Target Premium solution. It is not included with Target Standard without a Target Premium license. If you have a Target Premium license, the Target Premium card replaces the Target Standard card in the Adobe Marketing Cloud. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. Automated Personalization is discussed beginning at 5:55. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Marketers implement one file on their site and that enables them to point and click on any content and then visually create and select additional content options for that area. Then, the modeling system automatically determines which piece of content to deliver to each individual based on all behavioral data the system has about the visitor, providing a personalized experience. The marketer does not need to run a test, then analyze the results, then deliver a winner before realizing the lift found from optimization. Automated Personalization provides: • Three machine-learning algorithms: Algorithm Type Random Forest
Residual Variance
Description Uses an ensemble approach to predict the nearest neighbor. Ensembles improve performance by combining weak learners to create strong learners. Creates a model showing scatterplot points in a regular distribution around the regression line. Residual variance is also known as "error variance."
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Description This new algorithm focuses on long-term conversion across many sessions instead of focusing on improving conversion only in the current session. This technique is suitable for sites with many returning visitors because it optimizes on overall revenue for the entire interaction with the visitor.
• Single line of code implementation with WYSIWYG content editing. • Connection to Marketing Cloud Audiences for seamless collection of advance visitor behavioral data. For information about using Marketing Cloud Audiences with Target, see Marketing Cloud Audiences in the Adobe Target Integration guide. Note: The Automated Personalization workflow varies from the workflow of the other activity types. 1. From the Target Standard Activities list, click Create Activity > Automated Personalization.
2. Verify or enter the activity URL, then click Create Activity. The page with the specified URL opens in the Visual Experience Composer.
3. To name the activity, click the Name field and type your activity name.
The following characters are not allowed in an activity name:
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4. Modify page elements as explained in Experiences, then click Next. You can select multiple images at once from the asset manager. This enables you to quickly view the page with each of the images configured for the activity. You can also easily edit text elements in your offers. When you edit an element, bars appear on that element to indicate you have changed it. 5. Click Content to configure the available combinations.
Note: You can create up to 30,000 experiences in an AP test. The Content list shows each piece of content selected for the activity, and the location it is assigned to. You can select pieces of content and assign them to reporting groups. For information about targeting an offer to specific audiences, see Target AP Offers. 6. Click Combinations in the Content list to choose any combinations of elements that you want to exclude from the activity.
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Note: You can include up to 30,000 combinations. Click Filter to create a filter that shows only the combinations you want to see. Click Exclude to hide a combination. Excluded combinations are never displayed. Click Include to include a previously excluded combination. Use the Display dropdown to filter the list of combinations to show all combinations, included combinations only, or excluded combinations only.
7. Click Continue when you have finished setting up the content of your activity. The Activity Summary appears. Click View Experience URLs to preview how your experiences will look when delivered. A pop-up appears that you can use to view and share links to your AP experiences on your site to get a "true preview" of the experiences outside of Target's Visual Experience Composer.You must share the links from the message to share the preview. Clicking a link and then copying the URL directly from the page won't work because the URL contains a parameter that only displays the page correctly when you access the page from the link in the message. 8. Select an audience and specify the percentage of visitors who will see the control experience, then click Next. The control experience provides a comparison to determine how much lift is provided by the automated test.
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Automated Personalization always measures performance against a control group. Best practice is to place 5-10% of entrants into the control group, and display the default content to them. Note: In Automated Personalization activities, entry criteria (URL targeting, template rules, audience target) are evaluated for each request. In previous versions, entry criteria were evaluated once per session. 9. Configure the control experience. You can choose from the following control experiences: • Default Experience The default page design is used as the default experience. • Randomized Experience (default) The modeling system randomly creates an experience from the offers and locations used for that page. The visitor continues to see that experience until the session expires. If the visitor returns and begins a new session, a new random experience is generated. • Selected Experience You select the experience by choosing the content that displays in each location. If, after creating the activity, you delete a location from the control, your activity will reset. Because the control is different, the activity must reset to provide accurate data using the new control. 10. Click the Optimizing Algorithm, and choose the algorithm you want to use. There are two options: • Residual Variance If you used Test&Target 1:1, this was the algorithm you used. • Random Forest (Default) 11. Review the Experiences card. The Experiences card lists each location in the experience and shows the numbers of offers available for each location. 12. Click Continue. The Goal & Settings page opens. 13. Configure the activity with the following settings, then click Create. Setting Name
Description Name the activity. Give the activity a name that is descriptive enough that team members can recognize it in the Activities list. The following characters are not allowed in an activity name: •/ •? •#
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Description •:
Objective Priority
(Optional) Type the objective of the test. The objective helps you remember the purpose of the activity. Depending on your settings, the UI and options for Priority vary. You can use the legacy settings of Low, Medium, or High, or you can enable fine-grained priorities from 0 to 999. The priority is used if multiple activities are assigned to the same location with the same audience. If two or more activities are assigned to the location, the activity with the highest priority displays. If this option is not enabled in Setup (the default), specify a priority: Low, Medium, or High. To enable fine-grained priorities, click Setup, then toggle the Enable Fine-Grained Priorities option to the "On" position. If this option is enabled, specify a value between 0 and 999: • 0 = Low • 999 = High For activities created in previous versions of Target Standard/Premium, Low priority is converted to 0, Medium is converted to 5, and High is converted to 10. You can adjust these values as necessary. Note: Before you can disable this option after using fine-grained priories, all priorities must be set back to 0, 5, and 10.
Duration Optimization Goal
Set the start and end dates for the activity. Provide a name for the goal, then specify the optimization goal, which consists of two parameters: • What you want to measure with the activity • The action taken by an activity entrant that shows that the goal has been achieved. Automated Personalization activities can measure conversion, RPV, and AOV. Conversion can be achieved by viewing a page or viewing an mbox. Clicks can also be tracked.
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Description The primary goal also becomes the modeling metric, used by the modeling system to calculate the success of te experience. Visitors can be kept in the activity for tracking purposes after reaching the modeling goal. For example, often an Automated Personalization activity is used to improve click-rates, and that is set as the modeling goal. However, it's important to see how increased click-rates lead to final conversion, so tracking through the final conversion is essential.
Conversion Metric
Set the conversion metric. You can: • Name the conversion metric. • Set the conversion metric to be the same as the optimization goal. • If not the same as the optimization goal, select a different method.
Additional Metrics
Audiences for Reporting
Add any additional reporting metrics you want to use. You can add conversion, engagement, or revenue metrics. Add audiences to enable filtering by audiences in reports. By default, the report shows results for all qualified visitors. Add audiences to filter results for more specific subsets of visitors. Note: Unlike other activity types, Automated Personalization cannot use Adobe Analytics as its reporting source.
Notes
Type any information about your activity that is useful to keep on hand for yourself or other team members. The Notes pane is resizable.
After you click Create, your activity appears on the Activities list. You can recognize Automated Personalization in the list by the AP icon. For information about reporting, see Automated Personalization Reports.
Random Forest Algorithm Ensemble methods use multiple learning algorithms to obtain better predictive performance than could be obtained from any of the constituent learning algorithms. The Random Forest algorithm in the automated personalization
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system is a classification or regression method that operates by constructing a multitude of decision trees at training time. Their output is a class or regression value that is the mode of the outputs by individual trees. The method combines bagging and the random selection of features in order to construct a collection of decision trees with controlled variance. Algorithm 1 (referred to as EDT) outlines how ensemble decision trees are constructed and make predictions. Feature Transformation Before the data goes through the algorithm, it undergoes a feature transformation. The feature transformations depend on the type of feature being used. Mainly, there are two types of features: • Categorical Categorical features cannot be counted but can be sorted into different groups. They could be features like country, gender, zip code. • Numeric Numeric features can be measured or counted, such as age, income, and so on. For categorical features, a set of all possible features is maintained and the likelihood transformation is used to reduce the data size. For numeric features, re-scaling ensures that the features are comparable across the board. Generalized Score Generalized score is computed per modeling group to compute the general conversion rate of the offer without taking into account the personalized model. Combiner Combiner adds the personalized score computed by the random forest algorithm to the generalized score. The random forest score is used when the model is available. However, when the model is not available, Target uses the general score. The general score serves as a backup for the personalized score. Multi-Armed Bandit The multi-armed bandit (MAB) problem is a classic example of the exploration vs. exploitation dilemma in which a collection of one-armed bandits, each with unknown reward probability, is given. The key idea is to develop a strategy, which results in the arm with the highest success probability to be played so the total reward obtained is maximized. Multi-armed bandit is used in the system when for online scoring after the online models are built. This helps with online learning during exploration. The current multi-armed algorithm is epsilon ( ) greedy algorithm. In this algorithm, with probability 1- , the best arm is chosen. And, with probability , any other arm is randomly chosen.
Inputting Data for Automated Personalization There are several ways to input data in Automated Personalization (AP) models. • Customer attributes • Marketing cloud shared audiences (AAM, Analytics) • Mbox parameters • Profile parameters • Server-side APIs for profile update
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For information about the data collected by Automated Personalization, see Automated Personalization Data Collection.
Automated Personalization Data Collection Automated Personalization collects a variety of data. The following table shows the data collected by Automated Personalization by default, without the marketer having to do anything. You can augment the input data set at any time. Data Type Shared Audiences
Details Created through: • Adobe Audience Manager • Adobe Target Classic • Adobe Analytics
URL Parameters Interest Areas
Anything present in the URLs Automated Personalization uses crawler technology that develops key tokens characterizing content within each page URL. The technique used is generally known as term-frequency/inverse-document-frequency or TF/IDF. These tokens are then stored in each user profile as the user crawls through different pages. These tokens are recency ranked. For example: Site Page URL
Key Terms
url1
shoe, heel, black
url2
shirt, top, blue
url3
coupon, discount, price
url4
coat, rain, black
If a visitor views url1 and then url4, then the user profile, that visitor will have following ordered interest areas: 1. black 2. coat 3. rain 4. shoe 5. heel User Profile Parameters Mbox Parameters
Information stored in the user profile • BOX_mboxTime • BOX_mboxXDomain
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Details • BOX_mboxXDomainCheck • Other information passed by mboxes
Environment/Technographics
• ENV_Browser • ENV_BrowserHeight • ENV_BrowserTimezoneOffsetMinutes • ENV_BrowserVersion • ENV_BrowserWidth • ENV_ColorDepth • ENV_DayOfWeek • ENV_Language • ENV_LocalTimePeriod • ENV_OperatingSystem • ENV_OperatingSystemVersion • ENV_PageId • ENV_Referrer • ENV_ScreenHeight • ENV_ScreenWidth • ENV_ServerHour • ENV_UserHour • ENV_UserHourType • ENV_WeekHour
Geography
• GEO_City • GEO_Country • GEO_DMA • GEO_Latitude • GEO_Longitude • GEO_Region • GEO_ZipCode
Device
• MOB_targeting.mobile.model • MOB_targeting.mobile.vendor
User Session
• SES_CUMULATIVE_ACTION_1_99858 • SES_CUMULATIVE_ORDER_VALUE • SES_CUMULATIVE_SUCCESSES • SES_HOURS_SINCE_LAST_VISIT • SES_LAST_SESSION_START • SES_PREVIOUS_VISIT_COUNT
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Details • SES_PROFILE_CREATION_TIME • SES_PROFILE_UPDATE_TIME • SES_RECENCY • SES_REQEUSTS_PER_SESSION • SES_SESSION_POSITION • SES_SESSION_START • SES_SESSION_TIME • SES_SUCCESS_RECENCY • SES_TIME_PER_SESSION • SES_TOTAL_PAGE_VIEWS • SES_TOTAL_SESSIONS • SES_TOTAL_TIME
Estimate the Traffic Required for Success The Traffic Estimator provides feedback that lets you know whether you have sufficient traffic for the test you designed to succeed. Because an Automated Personalization activity uses multiple content combinations, it is important to know how much traffic is required to provide meaningful results. The Traffic Estimator uses statistics about your page and the number of experiences being tested to estimate the amount of traffic and the test duration needed to make the test successful. The Traffic Estimator determines if there is enough traffic to generate personalized models, by comparing the estimated page impressions and typical conversion rate for the pages. Ideally, for a successful activity, the correct sample size ensures that personalized content is ready within 50% of the activity duration. This allows sufficient time for obtaining personalized content and learning which content to deliver. Once a predictive model passes the required quality criteria and is deemed valid, it is considered ready and is used to calculate a personalized score for offer decisioning. A visual indicator shows when the model is ready and Target is able to begin delivering personalized content. Since lift is expected only after the models are ready, the visual indication allows you to set the right expectation. Use the traffic estimator in the Visual Experience Composer to get a guideline of when the models will be ready. 1. From the Experience Composer, click Traffic. The Traffic Estimator opens. You can click Traffic again to hide the Traffic Estimator.
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2. Provide the typical conversion rate, estimated activity impressions per day, and test duration. • Number of Content Combinations Calculated automatically based on the number of experiences being created as a part of your activity after any exclusions. • Typical Conversion Rate The conversion rate is expressed as a percentage, based on your estimation or past data from your analytics system • Estimated Activity Impressions Per Day This is the number of visitors who are likely to view this page based on the targeting criteria. This could be based on your analytics data. • Test Duration The number of days you want the activity to run. The Traffic Estimator uses these statistics to determine what adjustments are needed to run a successful test. Near the top of the Traffic Estimator, the values you entered are calculated and the results are shown.
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As you change the numbers, the estimate changes. For example, if you are testing a large number of combinations and your conversion rate and impressions are too low, the Traffic Estimator shows how long the test will need to run to be successful. Or, if your traffic is low, the Traffic Estimator might suggest a lower number of combinations so you can run the test the desired number of days. If you do not have sufficient traffic, you can do one or both of the following: • Reduce the number of combinations. • Increase the duration of the test. Adjust the numbers until the Traffic Estimator says you have sufficient traffic, then design your test accordingly.
If the traffic is sufficient, the Traffic icon shows a green check. If it is insufficient, the icon shows a red warning label.
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Preview Experiences for an Automated Personalization Test Because an automated personalization test compares multiple experiences on a page, it is helpful to preview the page with each experience. 1. From the Experience Composer, click Preview. A list of all experiences appears.
2. Click an experience in the list to view that experience. 3. To exclude an experience from the test, select that experience and click Exclude.
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You might exclude an experience that shows conflicting variations or an experience that is not aesthetically balanced. By default, all experiences are included in the Automated Personalization activity. To include an experience that has been excluded, select the excluded experience and click Include. Click Exit Preview Mode to return to the Experience Composer so you can make changes, or click Continue to go to the test summary.
Target AP Offers In an Automated Personalization activity, you can target offers to specific audiences. 1. Create an Automated Personalization activity containing the offers you want to Target. 2. After setting up the offers for the activity in the Visual Experience Composer, click Content. The Manage Content dialog box opens.
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Note: You can set up 50 locations, and up to 250 offers per location. 3. In the Content column, select the offer, then click Targeting and choose the audiences you want to see that offer. Only the selected audiences will be presented that offer. Note: In addition to selecting an existing audience, you can combine multiple audiences to create ad hoc combined audiences rather than creating a new audience. For more information, see Combining Multiple Audiences. 4. Click Done. Note: If you are using Selected Experience as your control type for the activity, you cannot select an offer that has targeting applied to it.
Exclude Duplicate Offers Prevent offers from the offer library from being duplicated when used in different locations in Automated Personalization activities. You might have an activity, for example, with six locations on a page with 12 offers. There is a chance that the same offer could be placed in one or more locations in the activity. This feature prevents duplicate offers from displaying in the same activity. Click Configure > Duplicate Offers, then click Allow Duplicates or Disallow Duplicates.
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Troubleshooting Automated Personalization This page documents problems that have been reported when using Automated Personalization Issue AP activity URL showing offer content on incorrect pages
Description In AP, the url and template testing rules are added to the mbox entry contraint, for example target-global-mbox, where they are evaluated only once. Once a user qualifies for a campaign the mbox level targeting rules are not re-evaluated. However the targeting audience is added to location targeting rules. Solution: Add the necessary template rules as the input-audience of the campaign. Audience evaluation happens upon each request/call. This will be fixed in an upcoming release.
Any metric dependent on conversion metric never converts.
This is expected. In an AP activity, once a conversion metric (whether optimization goal or post goal) is converted, the user is released from the experience and the activity is restarted. For example, there is an activity with a conversion metric (C1) and an additional metric (A1). A1 is dependent on C1. When a visitor enters the activity for the first time, and the criteria for converting A1 and C1 are not converted, metric A1 is not converted due to the success metric dependency. If the visitor converts C1 and then
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Description converts A1, A1 is still not converted because as soon as C1 is converted, the visitor is released.
Experience Targeting Target rules-based experiences to specific audiences. Experience Targeting, including geotargeting, is valuable for defining rules that target a specific experience or content to a particular audience. Several rules can be defined in an activity to deliver different content variations to different audiences. When visitors view your site, Experience Targeting (XT) evaluates them to determine whether they meet the criteria you set. If they meet the criteria, they enter the activity and the experience designed for qualifying audiences is displayed. You can create experiences for multiple audiences within a single activity. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. Experience Targeting is discussed beginning at 5:15. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Create an Experience Targeting Activity Use the Visual Experience Composer to create an Experience Targeting activity on a Target-enabled page and to modify portions of the page within Target. 1. From the Activities list, click Create Activity > Experience Targeting.
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Note: The available activity types depend on your Target account. Some activity types might not appear in your list. For information about the activity types, see Activities. 2. Enter your activity URL, then click Create Activity.
If your account is configured with a default URL, that URL appears by default. You can change from the default to another URL. If you prefer to use the form-based Experience Composer, select that option. See Form-Based Experience Composer. The Visual Experience Composer opens, showing the page specified in the URL. 3. Type a name for the activity in the space provided.
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4. Create any new experiences by changing the elements on the page. The Experience Composer (see Experiences) opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. To display a different page, click the Globe icon and enter the URL in the Select URL box in the Experience Composer and click Continue. If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners. You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost. As you hover the elements on your page, the elements are highlighted. Any highlighted element can be altered using the Experience Composer. If you created an mbox on the page using Target Classic (formerly Test&Target), that mbox appears as an element that shows the mbox name, and can be modified like any other element. Note: If you deliver an image from a source other than your main page (such as an image hosted on akamai.net and delivered on dell.com), then that image does not display in the thumbnail of the page shown in the flow diagram. 5. Click Continue. The flow diagram opens.
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The flow diagram leads you through the steps of choosing the audience for the activity and setting up experiences. 6. Click Choose Audience and select the audience for the first experience in your activity. The audience library appears. The audience library contains audiences that have previously been defined, including some common audiences that are pre-built as a part of Target. You can either select an audience from the library, or create a new audience. To show the same experience to all entrants, choose All Visitors. Note: In addition to selecting an existing audience, you can combine multiple audiences to create ad hoc combined audiences rather than creating a new audience. For more information, see Combining Multiple Audiences. When creating an audience, you can select a location (mbox) and specify parameters for that location. Under Custom Parameters, select the mbox, then specify the desired parameters. Note: Audiences are automatically imported in the background when you open the audience list and the imported audiences are more than 10 minutes old. Click the down arrow to remove the existing audience or change the audience. 7. Click Add Experience Targeting. Note: If you are targeting an experience to an audience, you must select the audience before you can add an experience. A message appears to remind you to choose your audience. 8. (Optional) Click Add Experience Targeting and set up additional targeted experiences.
Click Continue when you are finished with this step. 9. Specify the goals and settings for the activity.
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10. Click Save & Close. Activity URL The Activity URL determines the page that is used in the test, and that opens when the test is designed. When prompted during activity creation, enter the activity URL. Type the complete URL (including http://), then click Create Activity. By default, the Visual Experience Composer opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. You can specify a different page during activity creation. To display a different page after the Visual Experience Composer opens, click Configure, select URL, and enter the URL in the Activity URL box. Click Advanced to add more pages or sections to the activity.
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Click Save when you have finished. Note: If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners. You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost.
Create Experience The Experience Composer provides a visual interface for editing the experiences on your page. For additional detail about experiences, see Experiences. 1. Click Add Experience. Note: If you are targeting an experience to an audience, you must select the audience before you can add an experience. A message appears to remind you to choose your audience. 2. When prompted, enter the activity URL. Type the complete URL (including http://), then click Continue. The Experience Composer (see Experiences) opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. To display a different page, click the Globe icon and enter the URL in the Select URL box in the Experience Composer and click Continue. If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners. You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost. 3. Select the elements you want to change and make the desired changes. As you hover the elements on your page, the elements are highlighted. Any highlighted element can be altered using the Experience Composer.
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The video below provides information about using the Visual Experience Composer options. Visual Experience Composer (1 of 2)
7:17
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=tyNWE2MjE6hs3j0mJNNInRBRzqVstvzo
• Change the content of a page • Change the layout of a page
If you created an mbox on the page using Target Classic (formerly Test&Target), that mbox appears as an element that shows the mbox name, and can be modified like any other element. The following actions can be performed on an element on the displayed page to change the experience: Option Edit Text/HTML
Description Change the HTML code for the element, such as the text for a text area, button, or link. In addition to HTML code, you can edit and inject custom JavaScript. Several rich text formatting options are available when editing text and HTML for A/B and Experience Targeting activities.You can choose a font, select a font style, change text alignment, and other standard text formatting options. When modifying HTML, you can toggle between the code view and rich-editing view of the HTML.
Edit Background Color
Use the color picker to select or configure a background color.You can select a color swatch, and adjust it using RGB values or color hex codes. The red x in the color picker makes the background transparent. Note: This option is not available for an element where a background image is set.
Insert Element
Add any kind of element to your page in addition to modifying existing content. Add text, code, lists, and more to create entirely different experiences to test. Select an element on the page, then click Insert Element and choose whether you want to insert an image, HTML, or text. The inserted element appears after the selected element. The behavior of the inserted element depends on the structure of your page, your CSS, and other page configuration options. Valid HTML is required to make your page appear correctly. Always test your page after inserting an item to make sure it appears as expected. Note: Inserting an image requires that Adobe Scene7 Publishing System is enabled so you have access to the image library.
Edit Link
Change the URL in the link.
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Description Use Edit Link to update the selector to point to the same image element. However, linking to a different image element is not supported. To link to a different image element, delete the original action from the code editor and use the Visual Experience Composer to apply the action on the other image element.
Edit CSS Class
Specify the predefined CSS class used for the element. If more than one element is selected, separate multiple CSS classes with a space. Available for A/B, Automated Personalization, and Multivariate test activities.
Swap Offer
Select a different offer from the Content Library. Note: HTML Offers are stored on Target servers. An HTML offer can be up to 256KB in size.
Swap Image
Select a different image from the Content Library. The images available for swapping include the images uploaded to the Marketing Cloud assets folder or uploaded in the Content Library in Target. During initial activity creation, the URL displayed is not the URL used for delivery. Upon activity synching, that URL is updated to a production Scene7 URL. For example, the initial URL might look like the following example: https://test.marketing.adobe.com/content/dam/mac/scholasticinc/Aug_MBM.jpeg?ch_ck=1470774943867
After activity syncing, the delivery URL might look like the following example: http://s7d2.scene7.com/is/image/TargetTest/Aug_MBM?tm=1470768352933&fit=constrain&hei=173&wid=300
Note: Swapping images requires an Adobe Scene7 Publishing System account. Remove Item
Remove the element. The white space behind the image is removed and the space where the element was is collapsed. Note: Items within a "classic" mbox (an mbox created within a Target Classic campaign) cannot be removed using this option.
Hide Item Rearrange
Hide the element. The white space remains, but the content is removed. Drag the element to another location inside the same parent element or . Other elements shift location to make space for the rearranged element. Note: Click tracking does not work on rearranged items.
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Option Move
Description Move elements on your page. Unlike the Rearrange option, Move does not shift other elements to make room for the element being moved. Use the arrow keys to fine tune the move. (Planned enhancement: support for making sure moved elements are not hidden behind other elements.) In some cases, such as when a CSS restriction requires an element to remain inside its parent element, you cannot move the element outside its parent.
Resize
Resize an element on your page. When you select Resize, a handle appears in the bottom right corner of the element that lets you drag that corner to resize. Hold the Shift key to retain the same aspect ratio. Note: Inline elements cannot be resized.
Expand Selection
Navigate to this Link Undo/Redo
Select the parent element in addition to the originally selected element. When you select any parent element, all children of that element are automatically selected. You can expand the selection multiple times. Open the destination of the link. Undo changes you make to your activities during an editing session. You can also redo changes that have been previously undone.
Note: If you deliver an image from a source other than your main page (such as an image hosted on akamai.net and delivered on dell.com), then that image does not display in the thumbnail of the page shown in the flow diagram. 4. Click the Check Mark button when you are finished designing the experience. The activity diagram displays:
If an experience includes cross-domain content, the thumbnail might not display accurately and is replaced by an icon. Click Continue when you are finished with this step.
Goals and Settings The Goals and Settings page is where you enter information about the goals of the test. • Activity Settings
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• Reporting Settings • Other Metadata This video includes information about activity settings. Activity Settings
3:02
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=ZubjY2MjE6e_Q-yO3QSfL2skTb4Jyy_e
• Enter an objective for your activity • Set the priority level of your activities • Schedule activity start and end times • Add audiences for reporting to create report filters • Enter notes for your activities
The available settings depend on whether you use Target or Analytics as the data source.
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Activity Settings Settings Objective
Priority
Description Type an optional objective. The objective can be any information that helps you and your team members identify the campaign. Depending on your settings, the UI and options for Priority vary. You can use the legacy settings of Low, Medium, or High, or you can enable fine-grained priorities from 0 to 999. The priority is used if multiple activities are assigned to the same location with the same audience. If two or more activities are assigned to the location, the activity with the highest priority displays. If this option is not enabled in Setup (the default), specify a priority: Low, Medium, or High. To enable fine-grained priorities, click Setup, then toggle the Enable Fine-Grained Priorities option to the "On" position. If this option is enabled, specify a value between 0 and 999: • 0 = Low • 999 = High For activities created in previous versions of Target Standard/Premium, Low priority is converted to 0, Medium is converted to 5, and High is converted to 10. You can adjust these values as necessary. Note: Before you can disable this option after using fine-grained priories, all priorities must be set back to 0, 5, and 10.
Duration
The activity can start when approved, or you can set a specific date and time. Likewise, the activity can either end when it is deactivated or you can set a date and time. The time picker uses a 24-hour clock, with 00:00 being midnight. The time zone is set to the time zone configured in your browser. To use a different time zone, set your browser to another time zone and restart the browser.
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Reporting Settings Settings Reporting Solution
Description Specify whether data is collected from Adobe Target or from Adobe Analytics. See Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Target to learn about the differences between the reporting solutions and the advantages of each. When selecting Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you select an Analytics report suite to receive Target activity data. To do this, first choose from any of the Analytics companies your account is tied to, and then select the appropriate report suite for the activity. Only report suites that are provisioned to connect to Adobe Target will be available for selection. If you don't see the report suite(s) you expect, first try logging out and logging back in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud to try again. If the report suite is still missing from the list, please contact Customer Care. Analytics for Target requires a tracking server to report results correctly. A default tracking server will appear in the Tracking Server field. If you use more than one tracking server, you should check to ensure you include the correct tracking server in this field. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server for more information. If a reporting solution is specified in your account settings, the specified solution is used and this setting is not visible. Note: You cannot change your reporting source after the activity goes live in order to keep reports consistent.
Goal
Select the action taken by a visitor to achieve the goal. For example, choose a Conversion metric, then set the parameters that determine when success is achieved. For more information about setting metrics, see Set Metrics. Note: If the reporting solution is set to Analytics, the only available goal metric is Conversion. Analytics metrics cannot be selected as a goal.
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Description When you select your success metric, a selector displays. Use this selector to choose the specifics for the success metric. If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal, but not for other metrics. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. For all revenue metrics (Revenue per Visitor, Average Order Value, Total Sales, and Orders), the estimate uses Revenue per Visitor. The data type is currency. After reaching the activity goal, a visitor continues to see the activity content, unless that visitor qualifies for a higher priority activity. If the visitor reaches the goal again, it is counted as another conversion. Note that this is different than the default behavior in Target Classic, which counts visitors as new if they see the test again.
Additional Metrics
Create additional success metrics. This setting is not available if the reporting solution is set to Analytics. In this case, the metrics defined for the Analytics report suite are applied.
Audiences for Reporting
By default, reports show results for all qualified visitors. You can add report audiences to show only information about specific audiences. This setting is not available if you choose Analytics as your reporting solution. The audience defined for the Analytics report suite are applied.
Advanced Settings Advanced settings are available for Experience Targeting goal metrics.
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Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your reporting source, settings are managed by the Analytics server. The advanced settings option will not be available. Setting
Description
Which success metric must be reached before incrementing this metric?
Use this option to only count someone as reaching the success metric if they’ve previously reached a different success metric. For example a test conversion might only be valid if the visitor clicks on the offer, or reaches a particular page before converting. You must define both (or multiple) success metrics before you can make one dependent on another.
What will happen after a user encounters this goal metric? There are three options for what happens after a visitor reaches the goal metric: • Select Increment Count & Keep User in Activity to specify how the count is incremented. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Allow Reentry to specify the experience the user sees if they reenter the activity. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Bar from Reentry to specify what the user sees instead of the activity content. See Success Metrics for more information about advanced settings. Other Metadata Settings
Description
Notes
Type any information about your activity that is useful to keep on hand for yourself or other team members. The Notes pane is resizable.
Set Metrics Use metrics to determine when a visit is successful. For detailed information about success metrics, see Success Metrics. 1. Specify the goal of the activity. 2. Select a success metric
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The Select Metrics page lists the success metrics you can choose for your activity. The success metrics are divided into the following categories: • Conversion • Revenue • Engagement You can use any of the pre-built success metrics, or create a custom success metric. You can also mark a success metric as a primary metric. Reports and Marketing Cloud cards default to show the primary metric, if one is set. 3. Specify the settings for your metrics. The available settings depend on the success metric you are using. If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. The data type is currency. This field is progressively shown after the user indicates the action taken to satisfy the goal. See Estimating Lift in Revenue for more information. The correct configuration of success metrics is critical for making sure you get the data you expect. For more information, see Success Metrics. 4. (Optional) Add additional metrics. 5. Click Continue when you are finished setting your metrics. This video includes information about working with success metrics. Activity Metrics
7:43
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=J4NWU2MjE60WZdLh3AA5cy11ozayzXN1
• Understand "goal" metrics • Understand and build Conversion, Revenue, and Engagement metrics • Build a click-tracking metric
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Multivariate Test A full factorial multivariate test compares all possible combinations of offers in the elements on your page to help you determine the best possible combination of content for a particular audience. Multivariate tests (MVT) also show which element most contributes to campaign success. This section contains the following information: • MVT Overview • MVT Terminology • When to Use MVT vs A/B • Considerations MVT Overview This video explains how to understand, plan, and create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Creating Multivariate Tests
9:25
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
Multivariate testing can help you discover the relative influence specific elements have on conversion, compared to other elements on the page. It can also help you refine a combination of elements that have been shown to be effective. One advantage a multivariate test provides compared to an A/B test is the ability to show you which elements on your page have the greatest influence on conversion. This is also known as the "main effect." This information is useful, for example, by helping you determine where to place content that you want to receive the most attention. Multivariate tests also help you find compound effects between two or more elements on a page. For example, a particular ad might produce more conversions when combined with a certain banner or hero image. This is also known as the "interaction effect." Adobe Target uses full-factorial multivariate tests to help you optimize your content. A full-factorial multivariate test tests all of the possible combinations of content with equal probability. For example, if you have two page elements with three offers each, there are nine possible combinations (3x3). Three elements, with two containing three possible offers and one with two offers, provide 18 options (3x3x2). In Target, each combination is one experience. The multivariate test compares each experience so you can learn which combinations are the most successful. At the same time, data is collected and analyzed to understand how each location and the offers influence the success metric.
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Because of the number of combinations that can be generated, a multivariate test requires more time and traffic than an A/B test. The page must receive enough traffic to produce statistically significant results for each experience. To obtain useful results, you need to understand the amount of traffic your page receives and test the optimal number of combinations for the right amount of time to get the required results. Target's Traffic Estimator can help you design a test that works with your traffic. Before you use the Traffic Estimator, you should have good statistics showing the number of impressions and conversions your site normally receives. Consider your traffic levels per day. The more experiences in an activity, the more traffic the activity will need to include or the longer your activity will need to run. If your traffic isn't very high, you should test a small number of combinations; otherwise, the amount of time required to produce meaningful test results might be too long to be useful. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. Multivariate testing is discussed beginning at 4:20. Activity Types
9:03
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
MVT Terminology When setting up a multivariate test, it is useful to understand some basic terminology. There are multiple terms used in different ways across the industry. This section defines the terms used by Target. Combination: The content variations created when you test multiple content options in multiple locations. For example, if you are testing three locations, each with three content options, then there are 27 possible combinations (3x3x3). A visitor to your site will see one combination, also referred to as an experience. Content: The text or image comprising a test variation within a location. In a multivariate test, a number of content options within multiple locations are compared. In MVT methodology, the content is sometimes referred to as a level.
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Element: A DOM element containing content variations to be tested in the MVT test. See also Location. Location: A specific content area on a page, often contained by a single DOM element. In MVT methodology, a location is sometimes referred to as a factor. A full-factorial multivariate test compares all possible combinations of offers in your locations. When to Use MVT vs A/B Multivariate tests can be used together with A/B tests to optimize your page. Examples of when you might want to use them together include: • Use an A/B test to optimize your page layout, followed by an MVT test to determine the best content in each element on the page An A/B test can provide important feedback on the layout, and MVT tests excel on testing the content within the elements in your page design. Running an A/B test on the layout before testing multiple content options can help you determine te best layout and the most impactful content. • Use an MVT test to determine which element is the most important, then follow up with a more focused A/B test on that element. When the number of different experiences exceed five and span two or more elements, it's a good idea to consider an MVT test before running your A/B tests. The multivariate test shows which areas on the page are most likely to improve conversion. These are the elements that a marketer should focus on. For example, the MVT test might show that the call to action is the most important element for meeting your goals. Once you have determine which elements and content are most useful for helping you meet your goals, you can run an A/B test to further refine the results, such as to test two specific images against each other, or comparing the wording or colors of a call to action. By following an MVT test with one or more A/B tests, you can determine the best possible content for the results you desire. Considerations • Use an MVT test when you have at least three elements to test. If you have fewer, run a series of A/B tests. • Select the page elements you believe will have the strongest impact on the results. • Don't include too many elements or locations in a test. The larger the number, the longer the test duration will be. • Plan the test design in advance. It's not advisable to edit a test once it goes live and data starts being collected and analyzed. • It is recommended that elements be independent of each other. For example, do not test your layout and content in the same test.) • Plan additional time for QA because of the increase in the number of experiences. Full factorial MVT tests likely include more experiences than A/B tests, depending on the number of variations. For more considerations and best practices, see Multivariate Test Best Practices.
Multivariate Test Best Practices This topic lists tips that will help you improve performance, avoid issues, and correct known issues that might occur.
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Plan • Be aware of the locations on your page that are likely to produce significant results. For example, a banner or a hero image is probably going to lead to more conversions that a change in the footer. Including less-influential locations in your test only increases the amount of traffic and time required to test the more prominent locations on the page. • Prepare your page variations ahead of time. Be aware of the content differences for each offer, and create any images, text, and HTML offers that you expect to use in the MVT test. Create • Don't include more combinations than necessary for the test. Every combination tested significantly increases the amount of traffic and time required to achieve acceptable results. For example, if you have three locations with three offers each, there are 27 possible combinations (3x3). Three locations, where two contain three possible offers and one has two offers, provide 18 options (3x3x2). The numbers increase substantially with each additional location and offer. • Name locations and offers. You can rename each location and offer in your test to something more useful. The number of offers in each location appears in the location header. Useful names will help you identify your offers when examining reports. • Take advantage of the preview features to avoid undesirable combinations of content. Review all the experiences generated by your test before going live. Make sure there are no combinations with contradictory claims (for example, 20% off and $19 off in the same experience) or incompatible designs such as having background and font of the same color. • Use the Traffic Estimator to make sure that your test is designed for the amount of traffic your page receives. Make sure the Traffic Estimator gives your test configuration the green light so you can get the results you desire. • It is recommended that each element's alternatives be significantly different from each other. Analyze • Make frequent use of the Location Contribution report to monitor the performance of each location and each offer. • In the Experience Performance report, base your decisions on the data shown using the Best 5 and Worst 5 filters. The All filter makes it difficult to extract the desired information, and not all experiences can display in the graph. Only use All if you want to look at a specific experience that is not in the best or worst five. Follow Up • Although Target allows you to edit a live activity, be aware that editing an activity that is in progress could reset the test. Target allows you to edit a live activity. Be aware that editing an activity that is in progress could reset the test, so reports might not recognize some of the changes. It is safe to make small changes, such as editing existing text or html offers. The specific actions that reset experience names and reports are:
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• Adding a new location • Deleting a location • Adding new offers or deleting offers from an exiting location • By following an MVT test with one or more A/B tests, you can determine the best possible content for the results you desire. Once you have determined which locations and content are most useful for helping you meet your goals, you can run an A/B test to further refine the results. For example, when you know which locations are most important, test two specific images against each other, or comparing the wording or colors of a call to action.
Plan a Multivariate Test Multivariate Tests require some planning before you can create a successful test. This video demonstrates how to plan and create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Creating Multivariate Tests
9:25
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
Multivariate tests require sufficient traffic to generate useful results. Before setting up your test, you should be aware of the amount of traffic you typically get, including the number of impressions and conversions. Having this information will reduce the likelihood of designing a test with requirements that exceed your site's traffic. It is recommended that elements be independent of each other. (For example, do not test your layout and content in the same test.) Examine the HTML code for the pages you want to test. Make sure the HTML elements on your site do not have duplicate DOM IDs. Duplicate IDs can result the same piece of content being delivered to more than one location. Plan to test the elements on your page that are likely to produce significant results. For example, a banner or a hero image is probably going to lead to more conversions that a change in the footer. Including less-influential elements in your test only increases the amount of traffic and time required to test the more prominent elements on the page. Finally, before you create your test, you should create the content you want to test. Understand the content differences for each offer, and create any images, text, and HTML offers that you expect to use in the test.
Create a Multivariate Test The Visual Experience Composer in Target makes it easy to create your test right on a Target-enabled page and to modify portions of the page within Target. This video demonstrates how to create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Creating Multivariate Tests
9:25
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
The Target point-and-click editor enables you to pick any location and add multiple offers.
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The multivariate test takes a page-first report. In other words, the test runs on a specific URL, with the experiences you design for that page. 1. Click Create Activity > Multivariate Test.
2. Specify the URL for the page you want to test, then click Create Activity.
Note: Use a complete URL, including the HTTP or HTTPS at the beginning. If a message appears, asking you to enable your browser for mixed content, follow the instructions in the message. After enabling your browser for mixed content, begin again at Step 1. The Visual Experience Composer opens. 3. Type a name for the activity.
The following characters are not allowed in an activity name:
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Character
Description
/
Forward slash
?
Question mark
#
Number sign
:
Colon
4. Create the offers in each location.
You can add the following kinds of offers: • HTML • Image • Text You can rename each location and offer in your test to something more useful. The number of offers in each location appears in the location header. Useful names will help you identify your offers when examining reports. 5. Preview your experiences.
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You can view each experience, and exclude any you do not want to include in your test. 6. Use the Traffic Estimator to test the feasibility of your test plan.
7. Choose the audience and percentage of qualifying visitors that you want to enter the activity.
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For example, you might limit entries to 50% of all visitors or 45% of your "Californians" audience. Note: In addition to selecting an existing audience, you can combine multiple audiences to create ad hoc combined audiences rather than creating a new audience. For more information, see . 8. Review the test summary and make any desired changes, then click Continue..
9. Specify the goals and settings for the test.
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10. Click Save and Close to create the activity. Activity URL The Activity URL determines the page that is used in the test, and that opens when the test is designed. When prompted during activity creation, enter the activity URL. Type the complete URL (including http://), then click Create Activity. By default, the Visual Experience Composer opens the page that is specified in your Account Preferences. You can specify a different page during activity creation. To display a different page after the Visual Experience Composer opens, click Configure and select URL, then enter the URL in the Activity URL box. Click Add additional pages to add more pages or sections to the activity.
Click Save when you have finished. Note: If you entered a URL for a site that does not include the Target Standard JavaScript code, you cannot select page elements. By default, the Visual Experience Composer does not allow changes to elements containing JavaScript, such as rotating banners. You can select to disable JavaScript if you want to be able to alter those elements using the Visual Experience Composer. Note: If you change the URL after making changes to a page for one or more experiences, the experience is reset using the new page and the changes you made are lost.
Create Combinations Use the Visual Experience Composer to create the offers you want to include in your test. You can include any of the following offer types in your test: • Image Offers • HTML Offers
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• Text Offers Note: You can click Expand Selection when selecting objects on the page to select the parent element in addition to the originally selected element. When you select any parent element, all children of that element are automatically selected. You can expand the selection multiple times. The Visual Experience Composer makes it possible to edit offers, offer names, and location names. An overlay appears to show you where you have made changes.
Image Offers Test multiple image offers within a location to determine which image is most successful. 1. Click an image on your page, and then select Change Image.
2. Select all images you want to include in the test, then click Add.
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Each image becomes a separate experience in that location. HTML Offers Test multiple HTML offers within a location to determine which offer is most successful. 1. Click an HTML offer on your page, then click Change HTML.
2. Click Add HTML Offer, name the offer, then type or paste the code for the HTML offer.
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Note: Internet Explorer 10 does not support HTML5 input placeholders. As a result, if you use IE10, the "Add content" placeholder text remains in the Text field when you enter content. Repeat for any additional HTML offers you want to include. 3. Click Apply. Each HTML offer becomes a separate experience in that location. Text Offers You can test alternative text in text elements on your page. 1. Click a text offer on your page, then click Change Text
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2. Click Add Text Offer, name the offer, and enter the text for the new offer.
You can change the offer name for each offer. Repeat for any additional text offers you want to include. 3. Click Apply. Each text offer becomes a separate experience in that location.
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Best Practices • Don't include more locations than necessary for the test. Every experience you include in the test significantly increases the amount of traffic and time required to achieve acceptable results. For example, if you have page elements with three offers each, there are nine possible combinations (3x3). Three elements, where two contain three possible offers and one has two offers, provide 18 options (3x3x2). The numbers increase substantially with each additional element and offer. • Take advantage of the preview features to avoid undesirable combinations of content. For example, you might have two images that offer different discounts on the same item or service. Showing both of these images on the same page is illogical and is likely to create confusion. • Use the Traffic Estimator to make sure that your test is designed for the amount of traffic your page receives. Make sure the Traffic Estimator gives your test configuration the green light so you can get the results you desire. • You must have at least three elements to test. If you have fewer, run a series of A/B tests. • It is recommended that each element's alternatives be significantly different from each other. • Although not required, it is good practice for each element to have the same number of alternatives. Preview Experiences for a Multivariate Test Because a multivariate test compares multiple experiences on a page, it is helpful to preview the page with each experience. 1. From the Experience Composer, click Preview. A list of all experiences appears.
2. Click an experience in the list to view that experience. 3. To exclude an experience from the multivariate test, select that experience and click Exclude.
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You might exclude an experience that shows conflicting variations or an experience that is not aesthetically balanced. Note: You cannot exclude more than 10% of the total experience count to ensure accurate location contribution calculations. If you reach the 10% limit, the Exclude button is disabled. By default, all experiences are included in the multivariate test. To include an experience that has been excluded, select the excluded experience and click Include. Click Exit Preview Mode to return to the Experience Composer so you can make changes, or click Continue to go to the test summary. Estimate the Traffic Required for a Successful Test Because a multivariate test compares multiple experiences, it is important to know how much traffic is required to provide meaningful results. The Traffic Estimator uses statistics about your page and the number of experiences being tested to estimate the amount of traffic and the test duration needed to make the test successful. The Traffic Estimator predicts the sample size needed to ensure the following: • 95% confidence This means that the chance of reporting a false positive if there is no real lift is 5% (100% - confidence level). • 80% statistical power This means that the test has a 80% probability of detecting a true lift of 25% or more. • 25% minimum reliably detectable lift Target computes the amount of traffic required to have an 80% chance of detecting a true lift of 25% or more. The test uses the Bonferroni correction to correct for multiple comparisons. This method is known for being conservative, which is balanced out by enforcing a relatively large minimum reliably detectable lift.
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The Traffic Estimator also provides feedback that lets you know whether you have sufficient traffic for the test you designed to succeed. 1. From the Experience Composer, click Traffic. The Traffic Estimator opens. You can click Traffic again to hide the Traffic Estimator.
2. Provide the typical conversion rate, estimated activity impressions per day, and test duration. • Number of Content Combinations Calculated automatically based on the number of experiences being created as a part of your activity after any exclusions. • Typical Conversion Rate The conversion rate is expressed as a percentage, based on your estimation or past data from your analytics system • Estimated Activity Impressions Per Day This is the number of visitors who are likely to view this page based on the targeting criteria. This could be based on your analytics data. • Test Duration The number of days you want the activity to run. The Traffic Estimator uses these statistics to determine what adjustments are needed to run a successful test. Near the top of the Traffic Estimator, the values you entered are calculated and the results are shown.
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As you change the numbers, the estimate changes. For example, if you are testing a large number of experiences and your conversion rate and impressions are too low, the Traffic Estimator shows how long the test will need to run to be successful. Or, if your traffic is low, the Traffic Estimator might suggest a lower number of experiences so you can run the test the desired number of days. If you do not have sufficient traffic, you can do one or both of the following: • Reduce the number of combinations of offers and the number of locations. • Increase the duration of the test. Adjust the numbers until the Traffic Estimator says you have sufficient traffic, then design your test accordingly.
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Test Summary The test summary provides a visual overview of your multivariate test.
The test summary shows: • Test name • URL • Audience Click the audience to select a different one from the list of available audiences. • Algorithm Currently, the only available algorithm is Full Factorial. The algorithm name is provided for informational purposes, so you are aware of the algorithm being used. • The numbers of included and excluded experiences. Click Continue when you are satisfied with the test configuration. The Goals and Settings page opens. Goals and Settings The Goals and Settings page is where you enter information about the goals of the test. • Activity Settings • Reporting Settings • Other Metadata This video includes information about activity settings. Activity Settings
3:02
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=ZubjY2MjE6e_Q-yO3QSfL2skTb4Jyy_e
• Enter an objective for your activity • Set the priority level of your activities • Schedule activity start and end times • Add audiences for reporting to create report filters • Enter notes for your activities
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This video demonstrates how to create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow. Goals and settings are discussed beginning at 7:00. Creating Multivariate Tests
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
The available settings depend on whether you use Target or Analytics as the data source.
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Activity Settings Settings Objective
Priority
Description Type an optional objective. The objective can be any information that helps you and your team members identify the campaign. Depending on your settings, the UI and options for Priority vary. You can use the legacy settings of Low, Medium, or High, or you can enable fine-grained priorities from 0 to 999. The priority is used if multiple activities are assigned to the same location with the same audience. If two or more activities are assigned to the location, the activity with the highest priority displays. If this option is not enabled in Setup (the default), specify a priority: Low, Medium, or High. To enable fine-grained priorities, click Setup, then toggle the Enable Fine-Grained Priorities option to the "On" position. If this option is enabled, specify a value between 0 and 999: • 0 = Low • 999 = High For activities created in previous versions of Target Standard/Premium, Low priority is converted to 0, Medium is converted to 5, and High is converted to 10. You can adjust these values as necessary. Note: Before you can disable this option after using fine-grained priories, all priorities must be set back to 0, 5, and 10.
Duration
The activity can start when approved, or you can set a specific date and time. Likewise, the activity can either end when it is deactivated or you can set a date and time. The time picker uses a 24-hour clock, with 00:00 being midnight. The time zone is set to the time zone configured in your browser. To use a different time zone, set your browser to another time zone and restart the browser.
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Reporting Settings Settings Reporting Solution
Description Specify whether data is collected from Adobe Target or from Adobe Analytics. See Adobe Analytics as the Reporting Source for Target to learn about the differences between the reporting solutions and the advantages of each. When selecting Analytics as the reporting source for Target, you select an Analytics report suite to receive Target activity data. To do this, first choose from any of the Analytics companies your account is tied to, and then select the appropriate report suite for the activity. Only report suites that are provisioned to connect to Adobe Target will be available for selection. If you don't see the report suite(s) you expect, first try logging out and logging back in to the Adobe Marketing Cloud to try again. If the report suite is still missing from the list, please contact Customer Care. Analytics for Target requires a tracking server to report results correctly. A default tracking server will appear in the Tracking Server field. If you use more than one tracking server, you should check to ensure you include the correct tracking server in this field. See Using an Analytics Tracking Server for more information. If a reporting solution is specified in your account settings, the specified solution is used and this setting is not visible. Note: You cannot change your reporting source after the activity goes live in order to keep reports consistent.
Goal
Select the action taken by a visitor to achieve the goal. For example, choose a Conversion metric, then set the parameters that determine when success is achieved. Note: If the reporting solution is set to Analytics, the only available goal metric is Conversion. Analytics metrics cannot be selected as a goal. When you select your success metric, a selector displays. Use this selector to choose the specifics for the success metric.
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Description If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal, but not for other metrics. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. For all revenue metrics (Revenue per Visitor, Average Order Value, Total Sales, and Orders), the estimate uses Revenue per Visitor. The data type is currency. After reaching the activity goal, a visitor continues to see the activity content, unless that visitor qualifies for a higher priority activity. If the visitor reaches the goal again, it is counted as another conversion. Note that this is different than the default behavior in Target Classic, which counts visitors as new if they see the test again.
Additional Metrics
Create additional success metrics. This setting is not available if the reporting solution is set to Analytics. In this case, the metrics defined for the Analytics report suite are applied.
Audiences for Reporting
By default, reports show results for all qualified visitors. You can add report audiences to show only information about specific audiences.
Advanced Settings Advanced settings are available for Multivariate Test goal metrics.
Note: If you use Adobe Analytics as your reporting source, settings are managed by the Analytics server. The advanced settings option will not be available.
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Setting
Description
Which success metric must be reached before incrementing this metric?
Use this option to only count someone as reaching the success metric if they’ve previously reached a different success metric. For example a test conversion might only be valid if the visitor clicks on the offer, or reaches a particular page before converting. You must define both (or multiple) success metrics before you can make one dependent on another.
What will happen after a user encounters this goal metric? There are three options for what happens after a visitor reaches the goal metric: • Select Increment Count & Keep User in Activity to specify how the count is incremented. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Allow Reentry to specify the experience the user sees if they reenter the activity. • Select Increment Count, Release User & Bar from Reentry to specify what the user sees instead of the activity content. See Success Metrics for more information about advanced settings. Other Metadata Settings
Description
Notes
Type any information about your activity that is useful to keep on hand for yourself or other team members. The Notes pane is resizable.
Set Metrics Use metrics to determine when a visit is successful. For detailed information about success metrics, see Success Metrics. 1. Specify the goal of the activity. 2. Select a success metric
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The Select Metrics page lists the success metrics you can choose for your activity. The success metrics are divided into the following categories: • Conversion • Revenue • Engagement You can use any of the pre-built success metrics, or create a custom success metric. You can also mark a success metric as a primary metric. Reports and Marketing Cloud cards default to show the primary metric, if one is set. 3. Specify the settings for your metrics. The available settings depend on the success metric you are using. If enabled, the Estimated Value of the Conversion field (not available for the Page Score metrics) provides a value for your goal. This value enables Target to calculate an estimated lift in revenue. This field is optional; however, incremental revenue for any non-revenue metric cannot be calculated without it. The data type is currency. This field is progressively shown after the user indicates the action taken to satisfy the goal. See Estimating Lift in Revenue for more information. The correct configuration of success metrics is critical for making sure you get the data you expect. For more information, see Success Metrics 4. (Optional) Add additional metrics. 5. Click Continue when you are finished setting your metrics. This video includes information about working with success metrics. Activity Metrics
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=J4NWU2MjE60WZdLh3AA5cy11ozayzXN1
• Understand "goal" metrics • Understand and build Conversion, Revenue, and Engagement metrics • Build a click-tracking metric
Analyze Your Multivariate Test Results After running your multivariate test, analyze the results using the reports provided by Target.
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Multivariate tests provide two reports. These reports help you compare the objectives of your MVT test with the results so you can determine which locations and content have the greatest impact toward meeting your goals. • Experience Performance Report • Location Contribution Report Experience Performance Report The Experience Performance report shows how each experience in the activity performs.This report includes information about the number of entrants, the conversion rate, the lift, and the confidence. This video demonstrates how to create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow.The Experience Performance report is described beginning at 8:20. Creating Multivariate Tests
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
You can select one or more experiences to compare them. Click on an experience and select Preview to open the experience in a browser tab.
The top of the report shows the metric, start and end dates, and audience used in the report. You can change any of these factors.
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Note: The audience and metric pickers are only available if Analytics is used as the reporting source. Next, a line graph provides a visual comparison of each experience at specific time intervals. This graph helps you see how well each experience performs, and how the time of day affects performance. You can display the best five, worst five, or all experiences. The best and worst five are determined by lift, and include a sixth experience showing the control for comparison. It is suggested that you view the best and worst five to determine the success of your experiences. Viewing all makes it difficult to extract the desired information, and not all experiences can display in the graph. Use View All if you want to look at a specific experience that is not in the best or worst five. Note: Multivariate test reports do not show any excluded experiences when either the Best Five or Worst Five filter is selected. Below the graph, a table shows how many entrants saw each experience, as well as other information relevant to your success metric. Location Contribution Report The Location Contribution report shows the performance of each element and each offer. This video demonstrates how to create a multivariate test using the Target three-step guided workflow. The Location Contribution report is described beginning at 8:45. Creating Multivariate Tests
9:25
Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=Q4cXBhMzE669DQhgW538bOHjrx1UGiAk
• Define and design a multivariate test • Create a multivariate test
The top of the report shows the metric, start and end dates, and audience used in the report. You can change any of these factors. Note: The audience and metric pickers are only available if Analytics is used as the reporting source. The Location Contribution report includes two tables. The first table shows the relative influence of each element. This shows you which of the elements where you have added offers is resulting in the most conversions.
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The second table provides an offer-level report. It shows the conversion rate, lift, and confidence for each offer in each element. This helps you determine which offers are the most successful. The second column shows values for the selected metric (conversion rate, RPV, AOV, orders, or engagement metrics) of the offer and one standardization.
Troubleshooting Multivariate Tests This topic contains suggestions for resolving some issues that might occur when designing an MVT test. • When editing an activity, if you used Analytics-based metrics and the report suite doesn't load (spinner displays), switch the metrics to Target metrics and then switch again to Analytics-based metric. The report suite should now load. • If make changes to a test that is already running, you might reset the test and its data. Target allows you to edit a live activity. Be aware that editing an activity that is in progress could reset the test, so reports might not recognize some of the changes. It is safe to make small changes, such as editing existing text or html offers. The specific actions that reset experience names and reports are: • Adding a new location • Deleting a location • Adding new offers or deleting offers from an exiting location
Recommendations Recommendations activities automatically display products or content that might interest your customers based on previous user activity or other algorithms. Recommendations help direct customers to relevant items they might otherwise not know about. Note: Recommendations activities are available as part of the Target Premium solution. They are not available in Target Standard without a Target Premium license. Recommendations helps you optimize and customize real-time suggestions across channels, apps, pages, emails, and other delivery options to increase engagement and conversion while reducing management effort. Recommendations helps you:
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• Create sophisticated criteria (rules) to automate recommendations • Automatically display the recommendations by using a few JavaScript snippets • Test and optimize the recommendations criteria and designs that display the recommendations • Report on the results of your recommendations activity
A recommendation determines how a product is suggested to a customer, depending on that customer's activities on the site. For example: • Encourage people who purchase a backpack to consider buying hiking shoes and trekking poles. Create a recommendation that shows items that are often purchased together, using the "People who bought this also bought that" criteria. • Increase the time visitors spend on your media site by recommending media content similar to what they are watching. Create a recommendation that suggests other videos, using the "People who viewed this viewed that" criteria. • Suggest that customers who viewed information about savings plans at your bank also read about IRA accounts. Show other products people purchased after viewing one product without showing the first product in the recommendations, using the "people who viewed this also bought" criteria. For more information about these and other Recommendations criteria, see Criteria. This video explains the activity types available in Target Standard/Premium. Recommendations is discussed beginning at 7:20. Activity Types
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Adobe EnterpriseTV Training Video: https://outv.omniture.com/?v=RjcXBhMzE6jdtMVT8XjWvfihuoLDG8RR
• Describe the types of activities included in Adobe Target • Select the appropriate activity type to achieve your goals • Describe the three-step guided workflow that applies to all activity types
Recommendations Classic vs Recommendations Activity in Target In the classic Recommendations product, recommendations were displayed by creating a data collection mbox on a page, then adding a display mbox in a specific page location. The Recommendations activity in Target Premium
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allows you to collect visitor information and create your recommendations anywhere on the page without the need to create an mbox for each location where you want to recommend products or content. A simple JavaScript reference in the header of the page enables Recommendations anywhere on the page. Use this JavaScript reference to pass keys to the global Target mbox, such as the entity.id and entity.categoryId keys. Recommendations Classic appears as its own card in the Marketing Cloud UI. A Recommendations activity is available from with the Target Premium workflow. Recommendations Classic users can continue to use their Recommendations mboxes in Target Recommendations. They can also combine the classic and Target approaches by keeping their mboxes and using the JavaScript code in the header to activate Recommendations functionality for the other elements on the page. To gain full Target functionality, however, Recommendations Classic users might prefer to delete their old mbox and rely solely on Target Recommendations. The Recommendations activity in Target improves on Recommendations Classic in the following main areas: • Criteria • Workflow • Visual Preview • Targeting • Reporting Criteria Target Recommendations includes a criteria library containing prepackaged sets of rules and configurations. In Recommendations Classic, each recommendation was built manually by filling out a form and choosing from the large list of rules. Now, when creating a Recommendations activity, you simply choose a preconfigured criteria set. You can still create custom recommendations, but the criteria library contains many of the most common configurations, prebuilt to simplify the process, and using language that people understand. These prepackaged criteria can be used as is, or they can be copied and edited to fit your specific needs.
Criteria are preconfigured and sorted by industry verticals, page types, and implementation. For example, you can look for the criteria that apply to the retail vertical, for use on a product page, showing products from within a particular category (as defined by the entity.categoryID parameter). For more information about using and creating criteria, see Criteria.
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Workflow The Recommendations workflow has been simplified. Instead of filling out complicated forms, you follow a visual workflow to: 1. Select the criteria. 2. Select a preconfigured design. 3. Preview the resulting recommendations. Visual Preview You can preview your recommendations after you set them up and make any necessary changes without having to create them on the page and then test them. Previews are available from within Target Targeting In Recommendations Classic, there were six targeting options. Recommendations activities use Target's full range of targeting options. Define an audience using either Target or other Adobe Marketing Cloud audiences (such as Audience Manager and Analytics), then select the percentage of activity entrants who see each design, and the percentages who see the control.
Reporting In Target, Recommendations provides improved reporting that takes advantage of the capabilities provides by Target and the Marketing Cloud. Rather than simply showing the lift provided by Recommendations compared to the results without them, you can view complete information about your Recommendations activity.
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Planning and Implementation What you need to know before creating a Recommendations activity. Recommendations requires that you set up the following hierarchy of information: 1. JavaScript library Each page requires a reference to mbox.js version 55 or later or to at.js version 0.9.1 or later. This implementation step is required on all pages where a Target activity will be used, and can include keys such as a product or category ID. For more information about mbox.js, see Mbox.js Implementation. For information about at.js, see at.js Implementation 2. Keys The key determines the type of product or content that displays in your recommendations. For example, the key might be a product category. See Base the Recommendation on a Recommendation Key. 3. Attributes Attributes provide more specific information about the products you want to display. For example, you might want to show products within a certain price range, or items that meet an inventory threshold. Attributes can be provided in the mbox or through a feed. See Inclusion Rules and Entity Attributes. 4. Exclusions Exclusions determine which specific items do not appear in your recommendations. See Exclusions. 5. Purchase details Purchase details provide information about purchased items and the order when the purchase has been completed. Settings Use settings to manage your Recommendations implementation.
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To access the Recommendations Settings options, open Target in the Adobe Marketing Cloud, then click Recommendations > Settings. The following options are available: Setting
Description
Custom Global Mbox
(Optional) Specify the custom global mbox used to serve Target activities. By default, the global mbox used by Target is used for Recommendations. Note: This option is set on the Target Setup page. Open Target, then click Setup.
Industry Vertical
Filter Incompatible Criteria
The industry vertical is used to help categorize your recommendations criteria. This helps members of your team find criteria that make sense for a particular page, such as criteria that are best for the shopping cart page or for a media page. Enable this option to show only those criteria where the selected page passes the required data. Not every criteria will run correctly on every page.The page or mbox needs to pass in entity.id or entity.categoryId for the current item/current category recommendations to be compatible. In general, it is best to show only compatible criteria. However, if you want incompatible criteria to be available for the activity, uncheck this option. It is recommended that you disable this option if using a tag management solution.
Default Host Group
Select your default host group. None means that your Default Host Group for Reporting setting in Target Classic is used for your default host group. The host group provides the environment where the products are hosted.You can only preview from one given host group at a time.The numbers and update information that show in the Collection list all come from that host group. Likewise, the delivery depends on your host group. If you don't see your products, make sure that you are using the right host group. For example, if you set up your recommendation to use a staging environment and you set your host group to Staging, you might need to re-create your collections in the staging environment for the products t show.
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Description To see which products are available in each environment, use Catalog Search with each environment.
Thumbnail Base URL
Setting a base URL for your product catalog makes it possible to use relative URLs when specifying thumbnails of your products when passing in your thumbnail URL. For example: "entity.thumbnailURL=/Images/Homepage/product1.jpg"
sets a URL relative to the thumbnail base URL. Recommendation API Token
Use this token in Recommendations API calls, such as the Download API.
Base Implementation The base implementation requires that you pass parameters to your page that determine which products or services appear in your recommendations. This page contains the following sections: Example One: Combine Page and Feeds Example Two: Pass All Parameters on the Product (or Content) Details Page Sample Code Before you begin setting up a Recommendations activity, you should understand how product data is provided to Recommendations, and decide which method works best for your needs. There are two methods to provide information about products and services to Recommendations: • Pass parameters directly to the page This method works well for items that change frequently. However, because it requires that changes be made directly to the page, in many organizations, this method requires the involvement of IT and the people who implement the pages. • Pass parameters through a Google or CSV feed This method works well for collections that do not change frequently. It is usually not necessary to change your mbox implementation or other page code to provide product information through a feed. However, the product list remains static, so quick changes are more difficult. For more information, see Feeds. These methods can be used separately or together, as in the following examples. Example One: Combine Page and Feeds One common Recommendations implementation option uses both page parameters and feeds.
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This method might be preferred by a retailer who has a relatively set product catalog, but who might want to emphasize specific seasonal items or items that are on sale. Most customers might provide their information primarily through the feed, with only occasional adjustments on the page. Use a feed to provide information that will remain static. Whether using a CSV file or Google feed, use the following parameters: • Required parameters • entity.id • Helpful parameters • entity.cust1 • entity.cust2 • entity.cust3 • All other attributes Once the feed is set up and passed to Recommendations, pass parameters on the page for items that are frequently changing. • Required parameters • entity.id • entity.categoryId • Helpful parameters • entity.inventory • entity.value Priority is given to whichever set of data runs most recently. If you pass the feed first and then update the page parameters, changes that are made in the page parameters will be shown, replacing item information passed in the feed. Example Two: Pass All Parameters on the Product (or Content) Details Page If you pass all parameters on the page, you can quickly make updates by updating the page. In some organizations, this requires the involvement of IT or your Web Design team. This example might be especially useful for a media company, with content that constantly changes. • Required parameters • entity.id • entity.categoryId • All other attributes Sample Code For example, you can use the following code in the header section of your product or content pages: function targetPageParams() { return { "entity": { "id": "32323", "categoryId": "My Category",
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"value": 105.56, "inventory": 329 } } }
For more examples of the code you might use on different types of pages, see Implementation According to Page Type. Implementation According to Page Type Page type will influence your Recommendations implementation . For example, the types of recommendations you want to present may be different on a product page than on a category page or your home page. For each page, you can run specific functions prior to the mbox call to display the appropriate recommendations. For information about the attributes in the examples, see Entity Attributes. Valid JSON formatting is required. The targetPageParams function shown below is especially helpful if you are using a tag management solution to implement your pages. Tag Manager places the mbox.js/at.js reference and the targetPageParams function on your page and allows you to configure the values. You should either place that function before your mbox.js/at.js call, or put it in the Extra JavaScript section of your mbox.js/at.js. All Pages All pages that contain recommendations require either an mbox.js or at.js reference on the page. Add one of the following references to all pages with recommendations:
This implementation requires: • mbox.js version 55 or later, or at.js version 0.9.2 or later • mbox.js must include the reference to target.js (at.js does not require a reference to target.js) For more information about implementing mbox.js, see Mbox.js Implementation. For more information about implementing at.js, see at.js Implementation. For more information about the differences between the two Target Javascript libraries, see Understanding the Target JavaScript Libraries. Category Page On a category page, you probably want to restrict your recommendations to products or content within that category. To set up a category page, you set up the keys used by the page. For more information about keys, see Base the Recommendation on a Recommendation Key. function targetPageParams() { return { "entity": { "categoryId": "My Category" } } }
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Product Page On a product page, you might want to recommend specific items, or items with a particular price or inventory level. For a product page, you might need to set up frequently changing attributes (such as value and inventory), in addition to the keys required for a category page. function targetPageParams() { return { "entity": { "id": "32323", "categoryId": "My Category", "value": 105.56, "inventory": 329 } } }
Cart Page On a cart page, you likely want to exclude some items from your recommendations, such as the items that are already in the cart. function targetPageParams() { return { "excludedIds": [352, 223, 23432, 432, 553] } }
Thank You Page On the Thank You page, you might want to show the order total, and the order ID, and show the products that were purchased, without recommending additional items. function targetPageParams() { return { "orderTotal": 195.73, "orderId": 71822732, "productPurchasedId": "32323", 13433, 39313" } }
Products Recommendations display items from your product collections according to criteria you set up. Use the Products menu to: • Set up your collections • Use feeds to get product or content information into your recommendations • Set exclusions to prevent certain items from displaying in your recommendations Collections A collection is a set of products or items that are eligible for the recommendation. Commonly, a collection is a set of similar or related items, such as a single product collection. However, you can group whichever items into a category that makes sense to your business, such as products in a certain price range or color, or items that are likely to be interesting in a particular geographical area.
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Use collections to organize your products in logical buckets. For example, if some items are available in one region but not another, you might want to create a collection that excludes items that are unavailable in the visitor's region. You can also use collections to organize seasonal items, or any other organizational parameters that apply to your business. The backup recommendations generated for each criteria within the recommendation also uses this collection, so only items in the collection are included in the backup recommendation. With collections, you can be sure that only products that make sense to show in a location are displayed. Collections are rebuilt or updated every time each criteria runs. You can group your items into catalogs, then create separate recommendations for each collection. Inclusion criteria allow you to do similar things as a collection, but they must be set up every time you create an activity. Collections allow you to create a set of items one time, then use it whenever it is appropriate to do so without having to set it up again. When you are creating or editing a Recommendations activity, the collection name appears next to the Criteria label on the activity diagram. Create a Collection Create a collection to organize the products you want to show in your recommendations. 1. Click Recommendations > Collections. 2. Click Create Collection. 3. Type a Name for the collection. You can also enter an optional Description. 4. Set the rules used to build the collection. For example, your collection might be built around a product ID or category, margin, or any other parameter in the list. You can add rules to use multiple parameters to define a collection. Multiple rules are joined with an AND. All specified rules must be matched for the collection to apply. 5. Click Save. Feeds Feeds provide methods to get product or content information into your recommendations. Item details can be sent using the Google Product Search feed format and CSV files. This allows you to bypass complex mbox implementation or augment your mbox data with information that is either unavailable on the page or unsafe to send directly from the page, such as margin, COGS, and so on. You can select which columns from your SAINT product classifications file or Google Product Search file you want to send to the recommendations server. These pieces of data about each item can then be used in template display and for controlling recommendations. If data is collected by both an entity feed and an mbox, the most recent data wins. Usually, the most recent data comes from an mbox, because it is viewed more often. In the rare event that entity feed data and mbox data hit at the same time, the mbox data is used. The Feeds list provides information about any feeds you have created. To edit the name of a feed, you must edit the feed itself. When you save with the new name, the feed is refreshed.
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Note: If the Last Updated feed says "undefined," then the feed is coming in from Recommendations Classic and cannot be changed from within Target Premium Recommendations. To update a feed (for example, to make changes to your feed configuration or feed file), open the feed, make any desired changes, and click Save. Google Important: The Google Product Search feed type uses the Google format. This is different from the Adobe proprietary CSV upload format. Note: It is not required to use Google data. Recommendations just uses the same format as Google. You can use this method to upload any data you have, and use the available scheduling features. However, you must retain Google's predefined attribute names when you set up the file. Most retailers upload products to Google, so when a visitor uses Google product search their products will show up. Recommendations follows Google's specification exactly for entity feeds. Entity feeds can be sent to Recommendations via XML, .txt, or .tsv, and can use the attributes defined by Google. The results are searchable on the Google shopping pages. Note: The POST method must be allowed on the server that is hosting the Google feed content. Because Recommendations users already configure XML or .txt feeds to send to Google either via URL or FTP, entity feeds accept that product data and use it to build out the recommendations catalog. Specify where that feed exists and the recommendations server retrieves the data. If you use Google Product Search for the entity feed upload, you still need to have a product page mbox on the page if you want to show recommendations there or track product views for algorithm delivery based on views. The feed runs at the time you save and activate it. It runs at the time you save the feed, then every day an hour later. CSV You can create a .csv file that contains display information for your products, then bulk upload it to the Recommendations server. Use the bulk upload method to send display information if you don't have mboxes on your page, or you want to supplement your display information with items that are not available on your site. For example, you might want to send inventory information that might not be published on your site. Any data uploaded using the upload template file overwrites that value in our database, so if you send price information in JavaScript and then send different price values in the file, the values in the file override the information sent with JavaScript. Note: You can't overwrite an existing value with a blank value. You have to pass another value in its place to overwrite it. In the case of sale price, a common solution is to either pass in an actual "NULL" or some other message. You can then write a template rule to exclude items with that value. The product is available in the admin interface approximately two hours after successfully uploading its entity.
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Create Feed Create a feed to insert information about your products or services into Recommendations. 1. From within the Target interface, click Recommendations > Feeds > Create Feed. 2. Select a Source Type. For information about Google Product Feed and CSV feed types, see Feeds. 3. Specify a Report Suite, or the URL or FTP location where the feed can be accessed, then click the Next arrow. If you select URL, specify the URL. If you select FTP, provide the FTP server information, the login credentials, the filename, and the FTP directory. You have the option to use FTP with SSL (FTPS) for more secure uploads. FTPS uses port 990. 4. Select an update option, then click the Next arrow. You can select any of the following options: • Daily • Weekly • Biweekly • Never Do not schedule an update. Choose this if you do not want this feed to run. 5. Specify the time you want your feed to run. This option is based on the time zone used in your browser. If you want to use a time in a different time zone, you must calculate that time according to your time zone. 6. (Optional) If you want the feed to belong to a host group, click Settings, select the host group, then click the Next arrow By default the feed belongs to all host groups. Note: To configure host groups, use Target Classic. See Hosts in the Target Classic help. 7. On the Summary page, do the following: 1. Name your feed. 2. Review the rest of the summary to make sure the information is correct. 8. Click the check mark icon to complete the feed creation. A message confirms that the feed is successfully created. After you create or edit a feed, the feed runs immediately, then will update according to the parameters you set. It takes some time for all the information to be available. First, the feed must sync, then it must be processed and indexed before it can be published and made available. The current status appears under Feed Status in the Feeds list. You can close Target before the process is complete and the process continues. While indexing is in progress, products and feed headers appear before individual values have been indexed. This enables you to search and see products so you can create collections, exclusions, designs, and activities before indexing has been completed. When the Status says "Success," it means that the file was found and it parsed correctly. The information is not available to use within Recommendations until the file is indexed, which can take some time, depending on the size
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of your file. If the process fails, it means that the file was not found (for example, you used an incorrect URL or your FTP information was incorrect), or that there was a parsing error. Exclusions Create an exclusion list to prevent items from being recommended. 1. Click Recommendations > Exclusions. 2. Click Create Exclusion. 3. Type an exclusion Name. You can also enter an optional description. 4. Use the rule builder to create your exclusions. Select a parameter in the Rules list, select an operator, and then enter one or more values to identify the products. Separate multiple values with commas. 5. Click Save. Entity Attributes Use entity attributes to pass product or content information to Recommendations. The following table describes the available variables. Entity Attribute
Description
entity.id
This required parameter identifies the product. This numeric ID must be the same across all Adobe Marketing Cloud products that are used, including Analytics, for the various products to recognize the item and share data about it.
Single-value only.
You cannot use a comma in an entity ID, unless you escape it. Example: 'entity.id=67833'
entity.name
The product name that is displayed on the Web site when the product is recommended.
Single-value only.
Example: 'entity.name=Giants vs Rockies 5/12'
entity.categoryId
Supports multi-value (comma-delimited list).
The product category used to organize products on your site. A product can have multiple categories, but only one category can be entered in this field, such as a cardigans sub-subsection (i.e. womens, womens:sweaters, womens:sweaters:cardigans). Multiple categories should be separated by commas. categoryId is limited to 250 characters. Multiple categories should be separated by
commas. Note: To show a recommendation based on a category, only one categoryId can be passed into the mbox used to display that particular recommendation. Example: 'entity.categoryId=BASEBALL, GIANTS, SF BAY AREA',
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Entity Attribute
Description
entity.brand
Displays an item's brand name.
Single-value only.
Example: 'entity.brand=brandxyz'
entity.pageURL
Defines the relative URL of the page where the item can be purchased.
Single-value only.
Example: 'entity.pageURL=baseball/giants-tix/giantsvrockies5.12.2000-67833'
entity.thumbnailURL
Defines the relative URL to the thumbnail image that displays with the item.
Single-value only.
Example: 'entity.thumbnailURL=baseball/giants-tix/giants-136px.gif'
entity.message
Single-value only.
A message about the product that is displayed in the recommendation, such as "on sale" or "clearance." The message is typically more verbose than the product name. Use to define additional information to display with the product in the template Example: 'entity.message=Family special'
entity.inventory
Displays the inventory level of the item.
Single-value only. Requires an integer or long value.
Example:
entity.value
Defines the price or value of the item.
Single-value only.
Example:
'entity.inventory=1'
'entity.value=15.99'
entity.margin
The profit margin or other value of the item.
Single-value only.
Example: 'entity.margin=1.00'
entity.
Supports multi-value (JSON array).
Define up to 100 custom variables that provide additional information about the item. You can specify any unused attribute name for each custom attribute. For example, you might create a custom attribute called entity.genre to define a book or movie. Or, a ticket vendor might create attributes for an event venue for a secondary performer, such as a visiting team in a sporting event or an opening act in a concert. Restrictions:
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Description • You cannot use predefined entity attribute names for custom entity attributes. • The attribute entity.environment is reserved by the system and cannot be used for custom entity attributes. Attempts to pass entity.environment using targetPageParams, feed, or API will be ignored. Examples: 'entity.venue=AT&T Park' 'entity.secondary=Rockies'
Custom entity attributes support multiple values. A multi-value entity attribute can include up to 100 values. Each value can be up to 100 characters. Values that exceed 100 characters are ignored. Example: 'entity.secondary=["band1", "band2"]'
Note: Multi-value custom entity attributes require valid JSON arrays. For correct syntax information, see Custom Entity Attributes.
entity.event.detailsOnly Used to prevent an mbox call from incrementing behavioral data counters for an
Single-value only.
algorithm. Example: 'entity.event.detailsOnly=true'
In the examples below, the first mbox call will update the catalog and behavioral data. The second mbox call will update only the catalog. mboxCreate('myMbox', 'profile.geo.city = new york', 'profile.geo.state = new york', 'entity.id = 123', 'entity.inventory = 4' ) mboxCreate('myMbox', 'profile.geo.city = new york', 'profile.geo.state = new york', 'entity.id = 123', 'entity.inventory = 4' 'entity.event.detailsOnly=true' )
Recommendations sends the productId or productPurchasedId (referred to as entity.id in the code) that is used in the algorithms. Note: entity.id must match the productPurchasedId sent to the order confirmation page and the productId used in Adobe Analytics product reports). Most predefined parameters accept only a single value, with new values overwriting old values. The categoryId parameter can accept a comma-delimited list of values for each category containing that product. New categoryId
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values are appended (250-character limit). Custom entity attributes can accept multiple values passed as valid JSON arrays (see Custom Entity Attributes). In general, the display information mbox might look like the following example. Change the details in bold to refer to your products. Note: All entity parameter attributes are case sensitive. mboxCreate('productPage', 'entity.id=67833', 'entity.name=GIANTS VS ROCKIES 5/12', 'entity.categoryId=BASEBALL, GIANTS, SF BAY AREA', 'entity.pageURL=../baseball/giants-tix/giantsvrockies5.12.2000-67833', 'entity.venue=AT&T PARK', 'entity.secondary=ROCKIES', 'entity.thumbnailURL=../baseball/giants-tix/giants-136px.gif', 'entity.message=FAMILY SPECIAL', 'entity.value=15.99', 'entity.inventory=1' );
Note: Relative URLs are preferred for pageURL and thumbnailURL rather than absolute URLs because recommendations receive data being sent from all environments on your site. Using relative URLs avoids hardcoded links to a staging or development server. If the mbox is on a product page, you can include both the product ID and category ID. The selected algorithm determines which displays. The product ID is used for affinity algorithms and the category ID is used for category algorithms. Custom Entity Attributes Use single- and multi-value custom entity attributes to define additional information about items in your catalog. You can include up to 100 custom entity attributes to define additional information about items in your catalog. For example, you might create a custom attribute called entity.genre to define a book or movie. Or, a ticket vendor might create attributes for an event venue to include a secondary performer, such as a visiting team in a sporting event or an opening act at a concert. Custom Entity Attribute Values Custom entity attributes can contain a single value or multiple values. Entity attribute values are displayed in the product view.
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A custom entity attribute with a single value is formed the same way as a single-value predefined entity attribute: entity.genre=genre1
A multi-value custom entity attribute must be sent as a valid JSON array: entity.genre=[“genre1”, “genre2”]
Examples of valid JSON arrays supported by Recommendations: • ["AB","BC"] all values are strings • [1,2] all values are numeric Note: Recommendations does not support mixed value types in multi-value entity attributes. For example, ["AB",1,true, [1,2,3]] is a valid JSON array, but it is not supported in Recommendations because it includes mixed value types (string, numeric, boolean, object). After a custom attribute is sent as a valid JSON array, the attribute is treated as a multi-value attribute for all products in the catalog. Note: To change an attribute from multi-value to single-value, you must delete your catalog and upload corrected product data. Deleting your catalog does not delete the historical data associated with your product IDs. See Deleting All Items From the System in the Adobe Recommendations Classic documentation for more information. Restrictions: • You cannot use predefined entity attribute names for custom entity attributes. (See Entity Attributes.) • The attribute entity.environment is reserved by the system and cannot be used for custom entity attributes. Attempts to pass entity.environment using targetPageParams, feeds, or APIs will be ignored. • Arrays must contain a single value type. Mixed-value arrays (["AB",1,true]) are not supported. • A multi-value attribute that includes a nested JSON array ([10,12,[1,2,3]]) is treated as a single-value attribute.
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Implementing Multi-Value Attributes Multi-value custom entity attributes are supported when using feeds (CSV), targetPageParams, Delivery API, and the Save entities API to upload products. New values replace current values; they are not appended. Empty arrays ( [] ) are treated as having no values. Using targetPageParams The following example shows how to use function targetPageParams() { return { "entity.id": "entity.categoryId": "entity.MultiValueAttribute": "entity.event.detailsOnly": "excludedIds": "orderId": "orderTotal": "productPurchaseId": }; }
123, ["A", "A:B", "A:B:C", "A:B:C:D"], ["X", "Y", "Z"], true, [123, 3232, 2323, 4344], 123456, 195.32, [001,002,003]
Using CSV You can manage your CSV files in raw form using a text editor, or you can use spreadsheet software. The raw CSV will look like this:
The same catalog will look like this in a spreadsheet:
When converting to .csv format, the spreadsheet software adds double quotation marks around cell contents to prevent commas within the cell from acting as column separators. It also adds double quotation marks around JSON string values you include in custom multi-value attributes. This can make working directly with the raw file unwieldy. For example: • Spreadsheet: ["1","2","3"] • Raw: "[""1"",""2"",""3""]" Use caution when editing a raw catalog CSV file directly. Using APIs See the Adobe Recommendation API documentation for information about using the Delivery and Save entities APIs.
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Using Operators with Multi-Value Attributes When you apply operators to multi-valued custom attributes in algorithm inclusion rules, catalog rules, and exclusion rules, the result will be true if at least one value in the list passes the operation (boolean or). In the following example, the rule is message contains abc. Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no value contains abc. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abcde","de","ef"]. The result is true because one value contains abc. For negative operators, all attribute values must pass (boolean and). For example, if the operator is notEquals, the result will be false if any value matches. Refer to the table below for operator behavior in algorithm inclusion rules, catalog rules, and exclusion rules. Operator
Behavior
Example
Equals
If any attribute genre equals abc value equals Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no the input value, value is equal to abc. results in true. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abc", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because one value is equal to abc. Case 3: entity.genre = ["abcde", "de", "ef"]. The result is false because abc is not equal to any element in the list.
Does not equal
If no attribute genre not equals abc value equals Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is true because no the input value, value is equal to abc. results in true. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abc", "de", "ef"]. The result is false because one value is equal to abc. Case 3: entity.genre = ["abcde", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because abc is not equal to any element in the list.
Contains
Does not contain
If any value of attribute contains the input value, results in true.
genre contains abc
If no value of attribute contains the input value results in true.
genre does not contain abc
Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no value contains abc. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abcde", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because one value contains abc.
Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is true because no value contains abc. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abcde", "de", "ef"]. The rule will result in false as one value contains abc.
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Behavior
Starts with If any value of attribute starts with the input value results in true.
Example genre starts with abc Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no value starts with abc. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abcde", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because one value starts with abc. Case 3: entity.genre = ["ab", "de", "abc"]. The result is true because one value starts with abc (not necessarily the first element in the list).
Ends with
Greater than or equal to (numeric values only)
If any value of attribute ends with the input value results in true.
genre ends with abc
Attribute value is converted to double. Attributes that cannot be converted are skipped while running the rule.
price greater than or equal to 100
Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no value ends with abc. Case 2: entity.genre = ["deabc", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because one value ends with abc.
Case 1: entity.price = ["10", "20", "45"]. The result is false because no value is greater than or equal to 100. The value de is skipped because it cannot be converted to double. Case 2: entity.price = ["100", "101", "90", "80"]. The result is true because as two values are greater or equal to 100.
After processing, any attribute value greater than or equal to the input value results in true. Less than or equal to (numeric values only)
Attribute value is converted to double. Attributes that cannot be converted are skipped while running the rule.
price less than or equal to 100 Case 1: entity.price = ["101", "200", "141"]. The result is false because no value is less than or equal to 100. The value de is skipped because it cannot be converted to double. Case 2: entity.price = ["100", "101", "90", "80"]. The result is true because two values are less than or equal to 100.
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Behavior
Example
After processing, any attribute value less than or equal to the input value results in true. Dynamically matches (only available in item-based algorithms)
If any attribute genre matches abc value matches Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is false because no the input value value matches abc. results in true. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abc", "de", "ef"]. The result is true because one value matches abc.
Dynamically does not match (only available in item-based algorithms)
If any attribute genre does not match abc value matches Case 1: entity.genre = ["ab", "bc", "de"]. The result is true because no the input value value matches abc. results in false. Case 2: entity.genre = ["abc", "de", "ef"]. The rule will result in false as one value matches abc.
Dynamically ranges (only available in item-based algorithms, numeric values only)
If any numeric attribute value lies within specified range results in true.
price dynamically ranges in 80% to 120% of 100 Case 1: entity.price = ["101", "200", "125"]. The result is true because 101 is in the range of 80% to 120% of 100. The value de is skipped because it cannot be converted to double. Case 2: entity.price = ["130", "191", "60", "75"]. The result is false because no value is in the range of 80% to 120% of 100.
Note: Double is a Java data type. For operators that require numeric values, converting to double eliminates non-numeric values from consideration in the results. Multi-Value Attributes in Designs Multi-value attributes will appear as a comma-separated list when referenced in a design. Example: When entity.genre=["genre1","genre2"] is referenced in a design as $entity.genre, the result is genre1, genre2.
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Catalog Search The catalog search helps you locate the products or content in your catalog. You can refine your search by selecting a search option from the options menu that displays when you click the down arrow in the search field.
ALL searches across all of the other search criteria, using OR logic. In the search results, you click Settings to specify the production host group environment whose catalog you are displaying. An item can exist only once within an environment. You can also scroll through the items in the search results to view thumbnails and other product information. The number that displays next to "Products" is the number of products that match the search term, out of the total available in the specified environment. Click the refresh icon to re-index your catalog. Be aware that indexing can take some time, depending on the size of your feed. The catalog is automatically refreshed every hour. Click Refresh to reindex the catalog between automatic refreshes.
Create a Recommendations Activity Use the Visual Experience Composer in Target to create your test right on a Target-enabled page and to modify portions of the page within Target. 1. Click Create Activity > Recommendations.
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2. Specify an activity URL, and then click Create Activity. The activity URL is the page where the recommendations will display.
If you prefer to use the form-based Experience Composer, select that option. See Form-Based Experience Composer. When you click Create Activity, the Visual Experience Composer opens and shows your page. You can replace a current element with recommendations, or insert recommendations. 3. Click an element on your page, then if recommendations are available where that element is located, click either Replace w/ Recommendations or Insert Recommendations before or after the selected element.
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Replacing an element with recommendations deletes the current content and replaces it with your recommendations. 4. Select a page type.
The Select Criteria page opens. 5. Select an industry type and a page type.
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• Industry Type The industry type is used to help categorize your recommendations criteria. This helps members of your team find criteria that make sense for a particular page, such as criteria that are best for the shopping cart page or for a media page. • Page Type The page type helps you categorize your recommendations. There are also built-in criteria that can be chosen for each page type. • Compatible Show only those criteria where the selected page passes the required data. Not every criteria will run correctly on every page.The page or mbox needs to pass in entity.id or entity.categoryId for the current item/current category recommendations to be compatible. In general, it is best to show only compatible criteria. However, if you want incompatible criteria to be available for the activity, clear the Compatible check box. 6. Select one or more criteria, then click Add. Criteria display as cards that show information about each criteria. The cards that appear depend on the industry type and page type you selected.
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If you select multiple criteria, traffic is split evenly between the selected criteria. For example, if you have selected two criteria and your activity is designed to display default content to 20% of activity entrants, then 40% of activity entrants will see the recommendations controlled by each criteria. There is no option to change the percentages for each criteria. • To search for an existing criteria (for example, if many criteria cards display), type in the search field until the desired criteria appears, then select the criteria and click Done. Some criteria are supplied with Recommendations.You and your team can also create your own custom criteria. • To create a new criteria, click Create New, then fill in the information for the new criteria. For information about creating a new criteria, seeCreating Criteria. 7. Select a design. A design is a template that determines the look of the locations on your page.Target includes several preconfigured designs. You can also create your own custom designs.
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Each design shows a graphical representation of how it will look, and icons that show how many of your live and inactive activities currently use that design. • To select one or more existing designs, click the designs, then click Done. If you selected multiple criteria, you can only select one design. • To create a custom design, click Create New, then fill in the name and code for the new design. Click Next, then select or upload an image and click Done > Done. For information about creating a new design, see Create a Design. 8. (Optional) Click Preview to see how the activity will appear to visitors. Preview mode allows you to interact with your recommendations, much as a visitor would. When you are finished previewing your recommendations, click Compose. 9. Review your recommendation in the visual composer, then click Next. The flow diagram opens. 10. Review your Recommendations activity in the flow diagram and make any necessary changes.
The flow diagram leads you through the steps of choosing the audience for the activity, setting up experiences, and specifying success metrics. From the flow diagram, you can do the following: • Change the audience that will see the recommendations Note: In addition to selecting an existing audience, you can combine multiple audiences to create ad hoc combined audiences rather than creating a new audience. For more information, see . By default, all users see the recommendations. However, you can target recommendation to a specific audience. For a Recommendations activity, the control group sees the page without any recommendations. • View the criteria • Change the collection (next to the Criteria label) • Change the percentage of entrants who see the control experience • View the design code • Change or remove a design Click Next when finished. 11. Specify your activity settings. For example, type a name (required) and objective (optional) for the activity. For information about the settings, see Recommendations Activity Settings.
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Note: If you specify a Recommendation activity name that already exists for another activity in Recommendations Classic, the new activity is resynced with a new name. The new name is the original name appended with a timestamp to make it unique. This new name is displayed in both Target Standard/Premium and Recommendations Classic. 12. When finished, click Save & Close. An overview of your activity is displayed. From the overview page, you can: • Activate the activity • Edit the activity • Pin the activity to your Marketing Cloud board • View your experience URLs • Download data • Change the percentage of activity entrants who see the control experience • Show or hide criteria details • View the code for your designs 13. (Optional) Open the Reports tab to view the report that shows the performance of your Recommendations activity. 14. (Optional) Open the Collisions tab to view any activity collisions that might occur. Activity collisions occur when multiple activities are set up to deliver content to the same page, and may cause unexpected content to be displayed.
Criteria Criteria are rules that determine which products to recommend based on a predetermined set of visitor behaviors. Criteria determine which action will result in which recommendation. You can test multiple recommendation types against each other by adding multiple criteria. You select an industry vertical based on the goals of your recommendations activity: Industry Vertical
Goal
Retail/Ecommerce
Conversion resulting in purchase
Lead Generation/B2B/Financial Services
Conversion with no purchase
Media/Publishing
Engagement
The recommendation key you select determines the criteria type. There are several criteria types, which are represented as criteria cards when you set up a Recommendations activity. Criteria Type
Keys
Current Page Activity
Recommend items based on what users do on the current page. For example, visitors who view a particular article might want to see other articles from the same category. • Current Item • Current Category
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Keys Recommend items based on custom attributes. • Custom Attribute When you base recommendations on custom attributes, you must select the custom attribute and then select the recommendation type.
Past Behavior
Recommend items based on how visitors have responded to an item in the past. For example, people who have purchased a particular brand have been more likely to purchase another item from that brand. • Last Purchased Item • Last Viewed Item • Most Viewed Item • Favorite Category
Popularity
Recommend the most popular items, such as the most popular videos in a related category or the products that have been viewed most often on your site. • Popularity
Recently Viewed Items
Recommend the items a visitor has viewed most recently, such as the items a visitor looked at the last time they visited your site, or the articles that are trending most highly right now. This criteria type is not limited by collections. • Recently Viewed Items
Target Recommendations uses sophisticated algorithms to determine when a visitor's actions qualify for the criteria set in your activity. The recommendation key determines the recommendations logic options that are available. Items/Media with Similar Attributes: Recommends items or media similar to items or media based on current page activity or past visitor behavior. Note: If you select Items/Media with Similar Attributes, you will have the option to set content similarity rules. People Who Viewed This, Viewed That: Recommends items that are most often viewed in the same session that the specified item is viewed. People Who Viewed This, Bought That: Recommends items that are most often purchased in the same session that the specified item is viewed. This criteria returns other products people purchased after viewing this one, the specified product is not included in the results set. People Who Bought This, Bought That: Recommends items that are most often purchased by customers at the same time as the specified item.
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Site Affinity: Recommends items based on the certainty of a relationship between items. You can configure this criteria to determine how much data is required before a recommendation is presented using the Inclusion Rules slider. For example, if you select very strong, then the products with the strongest certainty of a match are recommended. For example, if you set a very strong affinity and your design includes five items, three of which meet the strength of connection threshold, the two items that do not meet the minimum strength requirements are not displayed in your recommendations and are replaced by your defined backup items. The items with the strongest affinity display first. Some customers with diverse product collections and diverse site behaviors might get the best results if they set a weak site affinity. Top Sellers: The items that are included in the most completed orders. Multiple units of the same item in a single order are counted as one order. Most Viewed: The items or media that are viewed most often. Recently Viewed Items/Media: Items that have been viewed recently by the visitor. When using this criteria, you should update the Target design to handle cases where blank recommendations would show when there are not enough previously viewed items to display. Note: If you are running a recommendation and change its criteria, you will lose your reporting data. All one-day criteria run twice daily. All one-week and longer criteria run once daily. Site Affinity criteria run once daily. Backup criteria run twice daily. Select Criteria Select the criteria to use in your Recommendations activity. You can test multiple recommendation types against each other by adding more than one criteria. If you select multiple criteria, traffic is split evenly between the selected criteria. For example, if you have selected two criteria and your activity is designed to display default content to 20% of activity entrants, then 40% of activity entrants will see the recommendations controlled by each criteria. There is no option to change the percentages for each criteria. • To search for an existing criteria (for example, if many criteria cards display), type in the search field until the desired criteria appears, then select the criteria and click Done. Some criteria are supplied with Recommendations. You and your team can also create your own custom criteria. • To create a new criteria, click Create New, then fill in the information for the new criteria. For information about creating new criteria, see Creating Criteria. 1. Create a new recommendation, or find the recommendation whose criteria you want to set and click Edit. 2. Select an industry type and a page type. • Industry Type The industry type is used to help categorize Recommendations criteria. To change your default industry vertical, click Settings and select your desired default Industry Vertical setting. • Page Type The page type helps you categorize your recommendations. There are also built-in criteria that can be chosen for each page type.
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• Compatible Show only those criteria where the selected page passes the required data. Not every criteria will run correctly on every page. The page or mbox needs to pass in entity.id or entity.categoryId for the current item/current category recommendations to be compatible. In general, it is best to show only compatible criteria. However, if you want incompatible criteria to be available for the activity, clear the Compatible check box. This option can be disabled or enabled in your Target Preferences. 3. Click Add. Uploading Custom Criteria Upload a CSV file to customize your recommendations. There are multiple ways to reach the Create New Criteria screen. Some screen options vary depending on how you reach the screen. • When you are creating a Recommendations activity, click Create New on the Select Criteria screen. You will have the option to save your new criteria for use with other Recommendations activities. • When you are editing a Recommendations activity, click in a Recommendations Location box on your page, and select Change Criteria. On the Select Criteria screen, click Create New. You will have the option to save your new criteria for use with other Recommendations activities. • On the Recommendations > Criteria library screen, click Create Criteria. Criteria you create here are automatically made available for all Recommendations activities. 1. Click Create Criteria.
2. Select Upload Custom Criteria.
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3. Type a Criteria Name. This is the "internal" name used to describe the criteria. For example, you might want to call your criteria "Highest margin products," but you don't want that title to display publicly. See the next step to set the public-facing title. 4. Type a public-facing Display Title to appear on the page for any Recommendations that use this criteria. For example, you might want to display "People who viewed this viewed that" or "Similar products" when you use this criteria to show recommendations. 5. Type a short Description of the criteria. The description should help you identify the criteria, and might include information about the purpose of the criteria. 6. Select an Industry Vertical. Other criteria options may change depending on the industry vertical you select. 7. Select a Page Type. You can select multiple page types. Together, the industry vertical and page types are used to categorize your saved criteria, making it easier to reuse criteria for other Recommendations activities. 8. Select a Recommendation Key.
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For more information about basing criteria on a key, see Base the Recommendation on a Recommendation Key. 9. Set your Content rules. Content rules determine what happens if the number of recommended items does not fill your design. For example, if your design has space for five items, but your criteria causes only three items to be recommended, you can leave the remaining space empty, or you can use backup recommendations to fill the extra space. Select the appropriate toggles. 10. Select the Location of your CSV file. The CSV file must be formatted correctly to upload successfully. Click Download the CSV template to get a correctly formatted CSV file. You have two location options: • FTP To upload your CSV file from an FTP server, select the FTP option button, and enter the required information. You have the option to use SSL, which uses the FTPS protocol to transfer your CSV file securely. • URL To upload your CSV file from a URL, select the URL option button and enter a feed URL. 11. Click Save. Note: Custom criteria entities (rows) can contain up to 500 recommended items (columns).
Creating Criteria Criteria control the content of your Recommendations activities. Create criteria to show the recommendations that are most appropriate for your activity. There are multiple ways to reach the Create New Criteria screen. Some screen options vary depending on how you reach the screen. • When you are creating a Recommendations activity, click Create New on the Select Criteria screen. You will have the option to save your new criteria for use with other Recommendations activities. • When you are editing a Recommendations activity, click in a Recommendations Location box on your page, and select Change Criteria. On the Select Criteria screen, click Create New. You will have the option to save your new criteria for use with other Recommendations activities. • On the Recommendations > Criteria library screen, click Create Criteria. Criteria you create here are automatically made available for all Recommendations activities. 1. Click Create Criteria or Create New.
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3. Type a Criteria Name. This is the "internal" name used to describe the criteria. For example, you might want to call your criteria "Highest margin products," but you don't want that title to display publicly. See the next step to set the public-facing title. 4. Type a public-facing Display Title to appear on the page for any Recommendations that use this criteria. For example, you might want to display "People who viewed this viewed that" or "Similar products" when you use this criteria to show recommendations. 5. Type a short Description of the criteria. The description should help you identify the criteria, and might include information about the purpose of the criteria. 6. Select an Industry Vertical. Other criteria options will change based on the industry vertical you select. 7. Select a Page Type. You can select multiple page types. Together, the industry vertical and page types are used to categorize your saved criteria, making it easier to reuse criteria for other Recommendations activities. 8. Select a Recommendation Key. For more information about basing criteria on a key, see Base the Recommendation on a Recommendation Key. 9. Select the Recommendation Logic. For more information about recommendation logic options, see Criteria. Note: If you select Items/Media with Similar Attributes, you will have the option to set content similarity rules. 10. Set the Data Range to determine the time range of available historical user behavior data to use when determining which recommendations to show. If your site has a lot of traffic and behaviors change frequently, choose a shorter data window. A shorter window enables Recommendations to be more responsive to changes in the market and in your business. For example, a shorter window means that Recommendations will detect changes in visitor behavior as your visitors begin seasonal shopping, such as back-to-school shopping or Christmas, and will recommend items appropriate to those shopping seasons. If you don't have a lot of data, or visitor behavior does not change frequently, you might select a longer window. However, for many sites, a shorter window results in better recommendations. The available data ranges are: • Two days • One week • Two weeks • One month • Two months 11. Set your Content rules. Content rules determine what happens if the number of recommended items does not fill your design. For example, if your design has space for five items, but your criteria causes only three items to be recommended, you can leave the remaining space empty, or you can use backup recommendations to fill the extra space. Select the appropriate toggles.
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12. Set your Inclusion Rules. Inclusion rules determine which items will be included in your recommendations. The options available depend on your industry vertical. For more details, see Inclusion Rules. 13. Configure Attribute Weighting. You can add multiple rules to "nudge" the algorithm based on important description or metadata about the content catalog. For example, you can apply a higher weighting to on-sale items so they appear more often in the recommendation. See Attribute Weighting. 14. When finished, click Save. If you are creating a new Recommendations activity or editing an existing one, the Save criteria for later check box is selected by default. If you do not want to use the criteria in other activities, clear the check box before saving. Base the Recommendation on a Recommendation Key You can create multiple recommendation keys and test them against each other. Each criteria is defined in its own tab. Traffic is split evenly across your different criteria tests. In other words, if you have two criteria, traffic is divided equally between them. If you have two criteria and two designs, traffic is split evenly between the four combinations.You can also specify a percentage of site visitors who see the default content, for comparison. In that case, the specified percentage of visitors see the default content, and the rest are split between your criteria and design combinations. 1. Create a new recommendation, or select an existing recommendation and click Edit. 2. To change the recommendation key, select the new key from the Base the recommendation on: drop-down list. Considering each key and the criteria that map to it, different recommendations lend themselves to placement on different pages: Key
Description
Current Item
The recommendation is determined by the item the visitor is currently viewing. Recommendations are set up to display other items that might interest visitors who are interested in the specified item. When this option is selected, the entity.id value must be passed as a parameter in the display mbox.
Criteria
Where on Your Site
• People who bought this also Single-item pages, such as product pages, NOT null bought search results pages • People who viewed this also viewed • People who viewed this also bought • Overall behavior
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Description
Criteria
• Top Sellers Current Category The recommendation is determined by the product • Most Viewed category that the visitor is currently viewing. Recommendations are set up to display items in the specified product category.
Where on Your Site Single-category pages, such as category pages, NOT null search results pages
When this option is selected, the entity.categoryId value
must be passed as a parameter to the display mbox. • Top Sellers Favorite Category The recommendation is determined by the category • Most Viewed that has received the most activity, using the same method used for "most viewed item" except that categories are scored instead of products.
General pages, such as home or landing pages and offsite ads.
This is determined by recency/frequency criteria that works as follows: • 10 pts for first view • 5 pts for every one after • At end of session divide all values by 2 For example, viewing categoryA then categoryB in one session results in A: 10, B: 5. When the session ends, you will have A: 5, B: 2.5. If you view the same items in the next session, the values change to A: 15 B: 7.5. Last Purchased Item
• People who bought this also NOT product page, pages The recommendation is relevant to purchases. For determined by the last item bought example, Home page, My Account page, offsite ads.
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Description
Criteria
Where on Your Site
that was purchased by each • People who viewed this also unique visitor. This is viewed captured automatically, so • People who viewed this also no values need to be bought passed on the page. • Overall behavior Last Viewed Item The recommendation is determined by the last item that was viewed by each unique visitor. This is captured automatically, so no values need to be passed on the page.
• People who bought this also NOT product page. Pages relevant to purchases. For bought example, Home page, My • People who viewed this also Account page, offsite ads. viewed • People who viewed this also bought • Overall behavior
• People who bought this also Varies. Home pages, landing Most Viewed Item The recommendation is pages, offsite ads, etc. determined by the item that bought has been viewed most • People who viewed this also often, using the same viewed method as used for favorite • People who viewed this also category. bought This is determined by recency/frequency criteria that works as follows:
• Overall behavior
• 10 pts for first product view • 5 pts for every one after • At end of session divide all values by 2 For example, viewing surfboardA then surfboardB in one session results in A: 10, B: 5. When the session ends, you will have A: 5, B: 2.5. If you view the same items in the next session, the values change to A: 15 B: 7.5. Popularity
• Top Sellers The recommendation is determined by the • Most Viewed popularity of items on your site. Popularity includes top sellers and top viewed by
General pages, such as home or landing pages and offsite ads.
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Description
Criteria
Where on Your Site
mbox data and, if you use Adobe Analytics, all of the metrics available in the product report (previously called optimize on any metric). These recommendations rank the items based on the criteria you choose in the Criteria dropdown. 3. Click Save. Inclusion Rules Several options help you narrow the items that display in your recommendations. Inclusion rules are optional; however, setting these details gives you more control over the items that appear in your recommendations. Each detail you configure further narrows the display criteria. For example, you can choose to display only women's shoes that have an inventory above 50 and a price between $25 and $45.You can also weight each attribute so those items that are more important to your business are most likely to appear. Inclusion rule options vary by industry vertical. By default, inclusion rules are applied to backup recommendations. Note: You should use inclusion rules sparingly. They are useful if, for example, your organization has rules that demand that one brand is not recommended while another brand is being shown. There is an opportunity cost to this feature. You could possibly lose a percentage of lift by restricting some items from not showing when they would normally be shown by the activity criteria. The inclusion rules are joined with an AND. All rules must be met to include an item in a recommendation.
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1. Set a price range for the products you want to recommend. 2. Set the minimum inventory amount for the products you want to recommend. 3. Configure the recommendation to display items only when they meet certain criteria. You can specify that items are included only when one of the attributes in the list meets or does not match one or more specified conditions. To set more than one value for each attribute, separate each value with a comma. The available evaluators depend on the value you choose in the first drop-down. You can list multiple items in the final text box, separating each with a comma. These items are evaluated with OR. For example, you might create a rule such as "message contains fall OR back to school OR school supplies" by separating fall, back to school, and school supplies with commas. Multiple rules are combined with an AND. Note: This option limits the items that are displayed in the recommendation. It does not affect which pages the recommendation is displayed on. To limit where the recommendation displays, select the pages in the experience composer. 4. Select whether to exclude items that have been previously purchased. This setting is based on the productPurchasedId. It is useful if you sell items that people typically purchase only once, such as kayaks. If you sell items that people come back to purchase again, such as shampoo or other personal items, you should disable this option. Note: This option is enabled by default for all criteria, including those used in activities that were running prior to this feature's release. If you do not want to exclude past purchases, you should edit those activities.
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Attribute Weighting Use attribute weighting to "nudge" the algorithm so certain items are more likely to be shown. Marketers can influence the algorithm based on important description or metadata about the content catalog. Apply a higher weighting to these on-sale items so they show more often in the recommendation. Non-sale items are not completely excluded, but they appear less often. Multiple weighted attributes can be applied to the same algorithm, and the weighted attributes can be tested on split traffic in the recommendation. 1. Choose a value. The value determines the type of item that is more likely to display, based on one of several available criteria. 2. Choose an evaluator. 3. Type the keyword to complete the rule attributes. For example, the complete rule might be "Category contains shoes."
4. Select the weight to assign to the rule. Options range from 0 to 100 in increments of 25. 5. Add additional rules if desired. Content Settings The Content settings determine how recommendations display in your design. It is possible for Recommendations criteria to return fewer recommendations than your design calls for. For example, your design may have five available "slots," but the criteria returns only three recommended items. The Content settings control how recommendations are presented when this happens. If you enable Show Backup Recommendations, the option to apply your inclusion rules to backup recommendations is enabled by default.
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Partial Design Rendering
Backup Recommendations
Disabled
Disabled
Enabled
Disabled
Enabled
Enabled
Result
If fewer recommendations are returned than the design calls for, the recommendations design is replaced by default content and no recommendations are displayed. The design is rendered, but may include blank space if fewer recommendations are returned than the design calls for. Backup recommendations will fill available design "slots," fully rendering the design. If applying inclusion rules to backup recommendations restricts the number of qualifying backup recommendations to the point that the design cannot be filled, the design is partially rendered. If the criteria does not return any recommendations, and inclusion rules restrict backup recommendations to zero, the design is replaced with default content.
Disabled
Enabled
Backup recommendations will fill available design "slots," fully rendering the design. If applying inclusion rules to backup recommendations restricts the number of qualifying backup recommendations to the point that the design cannot be filled, the design is replaced by default content and no recommendations are displayed.
Content Similarity Use Content Similarity rules to make recommendations based on item or media attributes. Content similarity compares item attribute keywords, and makes recommendations based on how many keywords different items have in common. Recommendations based on content similarity do not require past data to deliver strong results. Using content similarity to generate recommendations is especially effective for new items, which are not likely to show up in recommendations using People Who Viewed This, Viewed That and other logic based on past behavior.
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You can also use content similarity to generate useful recommendations for new visitors, who have no past purchases or other historical data.
When you select Items/Media with Similar Attributes, you have the option to create rules to increase or decrease the importance of specific item attributes in determining recommendations. For items such as books, you might want to boost the importance of attributes like genre, author, series, and so on, to recommend similar books. Because content similarity uses keywords to compare items, some attributes, such as message or description, can introduce "noise" into the comparison. You can create rules to ignore these attributes. By default, all attributes are set to Baseline. You do not need to create a rule unless you want to change this setting. Create a Design A design defines how recommendations appear on a page. You can create a Recommendations design using a default design or by creating a custom design. The Recommendations > Designs screen displays both default design cards and any designs you have created. The default designs cannot be edited or deleted. 1. On the Recommendations > Designs screen, mouse over the card for the design you want to create.
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2. Click the Copy icon. To create a custom design click Create Design on the Recommendations > Designs screen. 3. Add a Content Name. When you use a default design, the design name and "Copy" will appear in the Content Name field. You can edit the name. 4. Click Add Preview Image to select an image to display on the design card. A preview image is not required. 5. Edit the design Code. Recommendation designs use the open-source Velocity design language. Information about Velocity can be found at http://velocity.apache.org. A design can be HTML or non-HTML. By default, HTML designs are wrapped with a tag to allow for click-tracking in a Web environment. Non-HTML designs are for non-Web environments where click-tracking is not possible. Note: The maximum number of entities that can be referenced in a design, either hardcoded or via loops, is 20. 6. Click Save. Customizing a Design Use the open-source Velocity design language to customize recommendation designs. Information about Velocity can be found at http://velocity.apache.org. All Velocity logic, syntax, and so on can be used for a recommendation design. This means that you can create for loops, if statements, and other code using Velocity rather than JavaScript. Any variable sent to Recommendations in the productPage mbox or the CSV upload can be displayed in a design. These values are referenced with the following syntax: $entityN.variable
Variable names must follow Velocity shorthand notation, which consists of a leading $ character, followed by a Velocity Template Language (VTL) Identifier. The VTL Identifier must start with an alphabetic character (a-z or A-Z). Velocity variable names are restricted to the following types of characters: • Alphabetic (a-z, A-Z) • Numeric (0-9) • Hyphen (-) • Underscore (_) For more information about Velocity variables, see https://velocity.apache.org/engine/releases/velocity-1.7/user-guide.html#variables. Note: Because multiple values can be stored for categoryId, categoryId cannot be displayed in a design. If you want to display the category, pass it in as the categoryId for criteria manipulation, then duplicate it in a custom attribute as explained in Entity Attributes. If you use a profile script in your design, the $ preceding the script name must be escaped with a \. For example, \${user.script_name}.
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Note: The maximum number of entities that can be referenced in a design, either hardcoded or via loops, is 20. For example, if you want a design that displays something similar to this:
you can use the following code: You May Also Like... $entity1.id By $entity1.message (More) sku: $entity1.prodId Price: $$entity1.value $entity2.id By $entity2.message (More) sku: $entity2.prodId Price: $$entity2.value
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$entity3.id By $entity3.message (More) sku: $entity3.prodId Price: $$entity3.value
Note: If you want to add information after the variable value, you can do so using formal notation. For example: ${entity1.thumbnailUrl}.gif. You can also use algorithm.name and algorithm.dayCount as variables in designs, so one design can be used to test multiple criteria, and the criteria name can be dynamically displayed in the design. This shows the visitor that he's looking at "top sellers" or "people who viewed this bought that." You can even use these variables to display the dayCount (number of days of data used in the criteria, like "top sellers over the last 2 days," etc. Scenario: Display Key Item with Recommended Products You can modify your design to show your key item alongside other recommended products. For example, you might want to show the current item for reference next to the recommendations. To do this, create a column in your design that uses the $key attribute you are basing your recommendation on rather than the $entity attribute. For example, the code for your key column might look like this:
