Setting Up Product Recommendations for Email

Product recommendations is a separate block in the email that contains recommended items (products, services, articles) based on the recipient's behaviour on the website (views, purchases, items added to favorites or cart, etc.).

To be able to configure recommendations in the email, you need to:

• Set up web tracking;
• Connect Advanced Segmentation by subscribing to one of the Extra pricing plans;
• Upload to the system a product feed that will be used to create a data source. A product feed is a file that contains information about products on the website.

Available recommendation algorithms depend on the pricing plan.

To be displayed in the recommendation, the product should have the required parameters:

• name;
• price;
• url;
• imageUrl.

As an example, below we’ll be setting up product recommendations for the abandoned browse email.

Create a Data Source

The abandoned browse template we will be using contains two blocks with products – abandoned browse items and recommended items. You need to create different data sources for each of them.

1. Go to your profile > Settings > Data sources and click New data source > Recommendations for messages or website.

2. Select a recommendation algorithm Abandoned browse (up to 6 items).

3. Enter the name. It must be unique as it is inserted in the code of the email template you will assign this data source to.

4. Below, configure advanced settings (optionally) and click Save. The created data source will appear in the general list.

5. Repeat the above steps to create the second data source for the block with recommended items. When selecting an algorithm, choose Browse recommendations (up to 6 items).

Add Dynamic Content to the Email 

Block with Abandoned Browse Items

1. Go to Messages > Messages and click Create email.

2. In basic templates, select Abandoned browse.

Important. Product recommendations belong to dynamic content that is added to emails via Velocity. To add them to your emails, you need to either select templates with already configured dynamic blocks or set up SRT stripes on your own.

3. Click the stripe with the block with abandoned browse items (You recently viewed), open Code editor, and find in the code #foreach($!item in $!data.get('history')).

4. Enter your data source name instead of the value in brackets (history > Abd_browse (6)). Close Code editor.

5. Click the image of the item to open its settings on the left:

• In Image path, enter $!item.get('imageUrl').
• In Link, enter $!item.get('url').

6. Configure the product name and its parameters, and the price (see the screen):

• In Link, enter $!item.get('url').
• In Title, enter $!item.get('name').
• Enter $!item.get('price') straight in the template.

7. In Link for a CTA enter $!item.get('url').

8. Dynamic content is configured. Click Save.

Note. If you have more parameters for dynamic content, make sure they also correspond to the parameters of the data source so that the content is added properly to the email. To view the corresponding data source parameters

• go to your personal profile > Settings > Data sources and click the necessary source to open it for editing;
• unroll advanced settings and click Add condition in Filters. You will see all parameters sent to the system.

Block with Recommended Items

Starting from #3, repeat the above steps for the block with recommended items (You may also like).

The only difference is that you need to assign it to the second data source.

The rest of the steps, including parameter variables, are identical.

Note. You can save any configured stripe as a module and use it in further emails, changing only the assigned data source and parameters (if needed) and editing design.