Creating recommendations

The following steps describe the full workflow for creating a recommendation from scratch.

To create a recommendation:

1. Create a recommendation strategy.

2. Create a template for the recommendation. In the template, fetch the recommendation data and, optionally, define a recommendation strategy selector as a content option.

3. Create a modification for the recommendation, and set up the modification:

   • Optionally, define targeting for the modification.

   • Define a placement for the modification.

   • Define the content for the modification. Use the template you created as the content, and define the content options, if any.

4. Test the recommendation. If you're not in a workspace, use variation preview or test mode.

5. Publish the recommendation. You do this by activating the modification (or, if the modification is already active but in test mode, by disabling test mode for the modification).

The recommendation is now live on the site. You can freely edit the different components to improve or otherwise change how the recommendation works. You can track how the recommendation performs by viewing its statistics.

The following figure illustrates how the different components come together to create and display the recommendation.

Figure: Creating a recommendation

Examples

• For a practical example of the above workflow, see Example: Recommending trending products in a category (strategy).

• For practical examples that focus only on certain parts of the full workflow, see Recommendation examples.