Rule-Based Personalization

Learn how to create Rule-Based Personalization on the Netcore CE dashboard for your website.

Overview

Rule-based personalization allows you to manually set specific conditions and rules to customize website content for your users. This is ideal when you need control over your campaigns and want to deliver specific content to different user segments based on predefined conditions.

Workflow

You define a set of rules based on user attributes or behavior. When users visit your website, the system checks if they meet your set conditions, such as location, device type, browsing history, or referral source. If they match the criteria, they are shown personalized content, offers, or product recommendations that are relevant to them.

Key Features

  • Targeted Customization: You can personalize content based on user characteristics like age, location, device, or browsing patterns. For example, users in one country can see a different homepage banner than users in another.
  • Control and Flexibility: By manually setting the rules, you have complete control over which segments of your audience see specific content. Rule-based personalization is ideal for running seasonal promotions, localized offers, or specific campaigns.
  • Real-Time Adaptation: The content is updated in real-time as users interact with your website. This ensures users see relevant content based on their current behavior or previous interactions.

Use Cases

Here are some everyday use cases where Rule-Based Personalization can help you deliver targeted, relevant content to your users.

Use CasesDescription
Localized ContentShow different versions of your homepage or product offerings to users in different regions.
Time-Sensitive OffersDisplay promotions based on the time of day or during specific seasons, such as holiday discounts.
Device-Specific CustomizationCustomize your website layout or offers depending on whether the user is on a mobile device, desktop, or tablet.

Create Content Personalization

These are the steps to create a Content personalization campaign:

  1. Click the Create button on the dashboard homepage.
  2. Select Engage with users > Content under Personalization.
Create Content Personalization

Create Content Personalization

3. Setup: Add the campaign details here.

Setup

Refer to the table below for the sections under Setup.

SectionsDescription
Campaign NameSelect a name (up to 100 characters) to identify your campaign. You can use letters, numbers, hyphens, and underscores.
Campaign placementSpecify where you want to run your personalization campaign.
Options:
  • Website: The website where personalization will be applied. Enter the URL of the target website.
  • Operator: Defines how the system will match the URL. Options:
    • Equals to: Exact match.
    • Contains: URL includes specified text.
    • Starts with: URL begins with certain text.
  • URL: The specific page or section where personalization is applied, based on the selected operator.
Tags (Optional)Assign up to five tags.
Priority LogicCampaign
Latest Action
Conversion GoalSet a goal to measure campaign success.
Control GroupDefine a percentage of users who will not see the personalization for comparison.
Campaign notesWrite to remember why you created this campaign.

Fill in all the required sections and proceed.

The Advanced details have the following features:

  • Set conversion goals: Add conversion goals to monitor key business metrics and measure the success of your personalization. You can track one conversion goal per campaign. Select any event as a conversion goal activity according to your objectives.
    For example, if you want to track the number of customers who have purchased shoes after your campaign was sent. (Event: Product Search, Product: Shoes).
Set Conversion Goal

Set Conversion Goal

  • Conversion Window: Select this option to define the time frame for successful actions after interacting with your campaign.
  • Revenue Parameter: Select this option to assign a value to each successful action for tracking financial impact.
  • Control group: These are the number of users you intentionally exclude when sending campaign content. They serve as a reference point for evaluating the effectiveness of your campaign.

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Mandatory Field

Setting up conversion goal is mandatory to use control group feature.

To exclude users in the control groups, do the following:

  1. Toggle on the control group to exclude the users in the control group from the campaign's target segment.
  2. Specify the percentage of users excluded from the campaign using the scroller/ slider.
Control Group

Control Group

4. Audience: Define the target audience for the campaign.

Audience

The Audience section allows you to select who to target for your website personalization. You can add multiple audience groups to show the personalization as per user behaviour or prefrernces. Simply drag and drop the Audience groups to set the audience priority.

Audience screen has the following sections:

1. Live user segment

Toggle this option ON to target users visiting the website. Refer to the given table to know the options available here.

FieldsDescription
User typeIdentified / Anonymous: Target users based on identification status.
Options: All Users, Identified, Anonymous

New / Returning: Filter users based on visit history.
Options: All Users, New Users, Repeat Users |
User source (Referral website)The website or platform that referred the user to your site. This helps track the traffic source and understand where users come from. You can add up to five user sources.
UTM ParametersAdd URL parameters to track campaign efficacy under Google Analytics campaign reports. Refer here for more details on UTM parameters.
Note: UTM parameters should not contain special characters. Only dashes (-), underscore ( _ ), spaces, and pipe ( | ) symbols are allowed.
User locationDefine the user location for personalization.
Options:
  • Location Type: Add the geographic level for personalization, like country, region and city.
  • Operator: Add the condition to match the location..
  • Location Name: The specific name of the location to use for personalization.
Time of the dayPersonalize content based on the time of day when users visit your site.
DevicePersonalize content based on the type of desktop operating system, mobile device, tablet, or user's web browser.
ActivitySelect real-time visitor activities for personalization. If selected, this will be combined with audience activity using an AND or OR condition.
Note:
You can use up to five payload parameters per activity and add up to five activities for each audience.
You can add as many activities you want as per your requirements.

2. List / Segment

Toggle this option ON to select lists or audience segments for your personalized campaign.

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Note

  • Select list/segment from your saved segments because you cannot create a new segment in this section.
  • Segments/lists in the audience section refresh every 24 hours.

Specify Payload Paramter

Imagine you are running a personalized online store where different users see different things based on what they've done. This includes what products they've looked at, added to their cart, or what pages they've browsed. This feature helps you control how the system decides which user activity to "listen to" before showing a personalized message or offer.

Workflow

When you want to show personalized content based on user activity (like "Add to Cart" or "Product View"), you now get to select how the system matches the user's actions (payloads) using three modes:

  1. Latest
  2. Any
  3. All
ModeDescriptionExample
LatestMatches only the user's most recent action.If the last action was a product view, show recommendations based on that product. If the last action was unrelated (like opening the cart), show default content.
AnyMatches any of the user's past actions, not just the latest one.The user viewed 3 shirts, then visited the FAQ. Even though the FAQ was the last action, the system still uses the shirt views to show relevant offers.
AllMatches only if all instances of the action meet the condition.A user adds 5 items to the cart. Show a "Free Shipping for Electronics" banner only if all 5 items are electronics. If one isn't, the banner won't appear.
5. Personalization: Create your website personalization and define other details.

Personalization

After the basic setup and defining the target audience, Personalization is the section where you can create your website personalization and define other details. You can create or edit your Personalization using various editing options in this section. There are two modes available:

  1. Edit: The Edit mode lets you directly change the content and style of elements on your website. Update text, images, and other settings in real time to personalize your site.
  2. Navigate: In navigation mode, you can browse the website as usual, but not leave the page you are editing. If you do, any unsaved changes will be lost. This mode is useful for websites with carousels of banners or images. You can use navigation mode to scroll through banners, then switch to edit mode to change the banner you want.
Create Website Personalization

Create Website Personalization

Key Functionalities

Here are the key options available to customize your website personalization.

OptionDescription
HistoryView the history of changes made to the website personalization settings.
Track Click ListTrack and review the list of user clicks to analyze engagement with personalized elements.
Add RulesCreate and apply new rules to customize how and when personalization is shown to users.
Desktop ViewPreview how the personalized content appears on desktop devices.
Tablet ViewPreview how the personalized content appears on tablet devices.
Mobile ViewPreview how the personalized content appears on mobile devices.
Nullify & ExitDiscard all changes made and exit the editor without saving.
DiscardDiscard recent changes and return to the previous state without saving.
Save & ExitSave all changes made and exit the editor.

Edit Content

Click on the element you want to edit for a list of available options. Check the table for more details.

OptionDescription
Add ElementAllows you to insert a new element (such as text, image, or button) into the webpage for personalization.
EditAllows you to modify the selected element's content or style directly within the editor.
Edit HTMLAllows you to access and modify the HTML code of the selected element for advanced customizations.
Copy StyleAllows you to copy the selected element's styling (like fonts, colors, or spacing).
Paste StyleAllows you to apply the copied styling to another element for a consistent design.
Set as OriginalAllows you to mark the current version of the element as the default or original state for reference.
Select ParentAllows you to select the parent container of the selected element to edit or adjust its settings.

Overlay

Overlay are pre-designed components you can use to enhance your website personalization. They allow you to add functional and visually appealing elements to your site quickly. Refer to the table below for the available overlays. Refer to this document for detailed information and editing options available for each widget.

OverlayDescription
Home Hello BarUse this to add a bar at the top of your homepage to display announcements or special offers.
Progress BarUse this to add a visual progress bar to show users their progress during tasks like checkout or form completion.
Recently ViewedUse this to display previously browsed products and help users to revisit and purchase products.
Coupon on Sliding DrawerUse this to add a sliding drawer that reveals a coupon or offer to encourage user interaction.
Tab TalkUse this to add a side tab for quick messages or chat options to engage users.
Back to TopUse this to add a button that lets users quickly scroll back to the top of the page.

In-line Widget

Inline widgets are interactive elements added directly into your website content. They let users access key features, like lead forms, extra info, or quick actions, without leaving the page. Think of them as smooth, on-page boosters for engagement and conversion. Refer to the given document to know more about the In-line widget.

Set Up an Inline Widget

Refer to the given table to know the options below to control how your widget looks.

SettingDescription
PositionSelect where to place the widget:
Insert before element
Insert after element
ContentUse a pre-made template from the gallery or build your own from scratch.
Click Edit to open the template editor (UCE), where you can add layouts, elements, and styling. Once ready, click Save and Insert.
StyleCustomize the background (color or image), adjust alignment and padding. Click Apply to confirm the style.

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Important

Don’t forget to click Apply Changes to save your personalization. If skipped, your changes won’t be saved.

6. Schedule: Specify the date and time to run your personalized campaign.

Schedule

Finish creating and previewing your personalization, then schedule your campaign.

  • Start campaign: Select Now to start immediately or select later to run it on your desired date and time.
  • End campaign: Select Never to run the campaign indefinitely until you manually stop it or select Specified date to end it on your desired date and time.
  • Campaign frequency: Control how many times a user views your campaign.
    You have three options under Select the frequency.
    • Time per session: Number of times personalization is shown per session.
    • Time per day: Number of times personalization is shown per session
    • Time per campaign: Number of times personalization is shown per campaign.
  • Add Delay to Content Personalization: Set a time delay before showing personalized content to users, helping trigger content at the right moment for better engagement.
  1. Click the Preview & Publish option to save your campaign and preview the personalization. Once you have checked the details and appearance of your entire campaign, click Publish Campaign to publish it.