Configure an Omnichannel Recommendations Action

Follow these steps to build an Omnichannel experience with a Product Recommendations action. The Engine API responds with an array of product details.

Product IDs must match across the Monetate JavaScript API, the product catalog, and the request.

The requesting application is responsible for creating the container or carousel and all desired styling for the product recommendations.

  1. Create an Omnichannel experience, and then configure the WHY and WHO settings.
  2. Click WHAT and then click ADD ACTION.

    Callout of the WHAT settings and the ADD ACTION button on the Experience Editor page

  3. Click Product Recommendations.

    The Action Type panel for the WHAT configuration of an Omnichannel experience

  4. Select the recommendations template that you want to use.

    The Product Recommendations Omnichannel action options shown here may not reflect the options that appear in your account.

    Example of the Omnichannel Product Recommendations action templates available.

  5. Select from Product Recommendation the recommendation strategy or slotted recommendation that you want the action to use.

    Callout of the Product Recommendation selector on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  6. Select from Primary Fallback the recommendation strategy that you want used first to supplement the recommendation strategy or slotted recommendation that you selected in the previous step if it can't display enough recommended products to meet the minimum.

    Slotted recommendations are ineligible for use as a fallback.

    Callout of the Primary Fallback selector on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  7. Select from Secondary Fallback the recommendation strategy that you want used if your selections in steps 5 and 6 can't display enough recommended products to meet the minimum.

    Callout of the Secondary Fallback selector on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  8. Enter the minimum number of products the primary recommendation strategy must display before the action triggers the primary fallback recommendation strategy.

    Setting the minimum to zero prevents the fallback recommendation strategy from rendering and thus causes the action to fire in all scenarios, even if no products are recommended. This situation can also result in customers being counted in the experience without seeing recommendations.

    If in step 5 you selected a recommendation strategy with Prepend context item in recommendation enabled or selected a slotted recommendation configured with at least one recommendation strategy that has Prepend context item in recommendation enabled, then the context item counts toward meeting the threshold you set in Minimum products returned.

    Callout of the 'Minimum products returned' field on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  9. Enter the maximum number of products to include in the recommendations results.

    If in step 5 you selected a recommendation strategy with Prepend context item in recommendation enabled or selected a slotted recommendation configured with at least one recommendation strategy that has Prepend context item in recommendation enabled, then the context item counts toward meeting the threshold you set in Maximum products returned.

    Callout of the 'Maximum products returned' field on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  10. Enter into Pinned products the id attribute value for each product that you want to always appear at the beginning of the recommendations.

    Pinned products are not subject to any recommendation filters configured in the selected recommendation strategies or to the recommendation filters configured on the Global Settings tab of the Product Recommendations page.

    If you enter product IDs into Pinned products and if in step 5 you selected a recommendation strategy with Prepend context item in recommendation enabled, then the products identified at the action level appear before the context product in the recommendations results.

    If in step 5 you selected a slotted recommendation, then see Pinned Products and Slotted Recommendations in Slotted Recommendations Overview to understand how that configuration impacts the order of displayed recommendations.

    Callout of the 'Pinned products' field on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  11. Select a product catalog attribute on which duplicate recommended products are removed from the results.

    Ensure that the attribute that you select appears in the product catalogs used in the recommendation strategies that you selected in steps 5, 6, and 7.

    Callout of the 'Remove duplicate products based on' selector on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  12. Enter the identifier for the recommendations results.

    Callout of the 'Identifier for the recommendation set' field on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  13. Click ADD CONDITION, select an attribute category, and then select and configure an option to set any conditions that must be met for the action to fire. See Action Conditions for more information.

    The action conditions attribute categories accessible from the ADD CONDITION selector on an Omnichannel recommendations action template

  14. Click CREATE.

When you configure the Engine API request, ensure that you include any relevant context in the request. See Omnichannel Recommendations Action Requests in the Monetate Developer Hub for more information.

Contact your dedicated Customer Success Manager (CSM) if you need assistance writing the Engine API request for the recommendation strategy or slotted recommendation that you selected when configuring the action.

Using Product Catalog Custom Fields in the Action

You can use custom fields (for example, star ratings) from a product catalog in an Omnichannel recommendations action.

Contact your dedicated Services team members to request the custom fields be added to the Omnichannel recommendations action template.

Any custom field that you use in the action must also appear in the product catalog configured as part of the recommendation strategy that you selected for the action.