Making Realtime decisions
Overview
One of RPI Realtime’s primary tasks is to decide upon the most appropriate content to be served in a given context. To make this decision, content has to be created and rules implemented to define when it should be rendered. These tasks are carried out in the RPI client application, using the following file types:
Realtime Decisions
Realtime decisions are the basic sets of rules that govern when content should or not be shown. Realtime decisions are created and edited in the Rule Designer. A number of types of realtime decisions are supported; notable types include:
Database: allows you to define rules based on attribute values sourced from a visitor profile. For example, you might wish to target an offer based on a known visitor’s income.
Offer: allows you to define rules based on a visitor’s previous receipt (or otherwise) of an RPI offer.
Web Events: allows you to define rules based on a visitor’s interactions with a website, such as page visits and link clicks.
Full details of realtime decisions can be found in the Realtime Decisions documentation.
Smart Assets
Smart assets are built and managed in the Smart Asset Designer. Smart assets allow you to define a series of content elements, and associate applicability rules with each.
For example, you might have a ‘Credit Card Image’ smart asset, containing ‘Platinum’, ‘Gold’ and ‘Silver’ image content elements. Each might be associated with a separate database realtime decision, which targets on the basis of ‘High’, ‘Medium’ and ‘Low’ income. If a known visitor browses a web page containing the smart asset, RPI Realtime is able to discern their income as ‘Medium’, and hence render the ‘Gold’ credit card image.
Smart assets can be published directly from the Smart Asset Designer. Typically, you would do so to leverage their capabilities in an external web page or application. When you publish a smart asset, for each content element that it contains:
The rules in each associated realtime decision are published to the realtime cache.
Content is published to one of:
The default or a specific content location
The realtime cache (only if text)
You can also generate scripts to leverage published smart assets in external contexts. This is also carried out in the Smart Asset Designer.
When objects such as realtime decision logic or images are published, if one or more values are supplied at string list system configuration setting RealtimeAPIPublishAddresses, objects are published to each address supplied at the setting. If no values are supplied for the setting, objects are published to the address specified at system configuration setting RealtimeAPIAddress.
Full details on smart assets can be found in the Smart Asset Designer documentation.
Advanced Smart Assets
Advanced smart assets are a specialized type of smart asset, and are also managed in the Smart Asset Designer. They allow you define:
A series of ‘variants’, and default content for each. A variant might represent a web page element, such as a hero image or header.
A series of messages, at which content can be defined for each variant.
Qualification rules, attached to messages within the advanced smart asset. When the rules attached to a message are satisfied, the content associated with each variant can be rendered.
The following qualification rules are supported:
Message rule: the rule is satisfied if the visitor meets the criteria defined within a related selection rule or realtime decision.
Local history rule: a visitor’s previous receipt of messages – both inbound and outbound – is stored in their visitor profile. A local history rule is satisfied on a visitor’s having (or having not) previously received a message served by the current advanced smart asset.
External history rule: an external history rule is satisfied on a visitor’s having (or having not) previously received a message served by an advanced smart asset other than the current asset.
Full details on advanced smart assets can be found in the Smart Asset Designer documentation.
Goal Smart Assets
Goal smart assets are created and managed in the Smart Asset Designer. A goal smart asset facilitates realtime A/B/n-based optimization.
A landing page or external web page will have a defined goal. A goal is a web event such as ‘Link Click’. A goal smart asset must be configured with at least two pieces of content. In an A/B/n test, winning content is determined statistically as the content most likely to result in the goal being met and served to subsequent site visitors, with ongoing testing of a holdout group continuing thereafter.
A goal smart asset can be published automatically when included in an RPI landing page or can be published independently for use in external web pages and applications.
Full details on goal smart assets can be found in the Smart Asset Designer documentation.
Landing Pages
RPI landing pages are created and managed in the Landing Page Designer.
They can be used to host content entered directly at the page. In addition, the following can be embedded in landing pages:
Assets: text, HTML and image
Smart assets
Goal smart assets
Web forms
Attributes: if you include RPI attributes in landing page content, on the page’s being rendered to a visitor, if matching attributes are present in the realtime cache, they are used to customize page content.
Landing pages can be published from the Landing Page Designer. When you publish a landing page, you automatically publish all embedded files contained therein. On its being published, an RPI landing page automatically contains all of the JavaScript necessary to invoke RPI realtime functionality.
Full details on landing pages can be found in the Landing Page Designer documentation.