How to Manage Web Experience Campaign Rules

Prerequisites

The number of campaign rules users can create per web experience campaign may vary based on your Terminus subscription plan.

If you have any questions regarding your current subscription plan, please reach out to your Client Strategy Manager.

Creating & Managing Campaign Rules

Rules are the connectors that bring together segments and content in order to serve personalized web experiences. Every campaign has a rule set that defines which audiences see which pieces of content. 

To navigate to Rules, you must first find the campaign for which you’d like to manage the rule set. From the campaign library, either click on the campaign directly:

Or hover over the ellipses and select “RULES:”

Once the rule screen opens, you will be able to create new rules or manage/edit existing rules. 

To create a new rule, click the “+ NEW RULE” button in the top right of the rule screen. 

Once clicked, this button will open up the rule creation wizard, which will walk you through the 6-step process of creating a new rule. 

Step 1: Segment

The first step is to select the segment that you’d like to target from the dropdown. If you would prefer to type in the segment name, the auto-complete feature will more quickly find the segment for you from your segment library. 

Note: Only segments that have been created and saved in the segment library will be available for targeting in the rules.

Step 2: Display Mode and Content

Define the display mode. Select either “single” or “A/B test” from the dropdown menu. 

• Choosing “Single” will deliver a single piece of content to all website visitors targeted by the rule. 
• Choosing “A/B Test” will allow you to test up to 5 different variations of content for the website visitors targeted by the rule. 

Next, select the content that you’d like to display from the dropdown. If you would prefer to type in the content name, the auto-complete feature will more quickly find the content for you from your content library. 

If you have selected an A/B Test display mode, you will be able to add up to 5 pieces of content for your test. You will also have the option to assign custom weights to each variant of your test. 

Note: Only content pieces that have been created and saved in the content library will be available for selection in the rules.

Step 3: Display Options

Each campaign type has a unique set of options that are available for the rules within that campaign. 

Because the options are set at the Rule level (rather than the Campaign level), there is flexibility to change the options for every experience within that campaign. 

• Ex 1: A fly-in could be triggered at page load for one segment and could be triggered on a time delay for another segment.
• Ex 2: A banner could be served on the top of the page as a header for one segment, but on the bottom of the page as a footer for another segment.

Banner Rule Options:

• Banner Position: Allows you to set whether you want your banner on the top of the page (as a sticky header) or the bottom of the page (as a sticky footer)
• Only show this rule once per visit: When toggled on, this will limit exposure to 1x/session even if the following option includes multiple exposures during a given time period
• Enable a time-based view limit: When toggled on, allows you to set the frequency with which the banner is served. This frequency is defined by “n times in x days” 
• Trigger: Allows you to set a custom trigger for the banner
• Instant
• Time Delay
• Scroll
• Manual
• Exit Intent

Fly-In Rule Options:

• Placement: Allows you to set where on the page the fly-in will display. The placement options also allow you to define how far from the edge of the screen the fly-in will display
• Animation: Provides options for the fly-in to appear without animation, to slide in horizontally, to slide in vertically, or to fade in
• Only show this rule once per visit: When toggled on, this will limit exposure to 1x/session even if the following option includes multiple exposures during a given time period
• Enable a time-based view limit: When toggled on, allows you to set the frequency with which the fly-in is served. This frequency is defined by “n times in x days”  
• Trigger: Allows you to set a custom trigger for the fly-in
• Instant
• Time Delay
• Scroll
• Manual
• Exit Intent

Modal Rule Options:

• Only show this rule once per visit: When toggled on, this will limit exposure to 1x/session even if the following option includes multiple exposures during a given time period
• Enable a time-based view limit: When toggled on, allows you to set the frequency with which the modal is served. This frequency is defined by “n times in x days”  
• Trigger: Allows you to set a custom trigger for the fly-in
• Instant
• Time Delay
• Scroll
• Manual
• Exit Intent

A/B Test Options:

Any rule that is set to Display Mode: A/B Test will have persistence options available.

• Visitor sees the same content variant: When a visitor sees the personalized content the first time, the variant they saw (either A or B) is saved and they will continue to see that variant on any subsequent viewing of the experience
• Visitor sees a random content variant: A visitor will see a random variant of the content on each viewing of the experience, regardless of what they saw on previous viewings

Step 4: Filters

Filters allow you to filter which pages of your website the rule is delivered on. By default, the rule will be served sitewide. If you would like to restrict it to certain page(s) or to exclude it from certain page(s), you can do so in the filters. 

The filter in the example above excludes all “thank you” and “confirmation” pages from the rule. 

Note: Filters are commonly used to exclude specific pages from a personalized experience. If you are using the filters in this way, the different pages need to be connected with an “AND” statement (as in the example above)

Step 5: Save Your Rule

Give your rule a name (we typically recommend a name that aligns to the targeted segment or to any specific filters) and click “Finish”. 

Once saved, your rule will now appear in the rule list. The settings that you selected for your rule will be visible in the list so you can quickly see the specific details associated with your rule.

Preview and Enable Rules

All rules are created in the “off” position by default. This allows you an opportunity to preview the experience before turning it on. 

To preview a rule, click the magnifying glass in the top right of the rule box. 

This will open the Rule Preview box. Enter the complete URL for the page on which you’d like to preview the experience. Then click “Preview Rule”. 

NOTE: The page you want to preview on will need to have the Terminus web experiences tag installed on it for the preview to work.

This will open a new window with a preview version of the page that you designated and will allow you to test the experience that you’ve just built. 

• The url you enter must include the “http://” or “https://” protocol 
• You can only preview and serve rules onto pages that contain the unique javascript tag for Terminus Web Experiences

If everything looks good, return to the Rule screen, close the preview box, and enable the rule by clicking the toggle on the left. 

Your rule is now live and the personalized experience is serving on the page(s). 

Rules Best Practices

• When delivering experiences via rules, the campaign will follow a cascading priority system. That means if there are 5 different rules for the Fly-In campaign, the system will start at the top of the rule list to determine which rule, if any, a visitor should see. Once a visitor matches a segment, the system will serve the appropriate content (as specified by the rule) that visitor. 
  • Always prioritize your rules in order of importance. That will guarantee that if a visitor is being targeted by multiple rules, they will see the most valuable content. 
• If your rules need to be reprioritized, you can simply grab them in the rule list and drag and drop them to the appropriate order in the list.