Orchestrating Multiple Personalization Strategies

Splitting Traffic with Multiple Data Sources

In this recipe, we are building an blog page that includes the blog content along with a set of related blogs that the reader should be interested in reading next. We have three separate sources that can provide a list of recommended related blogs:

• Blogs belonging to the same category in our CMS
• Blogs that have been manually linked to this blog in our CMS
• Blogs that Algolia Recommend has determined using its Related Content model

We're not sure which set of recommended blogs will get the most clicks, so we're going to split the traffic between the three sources using Conscia's multivariant testing capabilities.

This same recipe can be used for product or service recommendations.

Overall Orchestration Flow

We will be using Contentful as our blog post data source, and Algolia Recommend as one source of our related blogs. When the blog page is loaded, it will call Conscia's Experience API with the article id. Conscia will return the full blog content along with the information required to generate tiles for the related posts from one of three sources.

The Orchestration consists of Connections to Contentul and to Algolia Recommend, as well as the necessary Selector and Mapper Components to get both the blog entry data as well as the information required for the related content links. Selector Components retrieve data from a Connection's endpoint, and Mapper Components map, transform, and merge those responses.

The multivariant testing is set in an Experience Rule on a Source Picker Component. The Model component will then provide the response from the appropriate Mapper Component source based on the Picker.

In order for your analytics engine of choice to get the data required to analyze the multivariant testing results, create an Orchestration Template with two Components:

• The Mapper Component that provides the full page content.
• The Picker Component that tells you which related content source has been selected.

Mapping Out DX Engine Elements

• Context: The articleId of the main blog entry to load is passed in through Context.
• Contentful - Get Fashion Blog and Mapper - Fashion Blog: Selector and Mapper Components for the Contentful blog entry.
• Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - By Category and DTS Mapper - Fashion Blog - Contentful By Category: Selector and Mapper Components for the Contentful blogs from the same category.
• Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - Related Article Ids and Mapper - Fashion Blog - Contentful Related: Selector and Mapper Components for the Contentful blogs linked from the main blog entry.
• Algolia Recommend - Fashion Blogs - Related Content and Mapper - Fashion Blog - Algolia Recommend: Selector and Mapper Components for the Algolia Recommend selected blogs
• Article Recommendations Source: Picker Component for the user to determine which related blog source to use and/or to set up multivariant testing via Experience Rules.
• Model - Related Articles (by source): Model Component to pull the correct related blog entries based on the Picker's selection.
• Mapper - Fashion Blog - Full Page Content: Mapper Component to pull together the blog entry itself along with the related article data, everything required to render the full page content.

The Experience API request will look something like this:

POST {{engineUrl}}/experience/components/_query
X-Customer-Code: {{customerCode}}
Authorization: Bearer {{dxEngineToken}}

{
  "componentCodes": ["mapper-fashionblog-fullpagecontent"],
  "context": {
    "articleId": "90"
  }
}

The Experience API response will look something like this:

"blog": {
    "title": "London Fashion Week Spring/Summer 2022: The Shows – In Pictures",
    "author": "Helen Seamons, Jo Jones and Peter Bevan",
    "content": "The first digital-only London Fashion Week brought together a hugely diverse series of shows and subject matter from Syrias Six Day War to Cecil Beatons Bright Young Things. From Ahluwalia to Qasimi …",
    "imageUrl": ...,
    "published": "2021-06-16T11:18:29Z"
},
"includes": {
    "related": [
    {
        "title": "Elegance Redefined: Female Fashion Trends for 2023",
        "articleId": "192",
        "imageUrl": ...
    },
    {
        "title": "Dapper and Suave: A Guide to Men's Fashion Suits",
        "articleId": "54",
        "imageUrl": ...
    },
    {
        "title": "The Digital Runway: How Technology is Transforming Fashion Shows",
        "articleId": "85",
        "imageUrl": ...
    }
    ]
}

DX Engine Configuration Details

This recipe builds on the Related Articles with Algolia Recommend recipe. You can find instructions for creating the Contentful and Algolia Connections there.

Create a Component to retrieve blog content from Contentful

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	contentful-get-fashionblog
Component Name	Contentful - Get Fashion Blog
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Universal API Connector

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Connection	Main	Contentful Connection
Webservice Path	Main	Get value from: JS Expression /entries/${contextField('articleId')}
Method	Main	GET

Create a Component to transform blog content from Contentful

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	mapper-fashionblog
Component Name	Mapper - Fashion Blog
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Object Mapper

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Create an Object Map as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Source Data	Get value from: Component Response Contentful - Get Fashion Blog
Expression Type	JMESPath
Schema	title = fields.title author = fields.author content = fields.content imageUrl = fields.urlToImage published = fields.publishedAt

Create a Component to retrieve related blog content from Contentful by Category

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	contentful-get-fashionblog-bycategory
Component Name	Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - By Category
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Universal API Connector

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Connection	Main	Contentful Connection
Webservice Path	Main	Get value from: Literal /entries
Method	Main	GET
Query Parameters	Main	Parameter: content-type Value (Literal): fashion-blog
Query Parameters	Main	Parameter: fields.category Value (JS Expression): _.head(componentResponse('contentful-get-fashionblog-universal').fields.category)

In the fields.category query parameter, we're simply pulling the first category assigned to the main blog article.

Create a Component to transform related blog content from Contentful by Category

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	dtsmapper-fashionblog-related-contentful-category
Component Name	Mapper - Fashion Blog - Contentful By Category
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Data Transformation Script

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Create an Object Map as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Data to modify	Get value from: JS Expression _.assign({}, {"articles" : componentResponse('contentful-get-fashionblog-bycategory').items, "idToRemove" : contextField('articleId')})
Script

let relatedArticles = data.articles.map((item) => ({
  title: item.fields.title,
  articleId: item.sys.id,
  imageUrl: item.fields.urlToImage,
}));

relatedArticles.forEach( (item, index, object) => {
    if (item.articleId === data.idToRemove) {
        object.splice(index, 1);
   }
});

const related = {"related": relatedArticles};
related;

Create a Component to retrieve related blog content ids from Contentful

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	contentful-get-fashionblog-related-articleids
Component Name	Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - Related Article Ids
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Universal API Connector

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Connection	Main	Contentful Connection
Webservice Path	Main	Get value from: JS Expression /entries/${contextField('articleId')}
Method	Main	GET
Response Transform	Main	response.fields.relatedArticles.map(e => _.identity({id: e.sys.id}))
Property Name	Sub Components	relatedArticleDetails
Component Code	Sub Components	contentfulgetfashionblogrelated
Context Field for Sub Component	Sub Components	Context Field: relatedArticleId Expression: response.id

The Response Transform is required to provide an array to the Sub Component in order for it to iterate over the articleIds.

Create a Component to retrieve related blog details by id from Contentful

This Component is used as a Sub Component in the above configuration. For each articleId passed to it from the base Component's response array, it will retrieve the blog details required to generate a tile for related content. The entire set will be returned in a single response in a property called relatedArticleDetails embedded in the base Component's response.

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	contentfulgetfashionblogrelated
Component Name	Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - Related Article Detail
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Universal API Connector

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Connection	Main	Contentful Connection
Webservice Path	Main	Get value from: JS Expression /entries/${contextField('relatedArticleId')}
Method	Main	GET
Response Transform	Main	_.assign({'title': response.fields.title, 'articleId': response.sys.id, 'imageUrl': response.fields.urlToImage})

The Response Transform is used in lieu of a separate mapper Component to map and transform just the required properties.

Create a Component to transform related blog content from Contentful

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	mapper-fashionblog-related-contentful
Component Name	Mapper - Fashion Blog - Contentful Related
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Object Mapper

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Create an Object Map as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Source Data	Get value from: Component Response Contentful - Get Fashion Blog - Related Article Ids
Expression Type	JMESPath
Source Array Property Path	$
Target Property Path for modified array	related
Schema	title = relatedArticleDetails.contentfulgetfashionblogrelated.response.title articleId = relatedArticleDetails.contentfulgetfashionblogrelated.response.articleId imageUrl = relatedArticleDetails.contentfulgetfashionblogrelated.response.imageUrl
Response Transform	_.assign({}, {"related" : response})

Create a Component to retrieve related articles from Algolia Recommend

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit:

Field	Value
Component Code	algolia-recommend-fashionblogs-related
Component Name	Algolia Recommend - Fashion Blog - Related Content
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Universal API Connector

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Connection	Main	Algolia Recommend Connection
Webservice Path	Main	Get value from: Literal /1/indexes/*/recommendations
Method	Main	POST
Body	Main	Get value from: JS Expression

{
  "requests": [
    {
      "indexName": "{index to target}",
      "model": "related-products",
      "threshold": 45,
      "maxRecommendations": 3,
      "objectID": "${contextField('articleId')}"
    }
  ]
}

Create a Component to transform related articles from Algolia Recommend

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	mapper-fashionblog-related-algolia
Component Name	Mapper - Fashion Blog - Algolia Recommend
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Object Mapper

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Create an Object Map as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Source Data	Get value from: Component Response Algolia Recommend - Fashion Blog - Related Content
Expression Type	JMESPath
Source Array Property Path	results[0].hits
Target Property Path for modified array	related
Schema	title = title articleId = article_id imageUrl = urlToImage

Create a Component to allow users to select source for related content

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	related-content-source
Component Name	Fashion Blog - Related Content Source
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Metadata

Create an Experience Rule to split traffic for related content

• Navigate to the Omnichannel Experience Rules page (Manage Experiences --> Experience).
• Navigate to your Fashion Blog - Related Content Source Component under All Components.
• Click the + Add Experience Rule button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Form Tab	Value
Rule ID	Main	split-traffic
Rule Name	Main	Split Traffic
Priority	Main	1
Is Default	Main	Checked
Enable A/B Test	Main	Checked
A/B Test Configuration: Stickiness	Main	Your choice: visitor / session

Field	Form Tab	Value
Active	Experience	Checked
Dates	Experience	Optional

• Under Target Experience, add three Weighted Configurations then click Submit.

Field	Value
Control Group	Checked
Relative Weight	33
Variant Identifier	By Category
Instructions	Key: recommendationsType Value: Articles by Category

Field	Value
Control Group	Not Checked
Relative Weight	33
Variant Identifier	Related
Instructions	Key: recommendationsType Value: Related Articles from Contentful

Field	Value
Control Group	Not Checked
Relative Weight	34
Variant Identifier	Algolia Recommend
Instructions	Key: recommendationsType Value: Algolia Recommendations

In this recipe weight is distributed equally across all three options.

Create a Component to select related content

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit.

Field	Value
Component Code	model-related-content
Component Name	Model - Fashion Blog - Related Content (by source)
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Metadata

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Add the Response Transform expression as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Response Transform

componentResponse('recommendations-source').recommendationsType[0] === 'Algolia Recommendations' ? componentResponse('mapper-fashionblog-related-algolia') : componentResponse('recommendations-source').recommendationsType[0] === 'Related Articles from Contentful' ? componentResponse('mapper-fashionblog-related-contentful') : componentResponse('recommendations-source').recommendationsType[0] === 'Articles by Category' ? componentResponse('dtsmapper-fashionblog-related-contentful-category') : {}

Create a Component to merge blog and related content data

• Navigate to the Experience Components page (Manage Experiences --> Components)
• Click the + Add Component button.
• Enter the following and click Submit:

Field	Value
Component Code	mapper-fashionblog-fullpagecontent
Component Name	Mapper - Fashion Blog - Full Page Content
No Rules	Checked
Component Type	Conscia - Property Mapper

The DX Engine will create and prepare the Component for further configuration. You should see the new component appear in the Component listing.

• Click Edit.
• Create two Property Maps as follows and click Submit.

Field	Value
Source Data	Get value from: Component Response Mapper - Fashion Blog
Expression Type	Javascript
Mappings	Target property: blog Source expression: data

Field	Value
Source Data	Get value from: Component Response Model - Fashion Blog - Related Content (by source)
Expression Type	javascript
Mappings	Target property: includes Source expression: data

References

• Algolia Recommend REST API
• Object and Property Mapper Orchestration Components
• Data Transformation Script Orchestration Components
• A/B/n or Multi-Variate Testing