Install and configure personalization

This topic describes the NuGet packages and initial configuration for the setup of product recommendations and personalized search results with the Episerver Personalization suite. To get personalization running for a site, you need to configure access to the tracking API, so that you can post usage data and get recommendations back.

In this topic

Prerequisites
Packages
Native integrations
General integration APIs
Importing data
Personalization API
Profile Store and Visitor Intelligence
Feature-specific configurations

Prerequisites

To install and configure, you need the configuration keys and credentials provided by Episerver during onboarding of the service. Contact Episerver for questions regarding the onboarding process.

See Installing Episerver to set up Visual studio with Episerver extensions and the NuGet feed source. See below for NuGet packages needed when implementing product and email recommendations, and personalized search results.

See Content recommendations how to implement Episerver Content Recommendations.

Packages

In addition to onboarding the service, you need to install a set of NuGet packages for the tracking and personalization features. Available packages are listed below.

EPiServer.Find.Personalization. Native integration for search recommendations (Personalized Search & Navigation).
EPiServer.Personalization. Integrates Personalization Portal UI (Product Recommendations and Email Product Recommendations) with the Episerver top menu.
EPiServer.Personalization.Commerce. Native integration for product recommendations (formerly Perform and Reach).
EPiServer.Personalization.Common. Common base API classes.
EPiServer.Profiles.Client. Main package for tracking of an Episerver site to Profile Store.
EPiServer.Profiles.Client.Common. Contains common classes used by other packages.
EPiServer.Tracking.Cms. CMS integration for tracking of data.
EPiServer.Tracking.Commerce. Commerce integration for tracking (Product Recommendations and Email Product Recommendations, Profile Store, Personalized Search & Navigation).
EPiServer.Tracking.Core. Generic package for tracking.
EPiServer.Tracking.PageView. Native integration for tracking of CMS/content data to Profile Store.

Native integrations

Installing a main native integration package also installs other packages based on dependencies. The package sets provide product-specific access to the tracking APIs, the required set depending on products:

Product recommendations for Episerver Commerce
- Episerver Product Recommendations and Email Product Recommendations tracking and recommendations: EPiServer.Personalization.Commerce.
- Episerver Personalization Portal integration: EPiServer.Personalization.
- See Installing and configuring the native integration package for Commerce.
Personalized search results for Episerver Search & Navigation (formerly Find)
- Episerver Personalized Search & Navigation: EPiServer.Find.Personalization.
- See Personalized Search & Navigation to learn how to install and configure this native integration.

General integration APIs

These are general personalization system integration methods that you can use to connect with the tracking service. Instead of using the native integrations, you call the HTTP endpoints directly to integrate with the core personalization tracking API, and send and receive tracking data and recommendations in JSON format.

Importing data

For Episerver Commerce sites, the core part of the personalization functionality consists of a catalog product feed providing the input data, combined with a tracking script that enables Episerver to track behavior and serve suitable recommendations. When you set up the personalization, you configure the feed and import the source data.

See Data import guides.

Personalization API

The Personalization API is used for personalization customization. This API contains header information, endpoints, and response messages for tracking and recommendations. The client calls the Personalization API that (primarily) returns product or content recommendations, to be used in various output channels.

See Personalization API.

Profile Store and Visitor Intelligence

Depending on how personalization is set up for your solution, you may use Episerver Profile Store and Visitor Intelligence.

Episerver Profile Store, also known as the Episerver Customer Data Management Platform, stores tracking data, which can then be processed and used for data visualization, and visitor profile segmentation.
Episerver Visitor Intelligence is the user interface for data visualization and profile segmentation.

See Visitor Intelligence and Personalization to learn how to set up tracking clients and the profile management user interface.

Feature-specific configurations

Below are instructions for some product/feature-specific configurations.

Email Product Recommendations

Enabling use of hashed IDs when using Episerver Campaign. Contact Episerver to provide the mapping of email addresses to pseudonymized IDs, and Episerver will configure this in the Personalization Portal.

Product Recommendations

Contact Episerver to configure these features:

Allow updated orders to affect personalization.
Multi-site support for recommendations.

Content Recommendations

Contact Episerver to configure availability in Episerver DXP regions - East/West US, EMEA, APAC.