E-mail Trigger Documentation
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      Category Interest Trigger

       

      This article will help you understand:

      • What a Category Interest Trigger is
      • Why you should use a Category Interest Trigger
      • How to use the Category Interest Trigger 
      • How to combine the Category Interest Trigger with product recommendations 

      🔍 Note: before you get started, it's essential to understand that Raptor isn't an e-mail marketing system, meaning it doesn't send e-mails directly. Instead, Raptor integrates with your chosen e-mail marketing provider, allowing you to utilize all of Raptor's functionalities alongside with the features in your e-mail marketing system.


      See all e-mail marketing systems Raptor works with here:  Raptor integrations

      What is a Category Interest Trigger?

      Imagine your users are browsing through your website, exploring various products. Naturally, some categories will catch their eye more than others. Even if a user doesn’t show enough interest in a specific product to activate a Product Interest Trigger, they might still be drawn to a particular category. This is where the Category Interest Trigger comes into play. 

      By leveraging the category interest trigger, you can send highly relevant emails tailored to the user’s preferences. This method ensures that the content and products they receive are exactly what they’re interested in, making your communication more effective and engaging. It’s like having a personalized shopping assistant who knows just what they like! 



      A Category Interest Trigger scenario could look like this:

      cit-flow

       

      The Category Interest Trigger fires when a category have been visited a selected number of times within a specific period.  

      A category is by Raptor defined as the category path send in the tracking when a user visits a product. 

       

      💡Example: a user visits a specific category 4 times within 7 days

      🔍 Note: if a user looks at multiple categories at least to times within 7 days, the Trigger will fire for the product the user visited the most times.

       

      How to work with categories

      The Category Interest Trigger utilizes the entire category path from the tracking parameter CategoryPath (P4), and defines it as one unique category. A category path describes the location of each product in the category hierarchy. It is a semicolon separated list of subcategories that starts with the top-level category. 

      💡 Example: 

      1#Clothing;12#Coates& jackets;123#Raincoats 

       

      The numbers 1, 12 and 123 indicates the categoryId  
      Clothing, coates & jackets and raincoats indicates the category name 

       

      Read more about the category path data format here (insert link!) 

      Setting up your category interest email template  

      When setting up your email templates in your email marketing provider, it’s a great idea to create a unique email for each category. The more specific the category, the higher the click-through rate (CTR) you’ll achieve with your triggers. 

      💡 Example: imagine you have a category path like this: 

        

      Kitchen equipment ; Kitchen appliances ; Airfryers. 

        

      In this case, it’s recommended to create a Category Interest Trigger email specifically for “Airfryers,” as this is the most specific category. By combining targeted communication and personalized product recommendations within the “Airfryers” category, you’ll provide a personal experience for your customers. 

       

      Creating unique emails for all categories is a comprehensive task. Therefore, Raptor suggests starting with your 3-5 most popular categories. Once these are set up, you can gradually add more categories. 

      🔍 Note: to find your most popular categories, you can use the website recommendation module " Most popular categories" 

       

      Sending data to you email marketing provider

      By default, the Raptor Category Interest sends the entire category path to your email marketing provider. Additionally, the trigger sends the ID from the lowest level in the category hierarchy. If you wish to target a different level, this can be adjusted in the trigger settings. 

        

      The ID is used to combine the Category Interest trigger with Raptor’s email recommendations. Typically, you would use the email method ‘popular items in category,’ which shows the most popular products in the category that the user has shown interest in. The module can also be set up to show the user’s personal preferences within the specific category they have shown interest in. 

      Trigger settings

      1. Runtime settings

      The Trigger trigger setup has two different runtime settings: 
      - Automated: the Trigger runs every hour.
      - Scheduled: the Trigger will run at a specific time. The schedule is custom, and can be customized to whenever you want the Trigger to fire. 

      💡 Example:  the Trigger runs every hour (12.00, 13.00, 14.00 etc.) to check for users who showed ‘category interest’

       


      2. Look back period

      Define how far back the Trigger should look to retrieve customer data. The longer the look back period, the more Triggers will fire. Raptor recommends a look back period between 7 - 14 days to ensure products remain relevant to the user.

       

      💡 Example: the Trigger utilizes the user's behavior within the last 7 days

       


      3. Visit occurences

      Choose how many times a user must visit a category before the Trigger fires. Note that the higher the minimum visit occurrence, the better the click-through rate and conversion rate, as it indicates a higher level of user interest in the category. However, this also leads to fewer triggers being sent, potentially resulting in lost revenue. Therefore, finding a sweet spot is essential. Raptor recommends setting the minimum visit occurrence between 3-4. 

       

      💡 Example: a category must be visited at least 4 times before the Trigger fires



      4. Waiting time

      Define the delay time that should pass before the user receives the Trigger. It is recommended that the Trigger fires shortly after the user has left the site to ensure conversion. We recommend that the Trigger fires between 1-2 hours after the last visit event.

       

      💡 Example: the Trigger should fire 2 hours after the user last visited the category



      5. Limit

      Choose how many Triggers the user may receive within a specific period. To avoid spamming the user, a limit can be set. Raptor recommends a limit where the user can receive a maximum of one Trigger per 24 hours. *The limit can be combined with other triggers such as Product interest, Abandoned basket, and Price drop product interest.

       

      💡 Example: the user may receive a maximum of 1 category interest trigger within 24 hours


       

      This is what the Trigger with the above mentioned settings will look like in the e-commerce funnel. Remember that all these settings are customizable (if a user visits the same product 3 times, an e-mail will be send after two hours. After this, the limit period will not send any other Category Interest e-mails for 24 hours):


      funnel-illu-categoryinterest

      Organizing your Triggers

      1. Execution order

      When you've activated multiple Triggers, you can set a priority to determine the order of your Triggers. The Trigger with the lowest index set in the execution order will activate first. For this to work, the Triggers set with execution order must activate simultaneously.

       

      💡 Example: if you've set up a Product Interest, Category Interest, and Abandoned Basket, you need to set all Triggers with the same latency to utilize execution order functionality.



      2. Trigger grouping

      Using the limit, you can ensure that the user receives only a specific number of Triggers within a certain period. With 'Trigger group', you can choose which Triggers should disqualify each other. In some cases, you may want a Trigger to always activate, regardless of what the user has received previously. For example, a Price-drop Trigger that only activates when there is sale on your website.

       

      💡 Example: suppose you have 4 Raptor Triggers in your setup: Product Interest, Abandoned Basket, Category Interest, and Price Drop Product Interest. The Trigger groups are set up, named ‘Group 1’ and ‘Group 2’:

      Group 1: contains Product Interest, Category Interest, and Abandoned Basket. These triggers can disqualify each other. So the user only receives one Trigger from the group within a specific period.

      Group 2: contains only the Price Drop Product Interest. This Trigger will always activate regardless of other Triggers the user has received, since it is in it's own group. The Trigger may disqualify itself, depending on the limit settings if there are multiple price drops in with a short interval.

       

      Data enrichment

      Raptor's Trigger events are enriched with data that can be used to provide a more personalized experience in your e-mail marketing tool.

      Raptor Category Interest Triggers always include:

      Data Description 
      RecommendedId
      		 The Id of the deepest category in the category path the user has visited 
      Recommended
      		The name of deepest catgegory the category path the user has visited 
      Categorypath
      		 The products category path 
      Timestamp
      		 The time the Trigger was fired 
      Eventname
      		 The name of the event fired to the last-mile system 
      EmailmarketingId
      		 E-mail or ID used in the e-mail marketing system

       

      Technical requirements

      Eventtype (P1): Visit 

      ProductId (P2): Your product ID must be sent in the tracking under P2 (ProductId) when a user visit a product.  

      CatrgoryPath(P4): A semicolon separated list of category IDs and names, corresponding to the breadcrumb path of the product.

      The data format should be: "CategoryId1#CategoryName1;CategoryId2#CategoryName2" etc. (e.g., "10#Outerwear;11#Jackets;12#Winthercoats”).

      If you prefer to show gender-specific products the correct tracking of categories is very important (e.g., "25#Menswear;11#Spring;10#Footwear,23#Boots”).

      If one of the parameters within this breadcrumb path is unavailable e.g., if the CategoryName is missing, then simply repeat the CategoryId (i.e. “25#25;11#11;10#10”). The same can be done if only the CategoryName is available. 

        

      RUID (Email Marketing ID): E-mail or other External identifiers for the e-mail marketing system must be set under RUID (Email Marketing ID). Read more about user tracking here. 

      Find tracking documentation here

      Since no products are fired no product catalog is needed for activation the Category Interest Trigger.  

      Combine the Trigger with e-mail personalization modules



      Most popular items in the category, sorted by personal preferences

      With the Raptor module “Popular items in category,” you show the user popular products from the specific category they have shown interest in.  

      But that’s not all! The module is smartly designed to cater to the users unique tastes. It can be tailored to highlight items based on personal preferences within the category. Whether it’s products they already explored or those that are similar to the past interests but haven’t yet caught their eye, Raptor ensures a personalized shopping experience. 



      E-mail example:

      cit-mail