Regular Imports
To fully leverage the functionality of Bloomreach Engagement, it is necessary to ingest data on a regular basis. This includes transactional, customer, consent, and catalog data. There are multiple ways the data can be ingested into Bloomreach Engagement, which you can find outlined below. Please, review the individual responsibilities.
| Your responsibility | Bloomreach's responsibility |
|---|---|
| 1. Data validation and quality according to the Tracking document 2. File creation and upload in the correct format 3. Data mapping 4. Import execution | 1. Guidance 2. Connection QA 3. Data mapping QA |
Transactional data
In order to unlock the full potential of Bloomreach Engagement, it is necessary to ingest customer transactional data on a regular basis. This is imported in the form of 'purchase' and 'purchase_item' events with event attributes in accordance with the Tracking Document.
To learn more about importing transactional data, see our Importing events documentation.
The following integrations are available.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| URL Download | Purchase-related data will be uploaded to Bloomreach Engagement by importing XML or CSV file from a HTTPS secure URL. |
| File storage (e.g. SFTP) Download | Purchase-related data will be uploaded to Bloomreach Engagement by importing XML or CSV file via client-owned SFTP. Secure connection is ensured via exchange of credentials and SSH keys. |
| Tracking API | You will ensure a real time data stream via Bloomreach Engagement's API by sending single or batch requests. The body of the request must contain all necessary data for customer identification according to the event structure defined in the Tracking document. Make sure API setup contains appropriate authorisation header according to our documentation. |
| Database (SQL) | Purchase-related data (in CSV of XML format) will be imported from your SQL database, via the database connector present in the Bloomreach Engagement Import Wizard. You are responsible for building views and creating SQL queries used for ensuring secure data extraction. |
| BigQuery | Purchase-related data (in CSV or XML format) will be imported from your Google Big Query database, via the database connector present in the Bloomreach Engagement Import Wizard. You are responsible for building views and creating SQL queries used for ensuring secure data extraction. |
| Shopify | Bloomreach Engagement has a native integration with Shopify, which allows it to automatically pull regular transactional data and other events. You can learn more about it and how to set it up in our Shopify documentation. |
Customers
In order to accurately target customers with campaigns, it is necessary to import customer data on a regular basis.
To learn more about importing customer data, see our Importing customers documentation.
The following integrations are available.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| URL Download | Customer attributes will be imported in the form of CSV or XML file uploaded to HTTPS secured URL. |
| File storage (e.g. SFTP) Download | Customer attributes are imported in the form of CSV or XML file uploaded via client-owned SFTP. Secure connection is ensured via exchange of credentials and SSH keys. |
| Tracking API | You will ensure a real time data stream via Bloomreach Engagement's API by sending single or batch requests. The body of the request must contain all necessary data for customer identification according to the event structure defined in the Tracking document. |
| Database (SQL) | Customer attributes (in CSV or XML format) will be imported from your SQL database, via the database connector present in the Bloomreach Engagement Import Wizard. You are responsible for building views and creating SQL queries used for ensuring secure data extraction. |
| BigQuery | Customer attributes (in CSV or XML format) will be imported via Google BigQuery and you are responsible for setting up the connection with your BQ. You are also responsible for creating SQL queries for extracting respective data, as aligned with the data definitions present in the Tracking Document. |
| Shopify | Bloomreach Engagement has a native integration with Shopify, which allows it to automatically pull regular customer data and other events. You can learn more about it and how to set it up in our Shopify documentation. |
Consents
In order to accurately target customers with campaigns, it is necessary to import marketing communication preferences (opt-ins/opt-outs,etc) on a regular basis. These preferences are represented as 'consent' events in the Bloomreach Engagement platform following a predefined structure with all mandatory fields as detailed in the Tracking Document.
To learn more about importing consents (i.e. consent events), see our Importing events documentation. To learn more about consents in general, see our Consent management documentation.
The following integrations are available.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| URL Download | Customer consents will be ingested in the form of CSV or XML file uploaded to a HTTPS secured URL. |
| File storage (e.g. SFTP) Download | Customer consents will be imported in the form of CSV or XML file uploaded via client-owned SFTP. Secure connection is ensured via exchange of credentials and SSH keys. |
| Tracking API | You will ensure a real time data stream via Bloomreach Engagement API’s Add Event method. The body of the request must contain the necessary parameters as outlined in our documentation. |
| Database (SQL) | Customer consents (in CSV or XML format) will be imported from your SQL database, via the database connector present in the Bloomreach Engagement Import Wizard. You are responsible for building views and creating SQL queries used for ensuring secure data extraction. |
| BigQuery | Customer consents (in CSV or XML format) will be imported via BigQuery. You are responsible for setting up the connection with your BQ and for creating SQL queries to extract the necessary data in accordance with the data definitions present in the Tracking Document. |
| Shopify | Bloomreach Engagement has a native integration with Shopify, which allows it to automatically pull regular consent data and other events. You can learn more about it and how to set it up in our Shopify documentation. |
Catalogs
To leverage catalog data for campaigns, it is necessary to ensure the needed catalogs are regularly uploaded into the Bloomreach Engagement platform.
To learn more about importing catalogs, see our Importing catalogs documentation.
The following integrations are available.
| Type | Description |
|---|---|
| URL Download | Catalogs will be uploaded into Bloomreach Engagement in the form of CSV or XML file available on HTTPS secured URL. |
| File storage (e.g. SFTP) Download | Catalogs will be uploaded into Bloomreach Engagement in the form of CSV or XML file/s via client-owned SFTP. Secure connection is ensured via exchange of credentials and SSH keys. |
| Tracking API | You will ensure a real time data stream via Bloomreach Engagement's Catalog API. The body of the request must contain all necessary data for customer identification according to the event structure defined in the Tracking document. Note that the initial catalog import is more efficient through Bloomreach Engagement imports rather than APIs. |
| Database (SQL) | Catalogs will be imported (in CSV or XML format) from your SQL database, via the database connector present in the Bloomreach Engagement Import Wizard. You are responsible for building views and creating SQL queries used to ensure secure data extraction. |
| BigQuery | Catalogs (in CSV or XML format) will be imported via BigQuery. You are responsible for setting up the connection with your BQ and for creating SQL queries to extract the necessary data in accordance with the data definitions present in the Tracking Document. |
| Shopify | Bloomreach Engagement has a native integration with Shopify, which allows it to automatically pull regular catalog data and other events. You can learn more about it and how to set it up in our Shopify documentation. |
Troubleshooting
- Ensure that your tracking code is deployed according to the most up to date version of Tracking Document
- Verify that needed integrations are in place (e.g. SQL, BQ, SFTP)
- Make sure tracked data are available on the appropriate location (e.g. purchase data on appropriate BQ location)
Updating items in catalogs
We recommend you to update items in an existing catalog rather than deleting all items and reimporting them, for example, on a daily basis. The latter approach may lead to running campaigns referencing empty catalogs as there is a delay between a deletion request, the actual deletion, and the time when newly imported items become accesible.
We recommed:
- in case of inactive items or out-of-stock items:
- Update products and use an attribute to indicate when a product is out of stock or inactive. Then, in campaigns and recommendations, use an appropriate filter to filter out only active items or items in stock.
- in case of dramatic changes of the catalog feed on a daily basis (e.g., 1000 items on day 1, which become substituted with 800 different items on day 2)
- Implement an 'imported_timestamp' attribute. Then, in campaigns and recommendations, use an appropriate filter to include only items imported in the last 24 hours.
Updated about 1 year ago