Trigger: Customer Participates in Social Commerce (enhanced)

Use this trigger in a dialog activity to begin or continue an activity as soon as a customer participates in social commerce activities on your site a specified number of times. This trigger is enhanced to provide you with the ability to specify social commerce activity types and filters. With these options, you can define the type of social commerce activity that a customer must participate in on your site and what criteria that social commerce activity must meet before the dialog activity begins or continues.

Feature Pack 2 WebSphere Commerce Version 7.0.0.0 Feature Pack 1 Use the original version of this trigger. For more information, see Trigger: Customer Participates in Social Commerce.

If your site supports social commerce activities such as product reviews, blogs, and photo galleries, then this trigger provides a means to reach out to customers when they participate. Rewarding customers for their participation can build loyalty and inspire further participation.

When you activate a dialog activity that uses the Customer Participates in Social Commerce trigger, the server begins recording social commerce interactions for all customers. When the interactions for a customer meet the criteria that are set for the trigger, then the activity begins or continues for that customer.

Example 1

Here is an example of a dialog activity that uses this trigger effectively:

When a customer creates a product review at least three times, send the customer a "reviewer appreciation" email. Then, issue the customer a coupon for 10% off an order that is placed in the next 30 days.

The dialog activity looks like the following activity:
Example 1: Customer Participates in Social Commerce

Example 2

In this next example, the trigger is used to populate a customer segment that consists of customers who participated in any type of social commerce activity. The activity, however must relate to digital cameras. The trigger is set up with a category-based Activity filter so that only customers whose social activities are in the Digital Cameras category are added to the customer segment.

When a customer participates in any social commerce activity in the Digital Cameras category, add the customer to the "Customers Interested in Digital Cameras" customer segment.

The dialog activity looks like the following activity:
Example 2: Customer Participates in Social Commerce

As the trigger populates the customer segment with more customers over time, you can market to these customers with campaigns and promotions for digital cameras.

Prerequisite for using this trigger

Configure the Management Center to support marketing features.

Guidelines for using this trigger

Set up this trigger by using any of the options in the following table:


Option	Description
Activity type	Specify the type of social commerce activity that a customer must participate in on your site to start or continue this dialog activity. You can specify one of the following options: Any social commerce participation The customer did any of the social activities that are described in this Activity type list. Clicked Facebook Like for home page The customer clicked the Facebook Like button for the store's home page. Clicked Facebook Like for product The customer clicked the Facebook Like button for a product. Deprecated featureReview created The customer created a product review with a star rating, title, and comment. Deprecated featureComment posted The customer posted a comment about a blog or a photo. Deprecated featurePhoto uploaded The customer uploaded a photo to the photo gallery. Deprecated featureBlog created The customer created a blog or a blog entry. Deprecated featureBlog or photo recommended The customer recommended a blog or photo, for example, the customer gave a photo a "thumbs up." Deprecated featureInappropriate activity reported Deprecated featureThe customer reported an improper blog entry or photo.
Activity filters	Optional: Specify additional criteria that the social commerce activity must meet. For example, you could specify that the review created must have a star rating of at least three stars, or that comments posted must be for the Furniture category. The activity filters vary depending on the Activity type you selected. To specify multiple activity filters, you can add more than one row to the Activity filters table. If you specify multiple activity filters, the social commerce activity must match all filter criteria to trigger the dialog activity. You can specify any of the following activity filters: Star rating Specify how many stars the customer must give the product that they reviewed, for example, at least three. This activity filter applies only to the Review created activity type. Manufacturer name Specify the manufacturer of the product that the customer reviewed. For example, you could specify that the review must be for a product that is manufactured by IBM. Type the manufacturer name exactly as it displays in the Manufacturer field in the Catalogs tool. This activity filter applies only to the Review created and Clicked Facebook Like for product activity types. Category Specify one or more categories or subcategories in the store catalog that the social commerce activity must apply to. For example, you could specify that the blog must be created in the Furniture category, or that the review must be about a product in the Digital Cameras category. This activity filter applies to all activity types except Inappropriate activity reported and Clicked Facebook Like for home page. Catalog entries Specify one or more catalog entries that the customer must review. For example, you could specify that the review must be for the Enzo Espresso Machine. This activity filter applies only to the Review created and Clicked Facebook Like for product activity types.
Times	Specify how many times a customer must do the social commerce activity that is defined in this trigger.
Time frame	Specify the time frame during which the customer must do the social commerce activity that is defined in this trigger.

Additional guidelines:

In most cases, dialog activities that use this trigger should not be set as repeatable. A repeatable activity allows a customer to experience the activity multiple times. In the first example in this topic, if the activity were set as repeatable, then a single customer would get an email and a coupon every time they created three reviews. The Repeatable check box is in the general properties for the dialog activity; by default it is not selected.
Customers can abuse dialog activities in which they are rewarded for social commerce participation. To minimize the potential for abuse, you can:
- Make rewards available for only a limited time.
- Avoid creating dialog activities that encourage customers create insincere product reviews or recommendations to get a reward. For example, rewarding customers only if they post five-star product reviews might affect the credibility of your social commerce community.
- Avoid rewarding customers with coupons or promotion codes that can be used by anyone.
- Offer rewards that have indirect benefits, such as Example 2, which adds the customer to a customer segment rather than issuing a reward directly.
- Use targets in your dialog activities so that rewards go to customers with a specific relationship with your store. For example, you could include the Purchase History target in the dialog activity. Doing so means that rewards go to customers who purchased something from your store in the past.
- Monitor reward usage for patterns of abuse.
When you use Facebook integration, Facebook has specific policies about the use of marketing triggers that must be followed. For more information, see Facebook Platform Policies.
Facebook "Like" events are only tracked by the trigger if the shopper connected the store to their Facebook account and authorized the store's application. If the shopper simply clicks the Like button without authorizing the application, no Facebook activity is tracked. 'Unlikes' are not tracked by the marketing engine.