Trigger: Customer Participates in Social Commerce

Use this trigger in a dialog activity to begin or continue the activity as soon as a customer participates in social commerce activities on your site a specified number of times.

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, 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 has liked the Facebook homepage, send the customer a customer appreciation email. Then, issue the customer a coupon for 10% off an order that is placed in the next 30 days.


Example 1: Customer Participates in Social Commerce

Example 2

In this example, the trigger is used to populate a customer segment that consists of customers who participated in any type of social commerce activity, but the activity 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 clicks the Facebook like button for a product in the Digital Cameras category, add the customer to the Customers Interested in Digital Cameras customer segment.


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.
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.
Inappropriate activity reported
The customer reported an improper blog entry or photo.
Activity filters Optional: Specify additional criteria that the social commerce activity must meet. For example, you might 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.

The following are the 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 might 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 might 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.
More 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 Example 1, 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 take these steps:
    • 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 might 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 tracked by the trigger only if the shopper connected the store to their Facebook account and authorized the store's application. If the shopper clicks the Like button without authorizing the application, no Facebook activity is tracked. 'Unlikes' are not tracked by the marketing engine.