Creating Explicit Recommendations

Using the explicit recommendations feature, you can:

Create, update, sort, and delete recommendations
Use standard or custom attributes for additional functionality
Import and export recommendations with a catalog

Explicit recommendations are organized by source object within Business Manager, reflecting the fact that they have a sort order within a source object. You can extend the explicit recommendations feature. Recommendation Type is a system attribute that you can configure by selecting Administration > Site Development > System Object Types. For example, you can add more types and configure the labels.

Note:

The following instructions work for explicit recommendations, not for product recommendations.

To create a new recommendation, select site > Merchant Tools > Products and Catalogs > Recommendations (or access a product's Recommendations tab through the Product Editor):
1. On the Select Catalog page, select the catalog where you want to add recommendations.
2. On the Product Recommendations tab, click New.
3. On the Select Recommendation Source page, enter the valid product ID of the product for which you are creating recommendations, or browse the list of products.
4. Click to browse for a product.
5. On the Select Product page, search for a product or enter a product ID in the search field.
  
  The Select Recommendation Source page reopens with the product ID pre-filled.
6. Click Next >>.
7. On the Select Recommendations Type page, select the type of recommendation to create.
  
  1 (Product Detail Page - Cross Sell): in SiteGenesis: the product appears on the product detail page in the You Might Also Like section. This selection is the most common.
  
  2 (Category Landing Page - Featured Item): not implemented in SiteGenesis. Requires a new template.
  
  3 (Other): not implemented in SiteGenesis. Requires a new template.
8. From the list, select the products to recommend.
9. On the Select Recommendations Targets page, click Finish.
To create category recommendations, select site > Merchant Tools > Products and Catalogs > Recommendations (or access a product's Recommendations tab through the Product Editor):
1. Select the required catalog.
2. On the Category Recommendations tab, click New.
3. Enter a valid category ID of the category for which you are creating recommendations, or browse for list of categories.
4. Click to browse for a category.
5. On the Select Category page, search for a category or enter a category ID in the search field.
6. Click Select.
  
  The Select Recommendation Source page reappears with the category ID pre-filled.
7. Click Next >>.
8. Select the recommendation type, as above.
9. From the list, select the products to recommend.
10. Click Finish.
To edit an existing recommendation, select site > Merchant Tools > Products and Catalogs > Recommendations.
1. Select a catalog.
2. On the Product Recommendations tab, or the Category Recommendations tab, click Edit.
  You can change the properties of a target product, such as recommendation type, descriptions, callout messages and image specifications.
3. On the Product Recommendation Details page or the Category Recommendation Details page, click Sort.
  On the Recommendations for Product page, or the Recommendations for Category page, you can change the order in which the target products appear in the storefront. You might have to select a recommendation type first, then use the sorting arrows to change the position.
4. On the Product Recommendations tab, or Category Recommendations tab, select one or more products or categories and click Delete to delete recommended products from the list.