Relevance-Aware Sponsored Product pin rules for product listing pages

This is for:

Merchandiser
Important

Contact your Coveo representative to enable Relevance-Aware Sponsored Products in your Coveo organization.

In the Product listings manager of the Coveo Merchandising Hub (CMH), merchandisers can define pin ranking rules to make specific products appear in specific numbered positions on one or more product listing pages (PLPs).

Relevance-Aware Sponsored Products is a CMH feature that lets merchandisers create a special type of pin rule that reserves one or more positions for sponsored products.

Sponsored pin rule for product listing pages | Coveo

A product listing page (PLP) can be viewed as a grid (or list) of products in numbered positions. These numbers correspond to their ranking when they’re returned from the Coveo index.

A pin rule reserves a specific numbered position for a specific product or sponsored product, regardless of that product’s actual ranking. However, pin rules with the same target can conflict with one another, so merchandisers must not create multiple pin rules that target the same position for the same listing pages.

Example

The first four products returned for the Canoes PLP are the following:

1 2 3 4

Orangecraft canoe

Bluewater canoe

Kayaker canoe

Ocarina canoe

You create a pin rule to reserve position 2 for the product Aqua Blue canoe. The first four products on the PLP are now the following:

1 2 (reserved) 3 4

Orangecraft canoe

Aqua Blue canoe

Bluewater canoe

Kayaker canoe

Sponsored products can be defined manually in the CMH, or they can be sent by third-party retail-media networks at query time.

When you preview your listing page in the CMH, numbered positions that have been reserved for sponsored products will be marked with coin in the upper-right corner.

Prerequisites

Before you create rules in the Coveo Merchandising Hub (CMH):

Pin rule conflicts

Pin rules override the content that should otherwise appear at a specific position on a product listing page (PLP). This includes other product pins or sponsored product pins that target the same position, so merchandisers must not create multiple pin rules that target the same position for the same listing page.

Pin rule conflicts are resolved as follows:

  • If there’s a conflict between product pins, priority is given to the most recent product pin rule.

  • If there’s a conflict between a product pin and a sponsored product pin, the sponsored product pin always takes precedence. However, if there are no sponsored products to feature in the reserved position, then any product pin rules for that position apply as normal, with priority given to the most recent product pin rule.

  • If there’s a conflict between sponsored product pins, priority is given to the most recent sponsored product pin rule.

Example

On March 1, you create a rule that pins the product "Eco-Bag" at position 2 on the Accessories|Bags PLP.

On March 5, you create a sponsored product pin rule that targets position 2.

On March 10, you create another rule that pins the product "Limespace DryBag" at position 2 on the Accessories|Bags and Accessories|Bags|Drybags PLPs.

Regardless of when these pin rules were created, the sponsored product pin rule takes precedence and reserves position 2 for a sponsored product.

When a user navigates to the Accessories|Bags PLP, the sponsored product is pinned at position 2.

If a sponsored product isn’t defined, "Limespace DryBag" is pinned at position 2.

Create sponsored product pin rules

To create sponsored product pin rules

  1. In the CMH, access the Product listings manager.

  2. From the navigation tabs, select ranking rules and then click Create ranking rule.

  3. Under This rule will apply to, define the scope of the rule.

    1. Locale: Select the locale that the pin rule applies to. By default, a rule applies to all available locales.

    2. Audiences: Select the audience that the pin rule will target. You can choose between predefined audience profiles or create custom profiles. You can only select one audience profile per rule.

      Important

      The Audience option is currently in early access. Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to enable this option.

      • All visitors: By default, the rule applies to all visitors.

      • Device & technology: Target visitors visiting a storefront using a specific device type. The device type is determined by the information sent by the visitor's browser, not by the device’s screen size. Available options are:

        • Desktop: Encompasses desktop computers and laptops.

        • Mobile: Encompasses all mobile phones.

        • Tablet: Encompasses all tablets.

      • Visitor type: Target the visitors who are logged into the storefront or those who aren’t.

      • Your audiences: Create a custom audience profile that you can reuse in other rules sharing the same property. After a custom audience profile is created, it can’t be changed once the rule is published. If all rules containing a custom audience profile are deleted, the custom audience profile will no longer be available as an option when creating new rules.

    3. listing page: sponsored product pin rules are only available when the rule is scoped to specific listing pages. If you choose All listing pages, the pin option is hidden.

      To scope the rule to specific listing pages:

      1. Select Specific listing pages.

      2. Select an Operator.

        • Is: This operator identifies listing pages that exactly match the specified value. For example, you can use it to create a rule that only targets the listing page accessories.

        • Page name contains: This operator identifies listing pages where the specified value is found within the full value of the listing page name. For example, you can use it to create a rule that targets all listing pages whose name contains the term accessories, including Accessories|Bags and Accessories|Life Jackets.

        • Page URL contains: This operator identifies listing pages where the specified value is found within the full value of the listing page URL. For example, you can use it to create a rule that targets all listing pages whose URLs contain the term kayak, including sports.barca.group/plp/canoes-kayaks and sports.barca.group/plp/canoes-kayaks/kayaks/sea-kayaks.

      3. Select one or more listing pages that the pin rule applies to.

      4. Click Done.

  4. Under Choose an action, select Pin.

  5. Select Sponsored to use Relevance-Aware Sponsored Products.

  6. Under Position in results, select one or more values from the dropdown menu.

    In the preview, the position will show the label Sponsored instead of a product, and coin-filled will be visible in the upper-right corner.

  7. (Optional) Enable the Define manually toggle to select items from your index that you want to appear in the reserved positions. Manually defined products are added to the list of available candidates alongside any candidates sent by a third-party retail-media network at query time. If the API candidates can’t fill every reserved position, the most relevant manually defined product that passes the filters fills the remaining spots.

    • In the search box, search for and select one or more items from your index.

  8. Click Next: Review and publish.

  9. Review your rule configuration.

    Tip
    Leading practices

    Use the panel on the right to preview how the rule affects the products on the listing page for a given locale.

    The preview is an approximate simulation that won’t cover every scenario encountered in a live environment.

  10. Click Next: Publish.

  11. Under Rule name, enter a meaningful name for your rule.

  12. Under Choose when to publish, select one of the following:

    • To apply the rule immediately, select Publish now.

    • To set a schedule for the rule, select Set a schedule, and then select the time frame in which the rule should apply.

  13. Click Publish now.

The rule now applies or will apply as scheduled.

Modify sponsored product pin rules

To modify sponsored product pin rules

  1. In the CMH, access the Product listings manager.

  2. From the navigation tabs, select ranking rules.

  3. Locate the rule that you want to modify.

  4. Click dots, and then click Modify.

  5. You can modify the rule’s scope (Locale, Audiences, or listing page) or its configuration by clicking Edit on the relevant card. These are the same settings covered in the rule creation section.

    Important

    The Audience option is currently in early access. Contact your Customer Success Manager (CSM) to enable this option.

  6. When you’ve finished editing the rule, or to modify its publishing settings, click Next: Publish.

  7. Update the publishing settings, if applicable, and then click Publish now.

The modified rule now applies, or will apply as scheduled.

Copy sponsored product pin rules

To copy sponsored product pin rules

  1. In the CMH, access the Product listings manager.

  2. From the navigation tabs, select ranking rules.

  3. Locate the rule that you want to copy.

  4. Click dots, and then click Copy to…​.

  5. In the Copy rule modal that opens, you can choose whether to copy the rule to other properties or listing pages.

    • To copy the rule to other properties:

      1. Select Property and click Next.

      2. Use the dropdown menu to select one or more properties.

        Important

        If any of the listing pages that the rule is scoped to don’t exist in the target property, you’ll see an error message and be unable to proceed with the copy.

        The error message will list the listing pages that are missing from the destination property.

      3. Click Confirm copy.

    • To copy the rule to other listing pages (if applicable):

      1. Select listing page and click Next.

      2. Use the dropdown menu to select one or more listing pages.

      3. Click Confirm copy.

The rule is copied to the target properties or listing pages.

Delete sponsored product pin rules

To delete sponsored product pin rules

  1. In the CMH, access the Product listings manager.

  2. From the navigation tabs, select ranking rules.

  3. Locate the rule that you want to delete.

  4. Click dots, and then click Delete.

  5. Click Delete again to confirm.

The rule is deleted.