Syncing Variations Using a Variation Feed

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You can use a variation feed to create and edit experiences with multiple variations. This can be helpful if you have an experience with many variations that needs to be frequently updated. For example, a homepage banner with 10 different creatives that are updated daily. 

To set up a variation feed, you need a template that will define the look and feel of the variations, and a variation feed that will define the content. The template’s variables will define any elements of the variations that will change (e.g. button color), and the variation feed will define the different values for those variables (e.g. blue, red, orange). 

When an experience is synchronized with the variation feed, modifying the contents of the variation feed will modify the variations in the experience.

1. Design Your Template

Create a template that will be used for each of your variations. Define the variables for the items that will change in each variation. 

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2. Create Your Feed File

Create a CSV file with one row for each variation you want to create. There should be one column for each variable you defined in the template. Additionally, there should be a column that will define the variation name and a column that will define the ID of each variation.

3. Upload the Feed File to Dynamic Yield

  1. Go to Assets › Data Feeds.
  2. Click Add New and select Variation Feed.
    create_new.png
  3. Specify a Feed Name and add any internal notes and labels if desired. 
  4. Specify the URL of the feed file (recommended), or upload it directly to Dynamic Yield.
    specify_feed_source.png
  5. If you specified a URL, click Advanced Settings to define how often you want to synchronize the feed. 
    sync_settings.png
  6. Click Preview to view some of the feed data and verify the content. 
  7. Verify that the Unique Key is mapped to the column that contains the variation ID. Otherwise, use the dropdown to adjust the value to the correct column.
    preview.png
  8. Verify that the Variation Name Key is mapped to the column that contains the variation name. Otherwise, use the dropdown to adjust the value to the correct column.
  9. Click Save and Activate.

4. Create Your Campaign

Create the campaign that will contain the experience with your variations. The campaign type must match the template you created.

  1. Define the campaign name and other campaign settings and click Next.
    variation_feed_campaign.png
  2. Define the targeting conditions and click Next.
    campaign_targeting.png
  3. In the Variations tab, click syncing it with a Data Feed.
    sync_with_variation.png
  4. Select the template you created above.
    select_template.png
  5. In the template, select the variation feed.
    select_feed_in_template.png
  6. In the template, map the feed columns to the template variables.
    map_columns_to_variables.png
  7. You can exclude variations that exist in the feed from this experience. This is used if you are using the same data feed for more than one experience, and some of the variations only belong in one of the experiences. 
    exclude_variations.png
  8. Click Sync Variations. The variations are added to an experience in the campaign.
    experience_with_variations_before_publish.png
  9. Click Save Experience and Save and Publish. 
  10. You can edit the contents of the variation feed anytime to automatically update the experience. Changes will be synchronized according to the synchronization settings of the variation feed.