The main purpose of a naming convention is organization. Good naming helps you quickly find what you need, understand what items are used for, and share the information effectively with others.
This article provides guidance to help you create a naming convention that supports your needs today and continues to scale over time. These are our recommended best practices, but you should also adapt your naming to your particular team workflows and business requirements for maximum effectiveness.
Benefits of a good naming convention
Following a consistent naming convention offers several main benefits:
- Smooth operations: Clear naming makes events, templates, and strategies easy to find and understand. This reduces friction, supports faster decision-making, and helps you reach business goals faster.
- Better consistency: Good naming helps team members quickly understand assets and enables smoother collaboration across teams.
- High-level view: Well-structured names provide a clearer, more holistic view of your personalization efforts and landscape.
Guidelines for campaigns, experiences, and variations
Naming campaigns
Include the following elements:
Location: Where is the experience running?
Functionality: What does the experience do?
Example: Homepage Tabbed Recommendation
Pro tips
Use labels to distinguish asset types, such as:
Test (T)
Event (E)
CMS (CMS)
Use notes to document hypotheses or new test iterations.
Include an ID number (for example, Test001 or Event002).
Add audience information if the campaign targets a specific audience.
Naming experiences
Include the following element:
Audience: Who is served the experience?
Example
Low Intent Users
Naming variations
Include the following element:
Content: What content is being served?
Example
Most Popular Recommendations
Guidelines for templates
Include the following elements:
- Location: Where is the experience running?
- Functionality: What does the experience do?
- Date: Note the version or date to keep track of template iterations
Example: Homepage Tabbed Recommendations 6.25.22
Pro tip: Use notes to document changes in template design or functionality
Guidelines for strategies
Include the following elements:
- Location: Where is the experience running?
- Strategy: Algorithm and any custom filter rules
Example: Homepage Tab 1 - Popularity
Pro tip: Include the audience if applicable
Guidelines for custom events
Include the following elements:
- Location: Where is the experience running?
- Functionality: What action is being tracked? (click, scroll, download)
Example:
- Campaign name: Homepage Recommendations Tab 1 Click Event
- Labels: Event, do not delete
Pro tip: If this is a global event/campaign, include labels “event” and “do not delete” and also include global in the name (Global_FavoriteClick)
What does the final naming look like?
The following examples show how these best practices come together:
- Campaign: Homepage Tabbed Recommendations
- Experience: Low Intent Users
- Variation: Most Popular Recommendations
- Template: Homepage Tabbed Recommendations 6.25.22
- Strategy: Homepage Tab 1 - Popularity
- Custom event: Homepage Recommendations Tab 1 Click Event
- Audience: Low Intent