All recommendation strategies are ready out of the box without need for managing by exception, but we know certain business objectives require rules to ensure results match a certain business need. In those cases, merchandisers can create Searchandising rules to influence Recommendations results. The available Searchandising rule options are Boost, Bury, Slotting, Blocklisting or Show only rules. For more details about Searchandising rule types, refer to our article about Searchandising .

Note: currently, only Alternative, Bundles, or Complementary strategy based recommendations pods can be searchandised.

How to create rules

Searchandising rules are available under the Recommendations section of the dashboard and in the tab called Rules. From the Rules tab, you can view, edit, delete, and create new Searchandising rules.

A new rule can be created by clicking the Add New button on the top of the page, and selecting the dropdown menu option Recommendations rule. Next, choose which pod(s) to apply rule effects. A single recommendations rule can affect up to 5 recommendations pods. The image below shows selecting the pod and the list of all selected pods for this rule.

Once you have added pods, select the condition where the rule should apply: either on a specific item page or on any item page where a specified attribute is present. For an attribute example, as seen below, if the item is from Disney Print Scrub category, then apply the selected rules. After selecting a condition, rules will be added to create the desired effect on Recommendation results.

After creating at least 1 searchandising rule, continue to review and save the recommendations rule. The rule effect(s) will be applied to the pods selected and when the item or attribute condition is met.

Pod level rules

Rules are now applied to pods and not Recommendation strategies. Previously, Recommendation rules were created at the strategy level, meaning merchandisers chose a strategy, Complementary, then added a rule, Boost On Sale was created, then that rule applied to every pod that used the complementary strategy. Now rules can be applied to one or more pods, allowing merchandisers to promote different products on a PDP, in Cart, or in a follow on email.

Pod level rules are being rolled out on a gradual basis to all Recommendation subscribers. If you have any questions on pod level rules on your account, please reach out to your customer success manager for more information.

Pod level rule capabilities

Pod level rules can be applied at the pod level. In the past, rules could only be applied to item strategies and pods, the pods using the alternative, bundles, or complementary strategies. We are rolling out the ability to add rules to any pod, regardless of strategy type.

One notable exception is the filtered strategy. The filtered strategy is meant to inherit Browse ranking and takes a request time filter to return products that meet the filter criteria. This pod will apply any allow list or block list rules created, but it will not use any slotting, boost, or bury rules applied to the pod. There will be guardrails in place to turn off this functionality from any filtered items pods. If you have a use case where you need to have more granular searchandising with filtered arguments, we recommend using the bestsellers strategy as any and all searchandising rules can be applied.