Web Channel helps you increase your marketing campaign performance to drive retention, increase repeat purchases, and turn your anonymous Internet users into loyal customers by adding a crucial touchpoint to the channel mix: your website.
In this article
- What is Web Channel?
- How does Web Channel work?
- Why should I be using Web Channel?
- Supported functionality
- Getting started with Web Channel
- Browser support
- Web Channel - FAQ
Product documentation
End-user guides
- Before you start working with Web Channel
- Setting up a Web Channel campaign
- Creating an Embedded Web Channel campaign
- Creating an Overlay Web Channel campaign
- Creating a Ribbon Web Channel campaign
- Managing Web Channel campaigns
- Creating a Web Channel campaign for Automation Center
- Web Channel - Troubleshooting
Uses cases
- Web Channel - Uses cases for Overlay campaigns
- Web Channel - Uses cases for Embedded campaigns
- Web Channel - Uses cases for Ribbon campaigns
Training material - Visible for Signed-in users only.
What is Web Channel?
Web Channel allows you to display personalized content on your website using AI and all the customer information available in your Emarsys database, including real-time session data and historical CRM data.
Taking into account the device used and whether the visitor is new or an existing customer, it will always show the most relevant content at any given time, and continuously learns from the behavior of all your site visitors.
How does Web Channel work?
Web Channel allows you to create even multiple campaigns targeting specific customer segments by displaying personalized HTML content on your website. When visitors belonging to the segment arrive at your website they will see customized content you designed specifically for them. You can select the group of pages where you want to display this content as well as the frequency at which you want it to appear.
Only visitors who belong in the selected segment will see your Web Channel content.
Why should I be using Web Channel?
As an online marketer, you are putting so much time and effort into communicating the right message to your customers, by creating tailor-made offers that they cannot refuse or by telling them in a personally addressed email just how much you’ve missed them. But, even though you’re sending out the right messages and showing the right ads, are you also delivering that same type of personalized communication on your website?
Web Channel enables you to connect your website to all your available customer information, including offline and multi-channel interactions, to give your customers exactly what they’re looking for, and to turn your anonymous visitors into loyal customers and increase your customer base and revenue.
Supported functionality
- Custom HTML content with personalization
- Visual editor for inline editing
- Pre-built layout templates for a series of campaign tactics
- Overlay on entry and exit intent, or embedded content (e.g. banners).
- Target custom segments, all visitors, or only unidentified visitors
- Automation Center integration
- Fast-track campaign and blueprint creation for key use cases (e.g. contact acquisition)
- Reporting and performance dashboard
- Real-time filtering capabilities
Getting started with Web Channel
You must have completed steps 1 and 2 of the Emarsys data collection scripts implementation guide in order for Web Channel to work. You can check the health status of your implementation on the Data Sources page.
For detailed information, see Before you start working with Web Channel.
Browser support
On Windows desktop and macOS, Web Channel is supported on the current and the previous two releases of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari as well as on Internet Explorer 11. On mobile, we support Safari on iOS 8+ and Chrome on Android. On other platforms and browsers, Web Channel is not officially supported.
Web Channel - FAQ
Can my Web Channel campaign be connected to one domain only?
Yes. Even though an account can use more than one domain, a Web Channel campaign can only be connected to one. If there are more domains configured for the account, you need to select the one you want to use for the campaign. If you want to run a campaign on more domains, you can copy it and select another domain for the new campaign. For more information, see 1. Campaign settings.
Can I have more than one active Web Channel campaign?
Yes, it is possible to have multiple active campaigns. For information how where to see your active campaigns, go to Web Channel campaigns overview
Can I have a Web Channel campaign with multiple languages?
Yes, you can create your Web Channel campaign with multiple languages, according to the following options:
- Create your new Web Channel campaign and specify the language of your website language.
- Alternatively, you can use different CRM segments to target visitors with different language preferences.
- Create multiple campaigns with various languages and set a filter to the languages.
Can I add Predict Web Recommendations to the Web Channel campaign?
Yes, you can. For detailed information, see Web Channel - Uses cases for Embedded campaigns.
Can I edit JavaScript or HTML code in the campaigns for desktop and for mobile?
Yes you can. For information, see HTML editor.
How does Emarsys decide which version to show to visitors, If I have created Web Channel content in multiple languages? Does it depend on the website’s language or the CRM data?
You can either specify the website language when you create your campaign, or use different CRM segments to target visitors with different language preferences. You can create multiple campaigns in different languages, so you can filter to the languages. For more information, see General Settings.
Can I have performance/page load issues when loading Web Channel content?
No. All the JavaScript snippets are asynchronous, and no element of the infrastructure can slow your website or affect the visitor experience in any negative way, even in the case that the service is completely unreachable for the visitor (e.g. due to network issues). The worst case scenario is that Web Channel campaigns will not be displayed, without affecting the rest of the page.
How often does Web Channel refresh a segment?
A Web Channel campaign which is based on a segment is refreshed as soon as it is launched, and then every six hours. This means that contacts who have moved in or out of a segment can still be targeted until the next refresh. The refresh times are planned to be substantially reduced in a future release.