What is Recommendations?

Adobe Target Recommendations automatically suggests products, content, or offers based on previous user activity, preferences, and other criteria. It uses a catalog of items and behavioral data to determine what each visitor is most likely to engage with, increasing conversions and engagement.

When to Use

  • Product pages (cross-sell, upsell)
  • Homepage personalized recommendations
  • Cart page complementary products
  • Content/article recommendation engines

Key Algorithms

  • People Who Viewed This Viewed That
  • People Who Bought This Bought That
  • Most Viewed / Trending
  • Item-Based Similarity

How It Works

1
Upload product catalog via feed
2
Collect behavioral data (views, purchases)
3
Algorithm computes recommendations
4
Render in design template

๐Ÿ“ Experience Composers

Adobe Target Recommendations can be delivered via either the VEC (using design templates) or the Form-Based composer (for custom rendering). Both approaches use the same recommendation algorithms.

๐ŸŽจ Visual Experience Composer (VEC)

  • WYSIWYG editor โ€” place recommendation designs visually
  • Insert recommendation design into any page location
  • Uses renderDecisions: true
  • SDK auto-renders recommendation carousel/grid
  • Velocity templates for design customization
  • Best for: visual recommendation placement on pages

๐Ÿ“ Form-Based Experience Composer

  • Non-visual โ€” deliver recs data to named locations
  • Uses custom decisionScopes
  • Raw JSON product data returned for custom rendering
  • Full control over recommendation UI
  • Supports custom templates & frameworks
  • Best for: headless, SPAs, React/Vue components
// VEC: auto-render recommendation design
alloy("sendEvent", {
  renderDecisions: true // SDK renders recommendation carousel/grid
});

๐ŸŽจ VEC Demo โ€” Recommendation Hero

The hero section below contains elements targetable via the Visual Experience Composer. In a Recommendations activity, the VEC places a design template (carousel, grid) that auto-renders with algorithm-selected products.

Waiting for VEC propositionsโ€ฆ
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Products Youโ€™ll Love

Powered by collaborative filtering and content-based algorithms โ€” see products matched to your browsing behavior and preferences.

View Recommendations โ†’
#vec-hero-rec #vec-headline-rec #vec-subtitle-rec #vec-cta-rec

๐Ÿ’ก Create a Recommendations activity in Adobe Target using the VEC. Insert a recommendation design template into the hero area, choose an algorithm (e.g. "Viewed Also Viewed"), and the SDK auto-renders the products via renderDecisions: true.

๐Ÿ“ Form-Based Simulation โ€” Product Recommendations

Choose a product you're "viewing" and switch between recommendation algorithms to see how the results change. Each algorithm uses different signals to rank recommendations.

โ–ถ Select Recommendation Algorithm

๐Ÿ‘๏ธ Viewed Also Viewed
๐Ÿ›’ Bought Also Bought
๐Ÿ”— Similar Items
๐Ÿ‘ค Personalized for You
People Who Viewed This Also Viewed: Collaborative filtering based on co-view patterns. Shows products frequently browsed together in the same session by other visitors.

โ–ถ Currently Viewing

๐Ÿ‘Ÿ
Ultra Boost Running Shoes
Footwear โ†’ Running
$180.00
โญ 4.8 ยท 2,341 reviews ยท 847 purchases this week
๐Ÿ‘Ÿ Shoes
๐Ÿ“ฑ Phone
๐ŸŽง Headphones
๐Ÿ“ธ Camera

โ–ถ Recommended For You

Viewed
Algorithm
5
Recs Shown
0
Clicks
0%
Click-Through
Select a product and algorithm to see recommendationsโ€ฆ