Channels are the digital spaces—website, email, or mobile app—where you interact with your customers to collect first-party data and store it in their profiles.
Types of channels
Website channel: Use for customer interactions on your website. Define it by hostname and aliases.
Email channel: Use for sending emails from BlueConic or an integrated external emailing system and tracking traffic from those emails to other channels.
Application developers can refer to the BlueConic REST API documentation for information on accessing channels in BlueConic applications.
Before you begin
Confirm you have access to add and modify channels in BlueConic.
Identify all platforms or touchpoints where your organization interacts with customers/that should be added to BlueConic.
Determine if you'll utilize channel positions (read below) or not.
Add a channel
Select Settings > Channels & BlueConic hostnames from the main menu.
Click Add channel.
Select the channel type: Website, Email, or Mobile.
Set up a Website channel
Enter the hostname of your website (e.g., "www.taylorshop.com" or "taylorshop.com"). Click Confirm address.
Select the domain or add a new one. Click Confirm domain.
A BlueConic hostname is generated.
Select the checkbox to send DNS setup instructions to yourself
Enter a recipient email and click Add to send them to others.
Click Confirm BlueConic hostname.
Click Show JavaScript tag to copy the custom BlueConic script and add it directly to the head tag of your website.
Or, click Email instructions to send the script to your developers for them to apply it.
Click Onwards.
BlueConic will check if the Google Chrome extension is installed. If not, install it. Otherwise, click Onwards.
BlueConic will detect viable connections for this channel. Click the connection to add it. Skip this step if you want to add connections later. Click Onwards.
Review your channel and click Create channel.
Set up Mobile & Email app channels
Enter the channel name.
(Optional) Select from your computer to add a channel logo.
(Mobile only) Enter the App ID (ex: com.blueconic.app)
Select the domain this app belongs to.
(Optional) Click Add a position for this channel.
Click Save.
Note: Localhost channels do not collect content or products for recommendations. For questions, contact BlueConic Support.
Channel positions
Channel positions are used to identify specific areas within a channel to display customized or personalized content. Once identified, configure dialogues to show tailored content to visitors in the position.
Define channel positions
Select Channels & BlueConic hostnames from the BlueConic settings menu.
Click the domain containing the channel where you want to add one or more positions.
Click Add position on the channel page under "Positions."
Enter a descriptive name for the position in the "Name" text box.
Define the position using the following options:
Enter a valid jQuery Selector to define the position on the page in the selector text box.
Or, click the Visual Picker to visually select the position on the page.
Click Save to store the position definition.
Edit a position
Click the name of the position you want to modify.
Make the desired changes using the picker or by entering valid jQuery.
Click Save.
Delete a position
On the Channel page, hover over the position you want to remove.
Click the X icon on the right.
Click Save.
Next steps
To ensure seamless communication between BlueConic and your customers' web browsers, configure BlueConic hostnames for your channels.
Connect relevant BlueConic listeners and connections to your channels to start gathering valuable customer data.
Create a channel identifier if you have multiple channels hosted on the same domain.