Campaign control - WEBSALE Dokumentation

A campaign switches parts of your shop over for a defined period of time. Typical example: on two weekends a year you ship free of charge, and during that time a banner appears on the home page. What makes this special is the division of labor. A campaign is set up once, by someone who knows their way around configuration and templates. Later, the merchant switches it on and off themselves, without anyone having to touch the configuration or templates.

This function must be activated for your shop by WEBSALE AG.

Services and tasks

Service	Who works with it	Purpose
Konfiguration, KampagnenManager tab	whoever sets up the shop	Create campaigns and define which content they replace
KampagnenSteuerung	the merchant	Create, change and delete schedules

Both services are located in the online service area.

The building blocks of a campaign

Building block	Purpose
Campaign ID	names the campaign. It appears in the configuration and templates
Config entry ID	names one place in the configuration that this campaign switches
Schedule	defines when the campaign is active. Multiple periods per campaign are possible

The second level is the reason the system is so powerful. A “shipping cost reduction” campaign can switch UPS costs and DHL costs at the same time, with different values. To do so, it gets two config entries, for example ups-versandkosten and dhl-versandkosten.

Use meaningful IDs. They will later appear in the configuration and in the templates, and an ID like Kampagne1 is worthless there. Write down both IDs when you create them; you will need them verbatim in the next steps.

What you should know about campaigns

Point	Rule
Scope	Campaigns are created for the whole shop and activated per subshop
Number	initially up to ten campaigns. The limit can be raised on request
Periods	any number per campaign
Time zone	configurable, so that the time zone of the respective region applies
Notice areas in templates	any number
Config entries	any number

Campaign tags work in all editable subshop-specific configuration files, that is, in .dat and .config files of the respective subshop, for example also in country.dat. They do not work in global configuration files.

Guide: Configuration types

The `WS-Campaign` tag in two roles

The same tag works differently in two places.

Location	Notation	Effect
Configuration file	$WS-Campaign(Kampagnen-ID,Config-Eintrag-ID)$	is replaced by the stored content, depending on whether the campaign is active
Template	`{WS-Campaign(Kampagnen-ID)}…{/WS-Campaign(Kampagnen-ID)}`	section that only appears during the campaign

In the configuration, there are two parameters and dollar signs as brackets; in the template, one parameter and the curly section brackets. If you mix up the notations, you do not get an error, you simply get no effect.

Creating a campaign

The running example is a campaign versandfrei that changes the shipping costs of a shipping provider and displays a banner.

Step 1: Prepare the affected configuration lines

In the Konfiguration service, open the shop configuration of the subshop in question and find the lines the campaign should change. Copy them into a separate editor window and create two versions: the previous values for the time without the campaign and the new values for the time with the campaign.

This preparation pays off because you can transfer both versions directly into the campaign config entry and you do not lose the original content.

Step 2: Create the campaign

Switch to the KampagnenManager tab.
Move the mouse pointer over the Kampagnen title bar in the navigation area and click the document icon that appears.
In the dialog window, enter a name and campaign ID and define the basic settings.
Save. The campaign appears in the list in the navigation area.

Step 3: Create the config entries

Each place in the configuration that should be switched needs its own config entry.

Click the campaign in the list. Its definition appears on the right.
In the title row of the Kampagnen-Config-Einträge section, click the document icon.
Enter a name and config entry ID.
Under Inhalt (aktiv), enter the version for the running campaign, and under Inhalt (inaktiv), the version for the rest of the time. The inactive content is optional.
Save and create further entries as needed.

Related configuration lines, even an entire section, fit into a single config entry. So you do not need one entry per line, but one per place that is switched together.

Step 4: Insert the tag into the configuration

Open the shop.config of each assigned subshop, find the content in question and replace it with the tag.

<+Deliverer>
   Allow                = yes
   ID                   = 1
   Name-Txt             = UPS
   BasicCost-List       = $WS-Campaign(versandfrei,ups-versandkosten)$   # ohne Kampagne: (0:10)(200:8)
   NoCost-Txt           = %%ShopConfigDeliverer01NoCostTxt%%
   DeliveryCountry-Rule = AllowCountries
   DeliveryCountry-List = DEU
</+Deliverer>

Write the original content as a comment on the same line. Otherwise, after the replacement only a tag remains there, and months later nobody can tell which value applied before. When you dismantle the campaign, you will need exactly this value again.

Then save and activate. While the view is still open, check whether the config entries were applied.

Step 5: Create the area in the template

On every template you can set up an area that only appears during the campaign. This can be a sentence, a banner, a page section or a completely different page.

{WS-Campaign(versandfrei)}
   <img src="versandkostenbanner.jpg" alt="Dieses Wochenende versandkostenfrei bestellen">
{/WS-Campaign(versandfrei)}

The tag strictly requires a campaign ID as a parameter. Without a parameter, it returns nothing.

Reference: WS-Campaign()

Defining and changing schedules

The campaign is now set up, but has no effect yet. Only a schedule switches it on.

In the online service area, select your shop ID and the KampagnenSteuerung service.
Select the campaign on the left. Its definition appears on the right.
In the title row of the Zeitplan section, click the document icon and choose a start and end date.
Save. The period appears in the list of schedules.

To change a schedule, click the pencil icon in its row; to delete it, click the trash can icon.

Any user with the appropriate rights can maintain schedules. This is exactly why KampagnenSteuerung is a separate service: the merchant controls their own promotions without having to touch the configuration.

Checking a campaign in advance

You can view a campaign before its schedule takes effect.

In the Konfiguration service, on the Konfigurationen tab, open the shop.config of the desired subshop.
Click the test configuration icon at the top right of the title row.
Select the campaigns to be tested, including several, and click Testkonfiguration erstellen.
Call up the shop in test mode with the additional parameter.

https://www.beispielshop.de/?test=on&campaign-test=on
https://www.beispielshop.de/?test=on&campaign-test=off

The campaign test mode only works together with the shop’s test mode. campaign-test=on on its own does nothing.

In test mode, only inactive campaigns can be switched on. The reverse check, that is, switching off a running campaign for testing, is not possible this way. So plan the end of a promotion via the schedule and not via test mode.

Switching the campaign test mode on and off causes the shop to reload the configuration, once the test version and once the normal one. This is why the changed configuration values take effect immediately.

Guide: Switching the shop’s test modes on/off

Checking which campaigns are currently running

In the campaign list, there is a clock icon after each campaign. Green means the campaign is currently active according to its schedule; grayed out means inactive. You will find the list both in KampagnenSteuerung and in KampagnenManager.

The shop briefly caches the state of a campaign instead of determining it anew on every page request. A schedule change you have just made is therefore not reflected in the shop at the very same moment.

Dismantling a campaign

Before you delete a campaign definition, reset the affected places in the configuration to their original state and remove the areas from the templates. A tag whose campaign no longer exists leaves a gap in the configuration where a value used to be, for example for shipping costs.

Guide: Configuration types
Guide: Switching the shop’s test modes on/off
Reference: WS-Campaign()

​Services and tasks

​The building blocks of a campaign

​What you should know about campaigns

​The WS-Campaign tag in two roles

​Creating a campaign

​Step 1: Prepare the affected configuration lines

​Step 2: Create the campaign

​Step 3: Create the config entries

​Step 4: Insert the tag into the configuration

​Step 5: Create the area in the template

​Defining and changing schedules

​Checking a campaign in advance

​Checking which campaigns are currently running

​Dismantling a campaign

​Related topics

Services and tasks

The building blocks of a campaign

What you should know about campaigns

The `WS-Campaign` tag in two roles

Creating a campaign

Step 1: Prepare the affected configuration lines

Step 2: Create the campaign

Step 3: Create the config entries

Step 4: Insert the tag into the configuration

Step 5: Create the area in the template

Defining and changing schedules

Checking a campaign in advance

Checking which campaigns are currently running

Dismantling a campaign

Related topics