Use External Assets with MXO

As well as creating new graphics to use in your optimizations, you can also create external Assets that point to existing content you have available outside of MXO . This may include, for example, content managed and delivered by your Content Management System (CMS).

The benefits of using external Assets include allowing business users to reuse existing content without having to duplicate that content in MXO , maximizing the out-of-the-box capabilities of both MXO and your existing CMS.

For MXO to reuse your existing content, you must make that content externally accessible through a unique URL.

How does it work?

  1. A customer visits a page on your web site.
  2. Based on previous customer data, insight and context, MXO determines the next best conversation to have with the customer.
  3. MXO selects the next best conversation to have and requests the external Asset to display.
  4. The MXO Tag retrieves the external Asset using the reference URL that points to that content in your system.
  5. The MXO Tag injects the external Asset into the web page. Activity tracking, such as response clicks from the customer, are managed by MXO in the usual way.

When a customer visits a page on your web site, the MXO Tag requests any external Assets relating to the page asynchronously, as the page loads.

Additional parameters may also be passed to your existing CMS as part of the MXO Tag request. These parameters can be used to provide additional dynamic information to your CMS, enabling further personalization of the content being displayed to the customer.

Create external Assets

The workflow for creating external Assets to use in your web optimizations is a two-step process, as follows:

  • Locate the unique URL for your content in your CMS.
  • Create an External Asset in MXO .

To locate the unique URL for your content

  • In your CMS locate, and make a note of, the unique URL for the content you want to expose to MXO .

To create an external Asset in MXO

  1. In MXO , choose Actions & Assets.

  2. Click Manage Assets.

  3. On the Assets page, click Create.

  4. Provide the following details for your Asset:

    FieldDescription
    DescriptionOptional. A description for the Asset.
    Asset TypeSelect External asset from the drop-down.
    Content URLEnter the unique URL for the content in your CMS. For example: http://site.com/widget/1234 or http://site.com/widget/1234?status={}. Adding parameters to the URL allows MXO to pass AEP information to your CMS. Your CMS can use this information to further personalize the content returned to MXO .

  5. Click Save.

To view an external Asset in MXO

  1. On the Assets page, rest your cursor over the external Asset you wish to preview.
  2. Click the Preview button that appears for that Asset.
  3. On the Preview page, click Open in new tab to view the Asset.