How Does Selloscope Work?
There are three basic steps to using Selloscope: 1) Update Selloscope with sales data, content consumption data, or product ratings; 2) Selloscope crunches that data on its own servers; and 3) Request recommendations from Selloscope when you're ready for them.
Selloscope is the easiest recommendation engine to get started with because it's so straightforward to get your data into the system. Most clients use our drop-in JavaScript snippet, which provides full Selloscope functionality. Selloscope's API allows you to directly control the data you submit to Selloscope; using the API allows you to upload data selectively, during off-peak hours, or in bulk. However, if all that sounds too complex -- or if you don't have access to dedicated technology resources -- you can even upload a spreadsheet or CSV file (a great feature for email marketers and online merchandisers!) Just upload updated data when it becomes available, and your recommendations get updated in the background. No other recommendation engine comes close to offering this level of input flexibility.
What Information Does Selloscope Need From You?
First, Selloscope needs to know who's sending the information. When you register, you'll receive a Client ID and a PIN. This information tells Selloscope that you are who you say you are. Selloscope also needs some information that identifies your product or page. This can be a SKU, a Product ID or Product Name internal to your company, a file name, or even a URL -- anything less than 250 characters (we'll call this a "Product Identifier.") Lastly, Selloscope needs a User ID, a user email address, or a Session ID from the user or session in which the sale or page view took place (which we'll call a "User Identifier.") This is all you need to get started, and Selloscope is ready to accept additional attributes like user demographics, product category, rating, profitability, and price whenever you're ready.
Once Selloscope has the data it needs, it generates and loads your custom Relevancy Matrix. New records are typically processed within a few minutes of being received, even when you upload bulk data. Selloscope's Relevancy Matrix is a new generation of collaborative filtering technology -- based on cutting-edge research in cultural affinity -- that's been show to significantly outperform other types of recommendation engines on the market, including those used to compete in the Netflix Prize.
Offering Recommendations
When you're ready to offer a recommendation, retrieving a recommendation from Selloscope is as easy as sending an update: Send your request via JavaScript or the Web API, including your Client ID, PIN, a user identifier or product identifier (depending on the desired type of recommendation), the desired recommendation type, and the desired Number of recommendations. Selloscope responds by sending you one or more product identifiers. If you prefer, text strings can be returned in place of simple product id, and can make seemingly complex implementations easy. Alternatively, email marketers can simply upload a list of user identifiers in the Selloscope admin interface and receive a list of recommendations customized for each user; merchandisers can quickly and easily download a list of the best up-sell items for each product or user.
From here, it's up to you to offer these products to your users: present your best-converting or hottest new products to new visitors; present known users with highly customized recommendations at login; maximize up-sell conversion from the shopping cart; drive cross sell by making "More Like This" recommendations on your product detail pages. Or, download a list of best recommendations for each user or a list of best up sell recommendations for each product to use as you like.
Get started now using Selloscope with our no-risk free trial... send and receive up to a million server calls during your trial month, and you can even opt not to be auto-renewed when your trial ends. Or if all this sounds too complicated, use our wizard to see how easy implementation really is... all at no cost or commitment.
