Shopwares feature focus: Rule Builder | preview

In our feature focus series, we turn the spotlight on different features of Shopware. Today’s star: The Rule Builder | preview. Introduced with Shopware 6.4.15.0, it is included in all commercial plans. What are the benefits of this feature, what are its technical requirements, and how is it typically used? Find out in this blog post.

Content

How to use the feature

Examples of use

What is the feature for?

The Rule Builder | preview is linked to the Rule Builder, a key feature of Shopware, included in all plans, that enables you to create rules. You can apply these rules to individual business processes and to a whole range of areas, such as shipping costs, discounts, promotions, and much more.

Unlike the Rule Builder, the Rule Builder | preview is only available in our commercial plans. It provides a handy preview mode, allowing you to check the rules you’ve created in the administration rather than having to test them in your storefront. Preview mode offers you a faster, more convenient, and more effective way of locating any errors, helping ensure that you offer your customers a flawless customer journey.

The Rule Builder | preview is included in Shopware Rise, Evolve, and Beyond.

What are the benefits?

To appreciate the benefits of the Rule Builder | preview, it helps if you have a grasp of the Rule Builder itself and the possibilities it offers. The Rule Builder enables you to build rules that you can apply at various points in the administration and in the store. You can manage all the rules centrally in the admin and select and apply them in different modules.

Rule Builder

Create rules and use them to automate your specific business processes
Create complex workflows in just a few clicks – without any coding
Over 50 conditions you can use to set i__ndividual rules__
A whole range of use cases, including content management, shipping, payment, pricing, and promotions
Can also be combined with the Flow Builder for further configuration of automated business processes

The Rule Builder | preview is an additional feature for the Rule Builder and is only available in our commercial plans. Its benefits lie in the ability to test any rules you create. Perhaps you’ve omitted a key element? Maybe you aren’t sure how well the logic stacks up. You may notice with hindsight that something isn’t working as it should. This is where the preview mode helps. Testing rules with the preview is much easier and more convenient than having to click through your storefront, simulate the entire buying process, and repeatedly start again whenever you encounter an error.

Rule Builder | preview

Create new rules and check whether they work as planned
Test your rules in the administration using existing orders
Testing in the administration is more convenient, easier, and more effective than in the storefront and spares you a lot of clicking through screens
Quickly locate any errors in a rule’s structure so that everything works smoothly in your online store

How to use the feature

Are you already using a commercial Shopware version 6.4.15 or later? If so, you don’t need to install anything else and can try out the Rule Builder | Preview right away.

Here's how it works: You use the Rule Builder | Preview in the same way as the regular Rule Builder.

Under Settings > Rule Builder in the administration you can click on Create rule. (See the information or video below to find out how it works and what your options are.)
To activate Preview mode, you can click on the toggle switch within any Rule Builder rule you have created.

You can now use the preview mode and check whether your rule returns true or false in relation to a specific order.

Examples of use

There are numerous options when it comes to using the Rule Builder and the preview mode. We have outlined two examples below.

Example 1

Let’s say you are looking to win back customers who used to buy from you on a fairly regular basis but have not made any recent purchases. One way to entice these customers to make a new purchase would be to offer them free shipping.

Here’s what to do:

1) Use the Rule Builder to create a new rule and assign it to the category “Shipping”.

rule-disloyal-customers

2) The rule should only apply to customers who have already placed a total of five orders with you but have not made any orders in the past 12 months. As conditions within the rule, set the number of completed orders to “is greater than/equal to 5” and days since the last order to “is greater than 365”.

free-shipping-rule-retargeting-conditions

3) You can then save the rule and assign the shipping method “Free shipping” to the newly created rule. In this particular case, we’ve called the rule “disloyal customers”.

shipping-method-for-customer-group

4) Now you will want to test your newly saved rule – perhaps you’ve restricted it to a specific country or aren’t sure whether it competes with other rules? To check, you can now activate Preview mode for the rule and test it for a specific order and a specific date.

5) Did the test pass? Now all you need to do is let your “disloyal customers” know about the offer of free shipping on their next order (for example via the newsletter) – and you’re all set!

Example 2

You’ve created and publicized a promotional campaign. But now a customer has got in touch to say they can’t redeem their discount. The customer is eligible for the discount, so you need a quick way of finding out why they weren’t able to redeem it. The Rule Builder | preview makes it very easy to troubleshoot the error. Use the preview mode, select the customer’s order, and track down the error in the rule.

Other examples

Take a look at the Rule Builder | preview documentation to read about other examples.

Looking ahead: Are there plans to expand this feature?

The Rule Builder | preview is likely to be expanded in future releases. At present, the plan is to enable the use of the preview mode in other areas of the Shopware administration. There are also plans for a future release that will allow the feature to test with data other than the order data.

Find out more

If you are not yet familiar with the Rule Builder, it’s best to explore that first. The following video explains how the general Rule Builder works and how to create a rule in the Shopware administration.