# Preparing to Use Campaigns

Before you create Campaigns, ensure that you have performed the following appropriate steps.

Note: Campaigns and behavior tracking are not currently supported for anonymous, non-trackable users.

1. Create a Portal Application.
2. If you are using a BEA-compatible third-party content management system, make sure you have connected it to the BEA Virtual Content Repository using the WebLogic Administration Portal.
   If you are using the Virtual Content Repository directly, define types and add the content you want to use in your campaigns.
3. Create Placeholders - If you will display personalized Web content with Campaigns, create the placeholders that will retrieve and display the Web content.
4. Create User Segments - If you want to trigger Campaigns based on users who are grouped dynamically based on specific characteristics, create User Segments.
5. Create Property Sets - If you will trigger Campaigns based on properties of a user, event, HTTP session, or HTTP request, perform any of the following relevant procedures:

- Creating User Profile Properties
- Registering Custom Events
- Creating Session Properties
- Creating Request Properties

6. Create and Store E-mail Messages.
   If you are using your own e-mail server to send Campaign e-mails, perform the following steps:
   - In the WebLogic Administration Portal Server Administration tools, select Server Admin, add a mail service configurable item, and enter the SMTP Host Name for your mail server's outgoing mail.
   - Create your predefined e-mail messages. E-mail messages can be in any of the following formats: TXT, HTML, JSP, or XML (with style sheets). Store them in the following location: <Web-app-project>\campaigns\emails.
7. If you are going to create discount campaign actions, perform the following steps:
   - Add commerce services to your portal application.
   - Set up a shopping cart using the WebLogic Portal commerce API.
   - Create a catalog in the Virtual Content Repository.
   - Use the WebLogic Portal catalog classes in the commerce API to surface catalog items from the Virtual Content Repository and identify them with "categories" and "SKU" numbers.
   - Create discounts and use the commerce API to surface the discounts in your shopping cart. If desired, use the API to surface the discount's description next to the discount amount displayed in the shopping cart.

Related Topics

Building Campaigns

Campaign Designer