🔔 Triggered Experiences Using Custom Events in Sitecore Personalize

 

🧩 Use Case

By default, when you create a Triggered Experience in Sitecore Personalize, it can be triggered by a set of predefined system events like:

• guest_created

• identify

• session_end

These events are automatically fired through Sitecore CDP, and developers typically don't need to manually trigger them.

However, there are real-world scenarios where you want a Triggered Experience to be initiated by custom user actions, such as:

• Submitting a form

• Clicking a button

• Completing a survey

In this blog, we’ll walk through how to create a custom event in Sitecore CDP and use it to trigger a Triggered Experience when a Personal Details form is submitted.

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🛠️ Section 1: Code Implementation Using Cloud SDK

💡 Prerequisite: Make sure your Sitecore Cloud SDK setup is complete. If not, refer to my earlier blog:
Beginners Guide - Integrating Sitecore Cloud SDK

✅ Step 1: Create the Form Page

Let’s assume we have a Personal Details form. When the form is submitted, a method is triggered that sends the form data to Sitecore CDP using the Cloud SDK.

Here's the sample code snippet for sending the custom event:

try {
  await event({
    type: 'PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED', // Custom Event Identifier
    channel: 'WEB',
    currency: 'USD',
    page: route?.name,
    pageVariantId,
    language,
    payload: {
      Name: formData.firstName + ' ' + formData.surname,
      IDNumber: formData.idNumber,
      Cellphone: formData.cellphone,
      Income: formData.income,
    },
  });
} catch (err) {
  console.error('Error sending event to CDP:', err);
}

• The type value (in this case: 'PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED') is critical. This identifier will be used later in Sitecore Personalize to configure the trigger.

• Customize the payload fields according to your form data structure.

🧪 Test It

Once submitted, the form data is sent to Sitecore CDP and is visible in the Guest Profile Timeline under the event name 'PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED'.

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⚙️ Section 2: Creating a Triggered Experience in Sitecore Personalize

🎯 Step 1: Create the Triggered Experience

1. Go to Sitecore Personalize.

2. Navigate to the Experiences section.

3. Choose Triggered as the type of experience.

4. Click Create and give it a meaningful name (e.g., PDSubmittedExperience).

🛠️ Step 2: Configure the Experience

There are two main parts to configure:

a. Webhook Composer

Set up a connection and configure the webhook composer. This defines what action should be taken when the event is triggered (e.g., sending an email, invoking a 3rd-party API, etc.).

b. Trigger Configuration

This is where the magic happens.

• Go to the Trigger tab.

• Click Edit Trigger.

• Add a custom event trigger with the following details:

Field	Value
Event Name:	Personal Details Submitted
Event Description:	Triggered on personal details form submission
Event:	PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED

📝 Important: The Event field value must exactly match the type you defined in the SDK ('PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED'), otherwise the trigger will not activate.

 

✅ Step 3: Save and Publish

Once your webhook and trigger are configured, save and publish the experience.

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🔍 Verification

To verify:

1. Go to the Guest Profile in Sitecore CDP.

2. Check the Timeline after submitting the form.

3. You should see the PERSONAL_DETAILS_FORM_SUBMITTED event.

4. If configured correctly, the Triggered Experience (e.g., an email or notification) should have been executed.

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✅ Summary

Using custom events in Sitecore Personalize allows you to go beyond system-generated triggers and create personalized experiences based on specific user interactions, such as form submissions.

Key Takeaways:

• Use the Sitecore Cloud SDK to send custom events.

• Match the event.type in your code with the trigger configuration in Sitecore Personalize.

• Use Webhook Composer to define what happens when the event is triggered.

• Always test by checking the Guest Timeline i