Javascript
|
Pros |
Cons |
| Minimal development time required |
Cannot be used in iOS/Android app integrations |
| Majority of behavior tracking is handled automatically |
Sensitive page data cannot be included in DOM for inventory scraping |
| Easy browser console debugging |
Updates to inventory items may take several minutes to an hour to begin appearing in recommendations |
| We automatically filter out bot activity and deduplicate events |
API
|
Pros |
Cons |
| Complete control of all item metadata sent to LiftIgniter |
Longer average development time |
| Inventory items are immediately updated and can be added or removed as soon as they are changed in your CMS |
Requires identifying correct trigger points for various /activity events |
| Bot activity must be filtered out prior to sending events to us |
Recommended Integration Methods
For a Proof of Concept:
Initially, we recommend a pure Javascript integration. It is lightweight, flexible, and easily completed by most developers within a few hours. Because tracking and inventory is mostly automatic, this also ensures that our models are receiving all of the data they need to optimize personalized recommendations.
Long-Term:
In the long run, our API offers significant advantages when it comes to inventory management. Most especially, it allows you to immediately add, update, or remove items in our inventory as soon as they are changed in your CMS, which is especially critical for fast-moving content and e-commerce sites.
We generally recommend a hybrid integration after the initial Proof of Concept period, where customers use our API to send us inventory information, and our Javascript beacon and $p("track") method to track user behavior. Requests for recommendations can be handled equally well with either the API or Javascript in most cases, and is generally a matter of preference.