Category: Optimizely

Optimizely: Our Journey in the Opal Innovation Challenge

When we signed up for Optimizely’s Opal Innovation Challenge, we knew it wasn’t just about building a solution—it was about solving a real marketing pain point. As marketing professionals and technologists, we’ve seen countless campaigns fail despite being well-written. Why? Because they didn’t resonate with the audience. This challenge gave us the perfect opportunity to tackle that problem head-on.

https://www.optimizely.com/operation-opal/#challenge

The Spark Behind the Idea

Marketing teams often struggle with persona alignment. A campaign might sound great internally, but fall flat with the target audience. For example:

Campaign 1: “Save more with Smart meters” – casual tone, generic message.
Campaign 2: “Embracing Green Living” – empathetic, informative, and resonates better.

This gap between content creation and audience expectation inspired our solution.

Our Team & Approach

We formed Infosys Transformers, a two-member team:

Ratish Ramachandran – Senior Technology Architect & Digital Marketing Professional
Madhumidha Anbalagan – Principal Enterprise Applications, DX

Our goal was simple yet ambitious: Make every piece of content count.

Challenges We Faced

Time Constraints: Building a multi-agent workflow in a hackathon timeframe was intense.
Balancing Creativity & Tech: Ensuring the solution was both innovative and practical.
Persona Complexity: Defining measurable persona attributes for scoring was tricky.

Timelines

Build Time: 4 weeks (Oct 27 to Nov 26)
Rules, Examples, Short Demo, and Q&A: Check out the video
- https://optimizely.wistia.com/medias/a6tbi35d0l
Winner Announcement: Dec 8

Key Lessons Learned

Persona Alignment is Non-Negotiable: Content without persona context is just noise.
AI Can Bridge the Gap: Multi-agent systems can automate what manual reviews can’t.
Collaboration is Everything: Combining tech and marketing expertise was our biggest strength.
Start Simple, Scale Later: A modular approach helped us deliver a working prototype fast.

The Hackathon Experience

The Opal Innovation Challenge wasn’t just a competition—it was a learning marathon. We explored Opal’s agent ecosystem, experimented with orchestration, and realized how AI can transform marketing workflows.

Check out our video presented at the Hackathon –

Closing Thoughts

Innovation happens when you combine empathy with technology. For us, this challenge was proof that marketing and AI are not separate worlds—they’re partners in creating meaningful experiences.

Top teams can win prizes like $5,000 in MDF, gift cards, and thought leadership opportunities.

Hope this helps.

Happy Optimizing!

January 3, 2026

Optimizely

Optimizely : Show Personalized Content Blocks

I have been exploring Personalization on Optimizely CMS 12 – Simple to set up, and can be utilized throughout the website.

I came across this use case where we want to show the Priority Call button on a page only during business hours.

The page currently has no call-to-action button.

Let’s get started to personalize the page to add a Priority Call button.

Step 1: Create Audience

Create an audience with the rules you would like to define.

I created an Audience called Priority Call specifically for customers who can call the priority phone number during business hours.

Add Criteria based on the project needs – multiple criteria can target specific customers.

Added Time of Day criteria – Monday to Friday from 8 am to 5 pm.

Step 2: Create a Personalized Block

Now that we have created the target Audience. Let’s make a personalized block for a page.
I chose the ‘Find a Reseller’ page and, in Blocks, I am going to create a New Block for this page – you can also create one for the All Sites.

Selected Button as the New Block and gave it a name – Priority Call Button.

Filled out the Button Text and Link.

Please make sure to Publish the Block – If not, it will not be visible on the page.
I have made this mistake and wondered why the block isn’t appearing 🙂

3. Add the Personalized Block to a Page

Let’s drag and drop the Priority Call Button block into the Large Content Area or any Content Area.

Let’s personalize the button.

Everyone is by default – let’s change it to our new audience Priority Call.

Let’s publish the page and view it during business hours (our Audience criteria)
Yay! We could see the Priority Call Button!

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Hope this helps.

Happy Optimizing!

December 23, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely PaaS Administrator Certification : Free for Everyone

Optimizely has recently launched a free PaaS Administrator Certification.

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/activity/2958208-paas-cms-administrator-certification?sid=a5b1a937-c694-4e99-b753-821bac3d9173&sid_i=0

Just log in with Optimizely Academy account, and the exam Launch button appears instantly.
Before taking the exam, make sure to complete the following modules.
https://academy.optimizely.com/student/collection/2014956/path/4531985?sid_i=0

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/collection/2014956/path/4531984sid_i=0

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/collection/2621565-event-recordings?sid=ee9b89e8-a3ad-440e-9022-948488e727e2&sid_i=0%22%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20style=

Exam Details:

Questions: 50
Duration: 60 minutes
Passing Score: 80%

In case of failure, you can retake the exam after 24 hours.

After passing the exam, Credly will send an email with badge details.
Good Luck!

Hope this helps.

Happy Optimizing!

December 8, 2025

Optimizely

Automating Cleanup Tasks with Optimizely Scheduled Jobs

Scheduled jobs in Optimizely CMS are a powerful way to automate any background tasks like content cleanup, indexing, or reporting.

I created a simple scheduled job to delete the expired content.

Let’s get started.

Step 1: Create the Job Class

Created a job called ExpiredPagesCleanupJob.cs that inherits the ScheduledJobBase class.
Implement logger as needed, currently commented out in code.
Rebuild and deploy the solution.

Step 2: Run the job

Wondering, don’t I need to register the job in Optimizely CMS? No need, it automatically registers the job using the [ScheduledPlugin] attribute.

Let’s navigate to Settings -> Scheduled Jobs
Now you will see the job listed and ready to be started.

Let’s start the job manually for now.

History shows whether the job has succeeded or not.

Before running the job, the Expired Page report showed that two content pages had expired.

Now let’s check the reporting results again. yay! It’s successfully deleted!

You can schedule the job every 5 seconds, minutes, hourly, and so on.

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Hope this helps.

Happy Optimizing!

November 29, 2025

Optimizely

Multiple Languages in Optimizely CMS

I was exploring multi-languages in Optimizely CMS 12 – able to figure it out quickly in a few steps.

Let’s get started.

1. Enable Languages in the Admin

Optimizely stores language settings in the Admin view.

Log in to Optimizely CMS as an administrator.
Navigate to: Admin -> Manage Website Languages
You can select an existing language or add a new language
- There are 14 languages available by default.

- Add a new language if it’s not listed in the default list.
  - I’m adding Hindi (hi-IN) as I’m from India 🙂

Make sure to Enable the Language to be listed on the sites.

2. Language Settings

Now the Hindi is listed on Sites, but it’s enabled at the site level.

To enable at the site level, go to Language Settings under Tools (Make sure you are on the site’s Start page).

Check the newly added language under Available Languages.

We need to set the Fallback Languages as a secondary option when the language is not available.

3. Update Page Types and Block Types

To support multilingual fields, Optimizely requires culture-specific properties.

For any property that should be translated, add the attribute:

[CultureSpecific]

Rebuild and deploy the solution.

4. Create Translations

Select the page you would like to translate, and the Translate button will appear. I chose the Contact Us page for demo purposes.

Create the language version.

Translate properties, blocks, and media as needed and publish the changes.

Let’s preview the changes. Isn’t looking good?

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Hope it helps.

Happy Optimizing!

November 15, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely: Multi-Step Form Creation Through Submission

I have been exploring Optimizely Forms recently and created a multi-step Customer Support Request Form with File Upload Functionality.

Let’s get started.

Note: Assuming that you have installed the Forms module. If not, please check out my blog post –

https://madhuanbalagan.com/optimizely-forms-setup-configuration-and-submission

Creation of Multi-Step Form

Create a new Form Container in the Forms Tab – named it Customer Support Form.

Step 1: Contact Details

Let’s create the first step by dragging and dropping the Form Step in the Content Area.

Quick Edit to fill the Title, Description, and publish the changes.

Inside the Form Step 1 – Drag and drop the Text elements for the following fields.
- Name
- Email
- Phone

Note: Publish each field to reflect on the Content Area.

Step 2: Product Details

Let’s drag and drop the Form Step element like before, and the following fields.
- Product ID
- Purchase Date
- Warranty Status
Product ID – Created as a Number and checked all validators.

Purchase Date – Text field with Date Format validation.

The Step 2 form is ready now.

Step 3: Issue Description

Let’s drag and drop the Form Step element like before, and the following fields.
- Issue Type
- Issue Description
- File Upload
- Submit button
Issue Type – Selection element options entered manually – could be a datasource as well.

File Upload – Set the Max Limit and Allowed extensions separated by a comma.

The Step 3 part is completed and ready to be placed in a landing page.

Form in Landing Page:

Create a new Standard Page – Customer Support Page.
Drag and drop the newly created Form into the Content Area.
Publish the changes.

Testing the Form:

The new landing page shows in the menu – let’s check it out.

The File Upload – multiple file selection worked great!

Let’s submit the form – you could redirect to a specific page if needed.

Form Submissions:

The submitted records are easy to check by pressing the Form Submissions.

The records can be exported in any of the following formats.

The records are stored forever by default – feel free to change the retention policy as needed for partial and full submissions.

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Hope this helps.

Happy Optimizing!

October 25, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely Forms : Setup, Configuration and Submission

I have exploring Optimizely Forms recently – Installed NuGet package to enable Optimizely Forms, created a Contact Us Form and placed in a landing page. Sharing my learning from installation to submission.

Let’s get started.

To enable Optimizely Forms, we need to install NuGet package for Forms – It can be installed via NuGet Console or Manager. I prefer GUI since it’s more visual.

EpiServer.Forms

EpiServer.Forms.Core

EpiServer.Forms.UI

Let’s run the project – localhost:5000 now will have a new tab Forms besides Blocks and Media.

Create a New Form by right clicking on EpiServer Forms – named it as Contact Us Form.

Let’s add the fields by drag and dropping into the Content Area.

Quick Edit to change the Label, Tooltip, Required field and RegEx if needed. Save and Publish the changes.
Note: Each field needs to be published.

Similarly, I have created the following fields –

First Name – Text

Last Name – Text

Email – Text

Comment – Text Area

Submit Button

Note: The Email is Text field with the Email checkbox checked.

Form is now ready to be placed in any landing page.

Let’s create a Standard Page or any page with Content Area.

Drag and Drop the Contact Us Form into the Content Area and publish the changes.

Let’s test the Contact Us Form – we could see the new menu CONTACT US PAGE is automatically added when published the page.

Submitted the Form – Verified that the required field validators are working as expected.

The submitted records are easy to check by pressing the Form Submissions.

The records can be exported in any of the following formats.

The records are stored forever by default – feel free to change the retention policy as needed for partial and full submissions.

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Happy Optimizing!

October 13, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely SaaS CMS Developer Certification

I have recently passed the Optimizely SaaS CMS Developer Certification. Sharing my experience, hope this helps.

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/activity/2181428-saas-cms-developer-certification?sid=b1c2cf21-e438-4a16-8832-c165d1724844&sid_i=2

Let’s get started.

To prepare for the exam, I started with Optimizely Academy’s SaaS CMS Fundamentals and went through all the modules.

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/collection/1405874/path/4062729

The developer documentation helps to revise the concepts.

Optimizely Developer Documentation

The complete SaaS CMS Developer Certification reference material

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/activity/2408711-saas-cms-developer-core-competency-certification-reference-material

When you’re ready for the exam, you can purchase the exam voucher code for $300. Alternatively, if your company is an Optimizely partner and you have competitor certification, fill out the Opt-up program to receive a free voucher code.

https://www.optimizely.com/support/education/opt-up-training-certification-program/

After submission, they confirm the eligibility within 7 business days in email.

Once the voucher code is redeemed, you need to take the exam within 14 days. No scheduling the exam is needed, you can take exam anytime.

Exam Questions: 50 multiple-choice questions

Duration: 60 minutes

Pass Score: 85% (43 questions need to be correct)

Note: In case of exam failure, you can retake the exam after 24 hours!

After passing, Credly will send an email notification, and the certification is valid for 2 good years.

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Happy Optimizing!

September 21, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely : Fast Installation on Local Machine

I have been exploring Optimizely and installed CMS 12 on my local machine pretty quickly using the NuGet package manager.

Assuming all prerequisites are installed on the local machine. Check out to make sure everything is installed.

https://docs.developers.optimizely.com/content-management-system/docs/system-requirements-for-optimizely

Let’s get started.

Add EpiServer Templates in PowerShell

dotnet new -i EPiServer.Templates

Let’s install Optimizely CLI Tool globally

dotnet tool install EPiServer.Net.Cli –global –add-source https://nuget.optimizely.com/feed/packages.svc/

In Visual Studio, let’s verify that the Optimizely NuGet source is added via the NuGet Package Manager Solution.

https://api.nuget.optimizely.com/v3/index.json

Let’s also verify the EpiServer.CMS NuGet package is installed.

Now, let’s create a new project in Visual Studio, which will give three Optimizely base projects to choose from
- Optimizely Alloy MVC
- Optimizely CMS empty
- Optimizely Commerce empty

I chose Optimizely Alloy MVC, which is a starter kit for new developers to explore.
Named it – AlloyDemo1 project.

Provide the SQL admin SA account password since it creates the databases as part of the project in MDF and LDF files.

The new Optimizely solution is ready to explore!

To run the localhost, we just need to start the IISExpress AlloyDemo1 project, which runs cmd prompt to initialize commands.

After a few seconds, we will see https://localhost:5000 opened in a new browser.

NOTE: There is no license required for running on localhost or domainname.local. Yay!

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –

Happy Optimizing!

September 7, 2025

Optimizely

Optimizely : Getting started

I have been exploring Optimizely for quite some time and didn’t know where to start. Sharing my journey, hope it helps.

To start learning about Optimizely, https://academy.optimizely.com would be the best place.

Agree the Terms and Conditions and create an account would give the complete access.

I have been following the PaaS Learning Path to get Optimizely PaaS CMS Developer certification.

Voucher Code

There is opt-up Developer Certification program for Optimizely partners.

https://www.optimizely.com/support/education/opt-up-training-certification-program/

If your company is in the program and you have competitor certification, please fill out the application form, and they will confirm your eligibility within 7 business days.

https://academy.optimizely.com/student/activity/2305283-opt-up-application-form

After confirmation, email when you completed the study materials – they will send voucher code to register for the exam. You need to take the exam within 14 days.

If you prefer watching a video, my quick recording –