Async deployment with Target

[dwright-adobe]

What happened to the Target content I wrote for this page? https://docs.adobelaunch.com/launch-reference/client-side-information/asynchronous-deployment

[thebenrob]

Is this it? https://docs.adobelaunch.com/extension-reference/web/adobe-target-extension#adobe-target-extension-with-an-asynchronous-deployment

Moved to the Extension reference section?

[dwright-adobe]

Hi @thebenrob , No, not that. We had more in-depth content on the Target extension page, but there was also a quick blurb on https://docs.adobelaunch.com/launch-reference/client-side-information/asynchronous-deployment, so people reviewing that article, the main Launch article on async deployments, would realize there is an extra step for Target to avoid flicker. It looks like it was removed with this commit: https://github.com/Adobe-Marketing-Cloud/reactor-user-docs/commit/e9a5078dfaa0b5aece7bfd6fdb2f419a24b3a4f4#diff-87d2486fc628a9329772b8421aeecd1a

The content was:

Adobe Target Consideration

When the Launch embed codes are loaded asynchronously, the page may finish rendering the default content before the Target library is fully loaded and has performed its content swap. This can lead to what is known as "flicker" where the default content shows up briefly before being replaced by the personalized content specified by Target. If you want to avoid this flicker, Adobe suggests hardcoding a special pre-hiding snippet immediately before Launch's asynchronous embed codes.

For more details and to obtain the pre-hiding snippet, please see the Adobe Target extension with an asynchronous deployment

[thebenrob]

Yeah, it's in the extension reference now:

In asynchronous deployments, it is possible for the page to finish rendering the default content before the Target library is fully loaded and has performed the content swap. This can lead to what is known as "flicker" where the default content shows up briefly before being replaced by the personalized content specified by Target. If you want to avoid this flicker, we suggest you use a pre-hiding snippet and load the Launch bundle asynchronously to avoid any content flicker.

This keeps the Target specific content in the Target section.

[dwright-adobe]

@thebenrob , I really think we need a blurb on the /launch-reference/client-side-information/asynchronous-deployment about considerations for testing and personalization vendors. You can make it vendor-agnostic, but any solution like Target, Optimize, Optimizely, or others is going to have flicker problems with an async Launch deployment without loading a prehiding snippet first. I don't think it's enough to just mention this on the extension reference page because:

1. The optimization vendor might not have an extension
2. The people who deploy Launch might be under the assumption that all that needs to be coded on the page is the embed code, as per the UI instructions.
3. The people who deploy Launch embed codes might not be involved in the extensions that get deployed and hence might not bother to read all of the specific extension documentation.

It might be that people don't even read the Async Considerations article, but I think this is more likely that they will read this than the instructions for each extension. We just need to mention something to the effect of "If you will be deploying a testing, optimization, or personalization solution (such as Adobe Target) via Launch, you will likely need to deploy additional code on your page before the Launch embed codes to manage flicker appropriately. Please see your vendor's documentation for additional details." And then have a link to the Target extension page: https://docs.adobelaunch.com/extension-reference/web/adobe-target-extension#adobe-target-extension-with-an-asynchronous-deployment

I keep talking to Target customers who are stuck with async Launch deployments with no prehiding snippet and I think improving this article will help.