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Customer Intelligence Early access Rung 03 · Be Relevant

Your customers know what they want. Your site usually doesn’t.

Herm helps your site decide what to show each connected shopper next, without taking custody of their profile. Send the products, offers or messages you already have. The Decision API sends back the order that fits best.

In-session. Shopper-controlled. Decisions, not data.

Become AI Commerce Ready See how the Decision API works

45-min Decision API walkthrough

Best suited to brands with signed-in customers.

The Herm for Brands decision detail screen. Six product codes the brand sent are listed on the left under "Options in", and on the right they appear renumbered one to six in the order Herm returned, the top one carrying a short Herm-written explanation. A panel below notes that the response contained a ranking, an explanation and an active grant, and not a profile, attributes or purchase history.
Herm product screen · illustrative brand and data
  • Decisions, not profiles. Your brand gets a ranking or selection of options it already owns.
  • In-session only. Decisions happen while a signed-in, connected shopper is on your site.
  • IDs that work only for you. Every brand gets a different connection ID for the same shopper.
  • Shopper-controlled. Shoppers choose what’s used and for how long, and can revoke at any time.

The shopper brings context. Most sites start from scratch.

Your own customer data tells you what happened with your brand. It can’t always tell you what matters to this shopper right now. Customer Intelligence lets your site use the context a shopper has allowed in Herm to make a better decision, without receiving their profile.

Without a Herm connection

Your site knows

  • the signed-in customer
  • the current page
  • the basket
  • its own order history

Six products your site could show

  • VS-101
  • VS-118
  • VS-204
  • VS-233
  • VS-287
  • VS-310

Your site chooses from its own context.

With a Herm connection

Six products your site could show

  • VS-101
  • VS-118
  • VS-204
  • VS-233
  • VS-287
  • VS-310

Herm ranks them using what the shopper allowed

Order returned

4 · 1 · 6 · 2 · 3 · 5

  1. VS-233
  2. VS-101
  3. VS-310
  4. VS-118
  5. VS-204
  6. VS-287

Each number is a position in the list you sent, so 4 means your fourth option goes first.

Your site gets back the order to show them in. The shopper’s profile stays in Herm.

Herm adds to your first-party data. It doesn’t replace it.

The Decision API

Ask “which of these?” Never “who is this?”

Your site already knows what it could show. Customer Intelligence helps decide the order. Send Herm your options and the connection ID for the signed-in shopper. Herm returns a ranking or selection. No profile lookup. No attribute response. No audience export.

The decision moves. The shopper profile doesn’t.

Decision API v1 · Early Access 
POST /v1/decision

request {
  connection_id: "vel_7f3a",
  context: "pdp",
  options: ["VS-101", "VS-118", "VS-204", "VS-233", "VS-287", "VS-310"]
}

response {
  ranking: [4, 1, 6, 2, 3, 5],
  explanations: ["Free delivery on this one"],
  grant: "active"
}

no grant → response {
  grant: "none"
}
The integration screen, showing a single POST to the decision endpoint: a request carrying a connection ID, a page context and six product codes, and a response carrying a ranking, one explanation and an active grant. A second block below shows the response when there is no grant.
Herm product screen · illustrative brand and data

No active grant? The response says so, and your site shows its default order: no error, no prompt to reconnect, no sign the shopper changed their mind.

One decision. Wherever the shopper is choosing.

The primitive stays the same. Your surface sends its available options. Herm returns what to show first.

Options in The Decision API Decision out

  1. Product carousel

    Which products should move to the front?

    Options in 6 options

    Send the products already eligible for the page. Herm returns the order for this connected shopper. Your commerce stack still controls stock, merchandising and rendering.

    Decision out the order to show them in

  2. Your own AI assistant

    Which answer fits this shopper best?

    Options in 9 options

    Your assistant sends the products, services or responses it’s considering and uses the returned order to answer. The shopper’s profile is never exposed to the assistant.

    Decision out the order to show them in

  3. Offer slot

    Which eligible offer should this shopper see?

    Options in 3 options

    Send the offers already eligible for the session. Herm ranks them. No audience file, no shopper profile.

    Decision out the order to show them in

See it on your own surfaces.

Become AI Commerce Ready 45-min Decision API walkthrough
The shopper side

The connection starts with the shopper.

Herm has its own relationship with the shopper. When your brand gives them a reason to connect, they decide what your brand may use and for how long. Only then can your site ask Herm for decisions in their signed-in sessions.

A useful connection is earned, not silently assembled.

Permission is two decisions, not one checkbox.

  1. A product page on the brand’s own mobile site, with a Herm card under the buy button offering free delivery while connected and a "Connect with Herm" button.

    1

    A reason worth saying yes to

    A perk like free delivery while connected is the strongest start. It’s recommended, not required.

  2. The first consent screen on the shopper’s phone: five things the brand may use, each with its own switch, three on and two off. A locked row at the bottom reads that sharing the personal profile with the brand is not something any setting, feature or payment does.

    2

    What your brand may use

    Shoppers switch individual options on or off.

  3. The second consent screen: four durations to choose from, with "while I have the perk" selected, and a note that the brand gives free delivery on every order while connected.

    3

    For how long

    While the perk is active, this session, 30 days or 90 days.

  4. The confirmation screen, showing a saved consent receipt with the brand name, the pairwise ID issued to that brand, how many options were allowed, the duration, and a row recording that the profile is never shared.

    4

    Connected

    A consent receipt is saved, and your brand is issued a connection ID that works only for you.

Herm product screen · illustrative brand and data

Every grant has a visible life. Every decision is logged for the shopper. Revoking stops future decisions immediately.

Your brand gets the decision. Not the dossier.

The information needed to make the decision stays inside Herm. Your systems get what they need to act, not a new customer-data payload to warehouse.

One request, two logs

Every decision your site requests appears in your log and in the shopper’s. Yours shows the surface, the options you sent and the grant it ran under. Theirs also shows which of the things they allowed were used. Yours never does.

Your log

The brand’s request log: a table of decisions with the time, the surface, how many options were sent, the response and the grant. The 09:41 product carousel row is highlighted, and one row shows a request that ran without a grant and got the default order.

The shopper’s log

The same connection from the shopper’s phone: what the brand is currently allowed to use, a locked row for the profile, and a decision log listing recent requests with which of the allowed things each one used.

Same request: 09:41, product carousel, six options, grant #C-30117. Herm product screen · illustrative brand and data

Your brand receives

  • Rankings of your own options. The products, offers or messages you sent.
  • A selection. When you need one pick rather than a full order.
  • Short explanations. Written by Herm, using only what the shopper allowed.
  • Your request log. Every decision your brand asked for.
  • A connection ID. Different for every brand, used to request decisions.

Your brand never receives

  • The shopper’s Herm profile. There’s no profile endpoint.
  • Shopper attributes. There’s no attribute lookup.
  • Purchase history. There’s no purchase or receipt export.
  • A cross-brand identity. Each brand gets a different ID, so Herm IDs can’t be matched across brands.
  • Audiences or lists. There’s no bulk, CRM or email-list mode.

No export. No bulk endpoint. No batch mode.

Implementation

Add one decision to the experience you already own.

  1. 01

    Connect.

    The shopper grants your brand permission through Herm. Herm issues a connection ID that works only for your brand.

  2. 02

    Decide.

    In a signed-in session, your site sends that ID and the options it could show. Herm returns the order.

  3. 03

    Render and measure.

    Show the order in your own experience, and measure it in the analytics you already use.

Let your own conversion data settle it.

Herm doesn’t ask you to trust a modelled lift estimate. Compare Herm-ranked sessions with your own unranked baseline.

Eligible signed-in sessions

Your existing experience

Herm-ranked experience

  • product clicks
  • add to basket
  • conversion
  • revenue

Your experiment. Your analytics. Your conversion data.

A card in the Herm console headed "Lift", inviting the brand to compare ranked and unranked sessions in its own analytics and noting that Herm does not model uplift on the brand’s behalf.
Herm product screen · illustrative brand and data

Strongest when you already know who’s in the session.

Early Access is built for brands with signed-in customer experiences: accounts, memberships or other logged-in journeys where a Herm connection can resolve in the moment.

  • signed in ✓
  • connected ✓
  • grant active ✓
  • in-session only

Good fit today

  • signed-in ecommerce experiences
  • customer accounts and memberships
  • product carousels on your own site
  • your own AI assistant
  • offer slots

Not the current product

  • anonymous visitor personalisation
  • CRM list enrichment
  • email audience ranking
  • batch customer scoring
  • exported shopper profiles
AI Commerce Readiness

Customer Intelligence is rung three: making your own experiences more relevant to the connected shopper in front of you. You don’t have to start at rung one. Start here when on-site personalisation and conversion are the problems your team owns.

See AI Commerce Readiness →
  • Be Visible Brand Visibility Live Does AI know and recommend you?
  • Be Sellable Product Readiness Live Can AI actually complete the recommendation: specs, price, stock, where to buy?
  • Be Relevant Customer Intelligence Early access Are your own experiences right for the shopper in front of them?
  • Be Preferred Offers Live Do the shoppers who buy your category buy you, and keep buying you?

Common questions

What does my brand actually receive?

A ranking or selection of the products, offers or messages you sent, optionally with a short explanation written by Herm, plus the connection ID issued when a shopper connects. The Decision API doesn’t return the shopper’s Herm profile, purchase history or attributes.

Can we export attributes to our CRM, or rank our email list?

No to both. Customer Intelligence is no longer an attribute-export or CRM-enrichment product, and there’s no batch or audience mode. Decisions happen in signed-in sessions while the shopper’s connection is active.

How do shoppers get connected?

You place Connect with Herm on your site, ideally with a reason worth saying yes to (free delivery while connected, for example). A perk is recommended, not required. Shoppers choose what your brand may use and for how long, and every connection gets a consent receipt.

How does our site identify a connected shopper?

When the shopper grants permission, Herm issues your brand a connection ID. You store it against your own customer account and send it with each decision request. Every brand gets a different ID for the same shopper, so it isn’t a Herm-wide identifier.

What happens when a shopper isn’t connected, or revokes?

The Decision API tells you there’s no active grant, and your site shows its default order: no error, no prompt to reconnect, no sign the shopper changed their mind. Revoking takes effect immediately.

What can the shopper control?

What your brand may use, how long the connection lasts, and whether to revoke it. They can also see every decision requested under their grant.

How do we measure the impact?

In your own analytics. Compare Herm-ranked sessions with your existing experience on the outcomes that matter to you. Herm doesn’t give you a modelled lift number.

Do we need an AI assistant?

No. A product carousel is the simplest place to start: send the products eligible for the page and show them in the order Herm returns. The same API also works for your own assistant or an offer slot.

Customer Intelligence · Early Access

Your site already has options. Give it a better way to choose.

See how the Decision API could fit your signed-in customer experience, from the shopper connection to the decision call and measurement in your own analytics.

Become AI Commerce Ready

45-min Decision API walkthrough

What happens in the 45 minutes

  • We map which of your surfaces can send options in signed-in sessions.
  • We walk through a decision in the product: request, response, the no-grant default and the shopper’s log.
  • We plan how shoppers will connect, and how Early Access works for your brand.