Personalization, Targeting, and User Experience
AEM Targeting lets you deliver different experiences to different audiences. The building blocks are audiences (defined by rules or segments), activities (the campaign that maps audiences to experiences), and offers/experiences (the content shown). Targeting can be applied at the page level or via the Target component in a page. ContextHub stores client-side context (location, device, segment) used to resolve audiences.
Know the difference between AEM personalization (server-side, using ContextHub and activities in AEM) and Adobe Target integration (external engine, A/B and multivariate testing, offers synced from AEM). Questions often ask which tool to use for A/B testing - that is Adobe Target, not AEM activities alone, though AEM activities can do simple targeting.
Traps: confusing audiences with segments (segments are the underlying ContextHub store definitions; audiences are the targeting construct); assuming personalization works on cached pages without configuration (dispatcher caching and personalization require careful setup, often via client-side or edge personalization); and forgetting that activities need to be started to take effect.
Worked example: a retailer wants first-time visitors to see a welcome banner and returning visitors to see a loyalty offer. The practitioner creates two audiences (new vs. returning, based on a ContextHub segment), one activity with two experiences, maps each audience to its experience, and starts the activity. Testing the page in Preview with different context confirms the swap.