Contentstack Quickstart

The Data Activation Layer (DAL) is your key to unlocking the most engaging, personalized experiences across your digital ecosystem. By connecting your Contentstack content, customer behavior, and audience data, the DAL makes it easy to activate on behavioral insights in real time—no heavy lifting required.

This guide walks you through setting up your DAL for the first time so you can start delivering content that feels tailor-made for every visitor.

Before you begin

Before you dive into activating and configuring your Contentstack Data Activation Layer (DAL), make sure you have the following ready:

  • A Contentstack account with DAL enabled for your organization: To get Data Activation Layer enabled for your organization, contact the Contentstack support team. You must be an Contentstack Organization Owner/Admin to use DAL.
  • A Contentstack account with Personalize enabled for your organization: To get Personalize enabled for your organization, contact the Contentstack support team. You'll need to create a Personalize project that will be used when configuring your DAL.
  • Either be or have access to your "org" manager: To activate and create your DALs you must be an org admin.
  • Access to your source code or tag manager: Whether you're using Google Tag Manager, Launch, or installing directly in your source code, you’ll need access to the environment where you’ll deploy the DAL website tag.
  • Install the DAL Developer Tools Chrome extension: To streamline development and testing, install the DAL Developer Tools Chrome extension. It helps inspect, validate, and debug your setup directly from your browser.

What we'll cover

Getting started with your new Contentstack Data Activation Layer (DAL) is quick and straightforward. This guide walks you through the setup process—from activating your account to launching your first personalized experience. We’ve outlined the 3 steps to help you create impactful, tailored content for your users with confidence:

  1. Create a Data Activation Layer (DAL)
  2. Configure your DAL
  3. Using your DAL