What is eligibility?
Eligibility is the rule that determines whether a particular type of message is appropriate to show on a particular surface. A “new in” message is eligible on listing and product pages, where novelty is the right framing, but not at checkout, where it no longer is. Eligibility keeps messaging contextually relevant rather than just technically possible.
Why does eligibility matter?
Because a message can be true and still be wrong for the moment. Surfacing novelty to a shopper who has already decided to buy adds nothing; reinforcing scarcity at the point of purchase might. Eligibility encodes which message types belong on which surfaces and at which stage of the journey, so the right kind of proof shows in the right place.
How is eligibility different from a threshold?
A threshold is about evidence — is there enough? Eligibility is about context — does this message fit here? A signal can clear its threshold and still be filtered out as ineligible on a surface where that message type does not belong. Evidence first, then context.
Where does eligibility sit in the pipeline?
After candidate messages are generated from the qualifying signals, the engine filters them by eligibility before scoring. Only contextually appropriate candidates make it through to be scored and ranked for the slot.
See eligibility in the platform
The engine filters candidate messages by where and when they're appropriate, before scoring.