Decision Widget — Product Quiz Recommendations

Stop listing products. Start recommending them. DecisionWidget turns your affiliate content into an interactive recommendation engine. Instead of static "top 10" lists your readers skim and bounce from, they take a 5-question quiz and get a personalized match — with transparent scoring that shows exactly why each product was recommended. Drop in one shortcode. Pick from 359 categories. Done. Everything included, free forever:

• 359 ready-to-embed categories — from stand mixers to noise-cancelling headphones to mechanical keyboards
• 9,000+ curated products — individually vetted, 4.5+ star rated, scored against real buying criteria
• Live retailer deal badges — "50% off" and "Lightning Deal — 3h left" pulled in real time
• AI-generated buying guides — quality-scored 85+/100, written specifically for each category
• Transparent scoring — every recommendation shows the why, not just the what
• Multi-market support — automatically routes to the right regional storefront based on visitor location (US/UK/CA/AU)
• Gutenberg block + shortcode — works with any theme, any page builder
• Zero maintenance — products, prices, deals, and content update automatically

Who this is for:

• Affiliate bloggers who want to upgrade from link tables to conversion tools
• Review sites that need depth across many categories without hiring writers
• Content marketers who want readers to engage, not just skim
• Niche site builders who want the conversion lift industry research consistently finds with interactive content vs. static comparison tables (typically 3–5×)

Why publishers are switching from link managers to DecisionWidget: Traditional affiliate plugins help you organize links. DecisionWidget helps your readers decide. That's a categorical difference. Your readers don't want another list — they want an answer to the question "which one is right for me?" DecisionWidget answers it in 30 seconds with scoring they can trust. Urgency that converts — without lifting a finger Static affiliate links have no urgency. DecisionWidget embeds surface real-time retailer deals the moment they happen:

• "50% off — today only" badges pulled live from each retailer
• Lightning Deal countdowns ("ends in 2h 47m")
• Price drops flagged automatically

Your readers see the same urgency signals they'd see at the retailer — except they're deciding before they leave your page. What you get vs. building it yourself: Major review sites spend six figures building custom recommendation engines. DecisionWidget drops the same capability into your site in 60 seconds. You focus on writing great content. We handle the products, the quiz logic, the scoring, the deals, the buying guides, the updates.

1. Install: Go to Plugins → Add New → search "Decision Widget" → Install → Activate
2. Activate: Go to Settings → Decision Widget → click "Activate — Start Embedding Quizzes"
3. Add to a post: Open any post → click "+" → search "Decision" → add the Decision Widget block → pick a category → Publish

That's it. Three clicks from install to live quiz. No account needed, no configuration, no code. For detailed help, see the "How to Use" guide inside the plugin settings page.

1.1.1

• Compatibility: tested against WordPress 7.0; no code changes required. Verified the settings page renders correctly under the new "Modern" admin theme and the Gutenberg block continues to work with the iframed editor.

1.1.0 Major upgrade to the flagship feature set, with full WordPress.org compliance applied throughout. New features:

• Four embed modes — Full Quiz, Inline CTA, Compact Card, Versus
• Mode tab selector on the settings page with live shortcode preview
• Mode dropdown in the Gutenberg block inspector
• Live preview modal for each embed mode
• "How to Use" expandable in-product guide with Gutenberg + shortcode instructions
• Common Questions FAQ section
• "Other Platforms" HTML snippet generator (Blogger, Ghost, Substack, Squarespace, Wix, Webflow, plain HTML)
• Performance dashboard with embed loads, affiliate clicks, and estimated commission value (based on industry-standard affiliate metrics applied to your measured traffic)
• Post & Page Scanner — reads your archive and suggests which posts to embed, with one-click shortcode copy
• Conversation Insights — mines approved comments to surface which categories your audience is already discussing
• Deactivation feedback modal (with optional email opt-in for product updates)
• Embed load tracking
• Auto-height per mode Architecture and compliance:
• All inline JavaScript moved to separate files in assets/ (admin-deactivate.js, admin-settings.js, block.js)
• Hook-gated script enqueueing — admin assets only load on plugins.php and the plugin's settings page
• All user-facing strings flow through wp_localize_script for full i18n support
• Plugin-prefixed identifiers throughout (deciwid_ / DECIWID_)
• Nonce verification on every $_GET / $_POST handler, with wp_unslash + sanitize_key / sanitize_text_field
• No direct database queries — all uninstall cleanup uses the WordPress API
• Top-level variables in uninstall.php carry the plugin prefix
• Complete External Services documentation for all 6 outbound endpoints (Supersedes 1.0.x.)

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Shortcode and Gutenberg block support
• 3-step setup wizard with explicit consent
• Category browser with search
• Light, dark, and auto themes
• Graceful fallback when server is unreachable
• Full internationalization support
• Uninstall cleanup