Additional Template Functionality

Here is some additional template functionality:

Text Formatting – add a prefix or suffix, format your text and adjust time stamps
Adding Hosted Images – show a ‘selling fast’ badge for those products that are low in stock.
Merging in ESP / CRM Data – pull in any information that you hold on individual customers, such as first name.
Image Cropping – ensure you have consistency in your design if your feed has products with different image dimensions.
Adding Layers – manage complex builds with our layers functionality.

Also read the Visibility Rules for showing / hiding blocks depending on the rules set.

Text Formatting

Using the Inspector there are a wide range of formatting options.

a. TEXT

Use Case 1: Adding pricing suffixes for was / now pricing (e.g. was £10)

Use the TEXT functionality to add prefixes and suffixes depending on the format of fields within the feed. Within your product feed, if prices are displayed as integers such as 75, add decimal places and currencies to display £75.00 to your customers.

b. FORMAT

Use Case 2: Changing the time stamp in weather forecasts

Change the formatting of time stamps so that it reflects your branding. Using the options in the right-hand panel, select the output needed.

The full range of options for date / time formats are below:

Additional format options include the following:

Plain text
Text with HTML code (handles text that may come from a source using HTML Entities such as &)
Numeric
Date

c. FUNCTIONS

Use Case 3: Displaying alternative text if the field isn’t greater / lower than a certain number of characters

Additional functionality includes the following functions:

Truncate - Cut off the word after a set number of characters with an ellipsis (...)
Truncate Nearest Word - Cut off the sentence to the nearest word, after a set number of characters with an ellipsis (...)
Replace - Replace set words within the parameter data
Replace Regex - Replace Regular Expressions (contact your Account Manager for more information)
Replace If Empty - Replace if there is no data for a parameter
Replace If Shorter - Replace if the parameter is shorter than x number of characters
Replace If Longer - Replacing if the parameter is longer than x number of characters
Regular Expression - Define a sequence of characters that determine a search pattern (contact your Account Manager for more information)
Remove Emojis
Remove Links
Get Char at Pos – Allows bringing through initials if commanded to pull in Position 1 of the first name and last name.
Reverse String – Reverses the characters within the block
Current Time – In the correct time zone and format

One of the most common use cases is the use within personalized images. In this example, the first name will be replaced by ‘you’ if a customer doesn’t have a first name in the ESP/CRM or the name is shorter than 2 characters or longer than 10:

Adding Hosted Images

Use Case: Showing Badging based on quantity rules

To add a hosted image, firstly click on Add Block. Then replace the default language Lorem ipsum with your hosted image, by selecting the block and pasting in the hosted link into the text space.

Top Tip: The images must be hosted by each customer on their servers.

This will bring the hosted link into the platform, so to change it to show a hosted image change the Object Type within the Inspector.

To make sure it’s the same dimensions as pre-designed, use the Natural Size functionality and adjust the canvas size as necessary.

See Visibility Rules for how to make a ‘Selling Fast’ badge only show when there is low quantity levels.

Merging in ESP / CRM Data

Use Case: Pulling in a Customers first name.

To connect to your ESP data, use the ‘connect source’ icon highlighted below:

When connecting to URL parameter, this allows you to merge in any data you store in your ESP or CRM. A common use case is first name personalization for birthday messages, however you can pull in anything you store against each customer in your ESP or CRM. Ensure to name the parameter something clearly identifiable to the user whilst building this out. For example, for first name personalization it could be named firstname or first_name like in the example below:

For more step-by-steps, check out how to set up a Personalized Image.

Image Cropping

Use Case: In your live Instagram tag, images have different dimensions due to being a mix of vertical and horizontal images.

To crop your image, select the ‘Image Crop’ icon highlighted below:

This then presents three different Image Cropping options:

Auto square crop – always crops the biggest possible square centred in the images’ barycentre.
Manual crop – allows use of the tool to manually select the area of the image to be displayed
Fit Image – rather than cropping, this auto-sizes the image depending on the set dimensions of the block.

Top Tip - For Instagram, we recommend using Auto square crop as default.

Adding Layers

Use Case: Large Content Automation projects with multiple call-outs (e.g. selling fast, 2 for 1 deal, bestselling) in one template.

Manage complex builds with our Layers functionality. With complex builds with a high number of blocks, ensure to name each one so you can identify it easily by selecting the pencil icon next to each block.

Hide and unhide different blocks by using the eye icon and send blocks forward and backwards in the template layers:

Combine these with your Visibility Rules to create your perfect template.