Create a Rule Builder campaign tag

Our advanced Rule Builder can be used to create rules based on weather, device, date/time, geo-location, and CRM parameters. All widgets except polling created in Litmus Personalize can be used within the Litmus Personalize Rule Builder. For example, you may create a timed rule to show a new offer every 4 hours with a countdown timer for each offer!

Create a new rule builder campaign tag

In the Campaigns tab, select the New Campaign button or choose the Edit campaign icon on an existing one. If you are creating a new one, you'll be prompted to name your campaign.

Within your campaign, hover on the + icon next to create a new mailing and tag. From the dropdown, select the teal rule builder icon under the Rules heading. You'll be prompted to name your mailing and add a description for your tag.

Add rules and conditions

To define your rules, the first step is to set at least one condition. Conditions are used to determine what images or widgets are displayed based on the context at the time the email is opened. These include Weather, Device, Date/Time, GeoIP and Parameters.

To set your first condition, select + Condition under the first IF block to bring up the condition editor.

The first dropdown in the condition editor includes the full list of use cases to choose from. What you select here determines your subsequent Condition Editor options.

Complete the additional dropdowns and/or fields based on your use case selection, and select Save to finish your first condition.

Add more rules

There are two ways to add more rules:

1. Duplicate your first rule and edit the conditions and actions.
2. Select the + Add Rule option at the top right.

You can drag the rules to a different order by selecting the drag handle icon at the top left of each rule box (you'll only see this appear once you've added more than one rule).

Add multiple conditions to your rule

You only need one condition, but you can use multiple conditions to target more specific scenarios. For example, you can set a rule to target a sunny weather forecast and temperatures higher than 50°F.

Add additional conditions following the same steps as you did for the first one. When each new condition is added, by default it uses AND logic.

You can adjust the logic with these options:

• Select the AND box to change the logic to OR. Example: Weather is Sunny OR Temp °F is higher than 50.
• Group conditions using the +() option to add brackets. Example: Day of Week is Saturday AND (Temp °F is higher than 50 OR Weather is Sunny).
• Exclude conditions using the +NOT option. Example: Weather is Sunny AND NOT Temp °F lower than 50.

You can drag the condition boxes to reorder the formula. The Rule Builder assists in evaluating if the formulas are built correctly. If the formula doesn't make sense, an error message will appear so you can quickly correct it.

Once you're happy with your formula, it's time to set the action.

Define the action

The action chooses the content to display if/when the conditions are met. First, select Edit Action under the THEN block, then you can choose your action from the Action Editor.

There are two types of actions to choose from:

Display an Image

To use a pre-built image, select Image and then Next. Upload an image and then add the URL the image should link to in the href field. Select Save to set the rule.

If you are setting up multiple rules that will all display different images, save time by selecting Upload Multiple Images from the top right of the tag generator, above the Rule Flow.

Display a Widget

You can display any Litmus Personalize widget (excluding Polls) that has already been built. A widget is a context or content TAG, not a template.

First, select the category of widget you want displayed (such as Countdown Clock) and then select Next to search through your existing TAG options. Click on the one you want and hit Save.

You've now set up your first rule! Next, you can add more rules, or finish your campaign by setting up the default rule.

Define the default rule

Your default rule defines the action if none of the open rules apply (remember that rules flow from top to bottom, so the default rule will be the last one tried). You only need to set the action for the default since the condition is already IF anything else.

Once you've added your default action, select Next to generate your tag for your HTML.

Edit a rule builder campaign

It is possible to edit rules even if they are live in an email. For example, if there needs to be changes to an image after the email has been sent, the image can be updated in the rule builder.

All changes will be pulled automatically through the email. Unless any additional parameters are added, the coding of the tag will remain the same, so no changes are needed to the HTML.

Select the Edit icon for your campaign and proceed through the screens to your Rules page, then edit the rule that needs adjustment.

Use cases

Check out some ideas of when to use Rule Builder and then get started with our guides!

• Target CRM parameters to create image-based dynamic content

  Define which custom images are served to individual subscribers with rules that map data fields from your CRM to images of your choice. You could choose to show a certain segment of customers, like VIP members, a specific banner or graphic and easily swap out that image by editing the rule—no code changes necessary!

• Create timed images

  Send time-sensitive communications by creating a rule that determines the content based on the date an email contact is merged or when an email is opened. This is helpful when communicating a policy or plan renewal, travel status messages, and anything else that needs to be communicated at just the right time.

• Target weather forecasts

  The weather can be unpredictable, but your email content doesn't have to be. Determine which content to show based on the weather conditions—like sun, rain, or snow—at the time a subscriber opens an email. Combine with temperature-based content targeting (in either Celcius or Fahrenheit) for added relevancy.

• Target geolocation based on CRM location data

  Use data fields from your CRM, like delivery city, and show specific content to users with selected values. For example, if the delivery city equals "London" you could choose to show a banner for an event in London but show different content if the delivery city field is anything else.

• Target based on User Agent (including Apple MPP)

  Targeting user agents is possible to deliver content to specific email client users (in place of device targeting). Since user agents for email clients change and also can be deceiving (one user agent may be the same across many email clients), you may consider other options to achieve your results. For example, use CSS conditions to show/hide content for Outlook users.