Personalization and dynamic content intro – Cordial Knowledge Base

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Overview

Dynamic content enables you to personalize messages at scale. Using Smarty tactics such as conditionals and loops in your message HTML or Sculpt Blocks, you can send one message that will load content specific to each individual contact, tailoring your messages according to product affinity, age, location, and much more.

This article introduces a few impactful ways to begin using dynamic content in your messages.

Get started with dynamic content

In order to unlock all the possibilities of dynamic content in Cordial, you need to have data flowing into your account via Data Job, API, or JavaScript Listeners embedded on your site.

Learn how to get data flowing into your Cordial account.

With real-time data available to you, you can create dynamic content in a message using the HTML Editor—or in a Sculpt Block, which you can then add to a Sculpt Template or message.

Create a new message using the HTML Editor and navigate to Message Content, or create a new Sculpt Block.
- HTML Editor: Messages > Create New Message > HTML Editor(radio selection) > Message Content

Example referral program message

Sculpt Block: Content > Sculpt Blocks > New

Example of dynamic product recommendation Sculpt Blocks

Use the tactics described below to create dynamic content in your message or Sculpt Block.

Salutations, gender, affinity, and other conditional content

Using conditional {if} statements in your HTML is a great way to greet contacts by first name and send content specific to gender, product affinity, and more.

Here's a basic example of using {if} statements to send a personalized greeting and content specific to gender.

  Hey{if $contact.first_name} {$contact.first_name}{/if},
  <p></p>
  {if $contact.gender == 'male'}
  We have tons of exciting deals in our new men's wear collection!
  {elseif $contact.gender == 'female'}
  Our new women's wear is flying off the shelves! Don't miss out on these deals.
  {else}
  You'll love these seasonal deals!
  {/if}

Man

Hey Marcus,

We have tons of exciting deals in our new men's wear collection!

Woman

Hey Tina,

Our new women's wear is flying off the shelves! Don't miss out on these deals.

Gender not specified

Hey,

You'll love these seasonal deals!

Explore more ways to use conditional {if} statements for dynamic content here.

Display similar and related products

{foreach} statements allow you to loop through an array of data and render the results in a message. They're commonly used to display similar and related products after someone browses or purchases an item, or puts a product in their cart.

The following example shows a JSON array of data getting pulled from an example collection called pants, which could be sent to a contact after they browse pants on a site. The example then uses an {if} statement to only display pants under $90.

{$clothing=$utils->getSupplementRecords('pants')}
  {foreach $clothing as $pants}
  {if $pants.price < 90}
      <strong>{$pants.item} {$pants.collection}</strong><br>
      ${$pants.price}<br>
  {/if}
  {/foreach}

[
    {
      "model": "joggers",
      "collection": "spring",
      "price": 75,
      "id": "01"
    },
    {
      "model": "sweatpants",
      "collection": "winter",
      "price": 60,
      "id": "02"
    },
    {
      "model": "rise_jeans",
      "collection": "fall",
      "price": 100,
      "id": "03"
    },
    {
      "model": "capris",
      "collection": "spring",
      "price": 85,
      "id": "04"
    },
    {
      "model": "cargos",
      "collection": "fall",
      "price": 100,
      "id": "05"
    },
    {
      "model": "old_school",
      "collection": "fall",
      "price": 95,
      "id": "06"
    }
  ]

Joggers

$75

Spring collection

Sweatpants

$60

Winter collection

Capris

$85

Spring collection

Explore more ways to use {foreach} statements here.

Display nearest store location to a contact

People love to know what store is closest to them. The following code builds upon the distanceBetweenPostalCodes utility using {foreach} statements to do exactly that.

{$locations=$utils->getJson("https://p5.zdassets.com/hc/theme_assets/656597/200049057/store_locations.json")}
{foreach $locations as $location}
    {$distance = $utils->distanceBetweenPostalCodes({$contact.address.postal_code},{$location.ZIP})}
    {$tempArray[] = [
        'distance' => {$distance},
        'address' => {$location.Address},
        'name' => {$location.Name},
        'state' => {$location.State},
        'zip' => {$location.ZIP}
      ]}
{/foreach}
<!--Sort Locations by Distance-->
{$sorted_by_distance = $utils->sortArray($tempArray, 'distance', 'asc')}
<!--Print Locations-->
<strong>Nearest Location</strong><br><br>
{foreach $sorted_by_distance as $closest}
{$closest.name}<br />
{$closest.address}<br />
{$closest.state} {$closest.zip}<br />
Approx {$closest.distance|string_format:"%d"} miles<br /><br />
{/foreach}

[
{
"Address":"3430 Galleria Circle",
"Name":"Birmingham",
"State":"Alabama",
"ZIP":"35244"
},
{
"Address":"11525 Cantrell Rd",
"Name":"Little Rock",
"State":"ARKANSAS",
"ZIP":"72212"
},
{
"Address":"3040 El Camino Real",
"Name":"Tustin",
"State":"CALIFORNIA",
"ZIP":"92782"
},
{
"Address":"24201 Valencia Blvd Suite 3210",
"Name":"Valencia",
"State":"CALIFORNIA",
"ZIP":"91355"
},
{
"Address":"5102 North Nevada Avenue",
"Name":"Colorado Springs",
"State":"COLORADO",
"ZIP":"80918"
},
{
"Address":"8100 W Crestline Ave",
"Name":"Littleton",
"State":"COLORADO",
"ZIP":"80123"
},
{
"Address":"4920 Thompson Pkwy",
"Name":"Loveland",
"State":"COLORADO",
"ZIP":"80534"
},
{
"Address":"10438 Towncenter Drive",
"Name":"Westminster",
"State":"COLORADO",
"ZIP":"80021"
},
{
"Address":"18713 Biscayne Boulevard",
"Name":"Aventura",
"State":"FLORIDA",
"ZIP":"33180"
}]

Nearest Location (will only display one store location)

Birmingham

3430 Galleria Circle

ALABAMA 35244

Approx 4 miles

Tustin

3040 El Camino Real

CALIFORNIA 92782

Approx 79 miles

Valencia

24201 Valencia Blvd Suite 3210

CALIFORNIA 91355

Approx 143 miles

Colorado Springs

5102 North Nevada Avenue

COLORADO 80918

Approx 805 miles

Littleton

8100 W Crestline Ave

COLORADO 80123

Approx 816 miles

Westminster

10438 Towncenter Drive

COLORADO 80021

Approx 824 miles

Loveland

4920 Thompson Pkwy

COLORADO 80534

Approx 849 miles

Little Rock

11525 Cantrell Rd

ARKANSAS 72212

Approx 1417 miles

Aventura

18713 Biscayne Boulevard

FLORIDA 33180

Approx 2260 miles

Explore more ways to use the distanceBetweenPostalCodes utility here.

Continue exploring

These examples are only the beginning of what you can do with dynamic content in Cordial.

You can find more use cases and Smarty utilities for personalizing messages here.

As always, feel free to contact your CSM to learn more about using dynamic content.