Customer engagement platforms (CEPs) use Personalisation Tags (also known as merge tags, dynamic variables, user attributes, etc.) to support dynamic content elements in the text of marketing communications to tailor the message to a particular end user. Common examples include:
“Hey {{first_name}}, we think you’ll love the offer we have for you on {{product_name}} this week”
“Take off for a weekend break to {{destination}} to see some sunshine this spring”
Each recipient can receive versions of the above messages personalised to them based on how the tag values are populated dynamically.
Personalisation Tags were an existing capability for variants created via Jacquard’s legacy content generation system. But the approach to generation with Jacquard’s latest generation technology requires a different and more flexible approach, given the greater potential for variety in the generated variants. For Personalisation Tags to be effective with our large language model (LLM) generation technology, they need to:
Appearing with an appropriate frequency given the campaign goals and Personalisation Tag selected
Placed in the content in a way that makes appropriate grammatical sense
Using relevant punctuation that is on brand
Accurately formed so the CEP can correctly and completely parse the Personalisation Tag and successfully insert dynamic content in its place
As our LLM-driven language models are much more diverse in structure and content than legacy language models, the Personalisation Tags feature allows for a new level of creative flexibility when generating content. LLMs are adept at contextualising Personalisation Tags into variants fluently and do not need to be constrained to always use Personalisation Tags in the same position.
Key concepts
Personalisation Tag
A Personalisation Tag is a snippet of code that pulls in a unique value when included in a variant and properly interpreted by a CEP. The configuration of each tag in Jacquard includes the tag’s name, category, description, and code snippet.
Category
Each tag can be assigned to a category for organisational purposes.
Description
Each tag has a description to provide additional context regarding the tag and its proper usage.
Code snippet
The code snippet is the actual code which will be inserted into a variant. The CEP interprets this code and inserts content dynamically. Code snippets must be defined in the correct syntax for them to perform their intended purpose.
Personalisation Tag code snippets can be up to 100 characters long. File a support ticket with the Jacquard Solutions Team for consultation when implementing Personalisation Tag code snippets that exceed this character count. Long tags often include additional business logic that can be operationalised within the CEP rather than the snippet itself.
Prerequisites
To use Personalisation Tags, you must first ensure your CEP supports them when populated via the Jacquard integration. Some CEPs require additional configuration while others don’t allow Personalisation Tag use in tandem with an integration.
Further, different Jacquard integrations handle tag rendering differently. Some CEPs support populating the Personalisation Tag value after the variant is provided while others may require Jacquard to populate the tag values and returns the fully rendered variant back to the CEP.
Nearly all CEPs require some level of configuration to properly render Personalisation Tags from Jacquard. You must thoroughly test every Personalisation Tag via internal deployments before sending variants containing tags to your end users.
Creating Personalisation Tags in your account
Jacquard provides a pre-built selection of Personalisation Tags that are commonly available by default within the designated CEP. You’ll find Personalisation Tags in the Admin > Settings > Personalisation Tags section of the app:
To configure a Personalisation Tag from the Jacquard library, click on the + Personalisation Tag button. You’ll be prompted to set the name, choose from the available integrations, choose a category, enter the code snippet, and provide example values. For tags from the Jacquard library, the category, description, and code snippets are all predefined and filled in for you.
If no existing tags meet your requirements, you can create custom tags. To create a custom tag, you’ll be required to:
Provide a meaningful name for the tag. (This value will be what you see during tag selection in the content generation workflow.)
Select from the available integrations.
Apply the Custom category and provide a custom category name.
Provide a description. (This is important information for the LLM-driven language model to understand how to use the tag properly.)
Provide the correct code snippet using your CEP’s syntax.
Provide at least one example value.
Personalisation Tag structure with Jacquard
Personalisation Tags configured in Jacquard should not include any helper logic. If additional logic is required for your tag to render, you should handle that logic within the CEP and only provide Jacquard with the resulting tag. This logic should include fallback values if the tag is returned null or blank.
We’ll illustrate this with some common examples from two popular CEPs.
Salesforce Marketing Cloud
If you wanted to implement logic to check for blanks, capitalise, and set a fallback for a field called FIRST_NAME in Salesforce Marketing Cloud, you’d need to include the logic in the body of your message and then assign the result to a new variable using AMPscript:
%%[IF Length(FIRST_NAME) > 1 THEN
SET @DisplayFirstName = Trim(ProperCase([FIRST_NAME]))
ELSE
SET @DisplayFirstName = "Friend"
ENDIF]%%
You’d then add the resulting variable, %%=v(@DisplayFirstName)=%%, as a Personalisation Tag in Jacquard.
Braze
Similarly, if you wanted similar behavior in Braze, you’d add the following logic in the message code before the Connected Content call to Jacquard:
{% if ${first_name} == '' %}
{% capture DisplayFirstName %}{{${first_name} | capitalize}}{% endcapture %}
{% else %}
{% capture DisplayFirstName %}Friend{% endcapture %}
{% endif %}
You’d then add {{DisplayFirstName}} as a Personalisation Tag in Jacquard. In simpler use cases where there is no additional logic needed and the tag is guaranteed to populate with a value, you can simply enter your variables directly as a Personalisation Tag in Jacquard.
Once you’ve saved the configured tags, they’ll be available to you in the content creation workflow.
Some of your existing tags may include logic to handle various punctuation (e.g.
{{firstname-comma}}). Our LLM-driven language models automatically account for correct punctuation, so it’s not necessary to include that logic in your tags.
Generating content with Personalisation Tags
With Personalisation Tags configured, you’ll be able to select them during content creation as part of setting up your brief. Once you’ve generated your optimised brief, you’ll be given the option to choose up to four configured tags.
All tags configured in your Jacquard account are available to all users during content creation. If you’re using multiple integrations and/or CEPs, you should be especially careful when selecting tags. Ensure you only choose tags compatible with the integration you’ll use to process the content you’re currently generating.
Tags CEPs don’t recognize will often either be displayed to an end user as literal text or cause an error during deployment.
If you select Personalisation Tags during the briefing step, the system receives explicit instructions to generate variants using the tags properly.
Testing advisory
We advise you to always perform a test with your configured tags to confirm that they are functioning as expected. It is important to conduct an actual send to internal users using your tags and not simply generate a preview. If you’re unsure how to do this, consult with our Solutions Team via a support ticket.
Managing Personalisation Tags
You can make changes to configured tags after their initial creation. However, changes you make will only impact subsequent generations. Changes will not impact any campaigns you’ve already configured using those tags. Each workflow takes a snapshot of the tag as it was at the point the content was generated. To make changes to inflight campaigns, you must reach out to the Solutions Team via a support ticket.