Tips & Tricks: Tweak Variables to Fine-Tune Template Functionality
Date Sent: August 26th, 2021
Hi there,
Dynamic Yield offers dozens of convenient, out-of-the-box (OOTB) templates for you to use to easily design the Variations in your campaigns. Alternatively, developers can create Custom Templates for any type of DY campaign which can be reused across many Variations. Business users can scope a Custom Template that they'd like their technical team members to create for any sort of use case. Developers can create template variables to enable business users to define the distinct look, feel, messaging, and/or behavior for each Variation that they create with those templates without ever needing to touch the code.
While the advantages of creating Custom Templates and the possibilities of using them to design Variations are seemingly endless, not all templates are created equal. Maximize the utility of the templates your team creates with our template format and variable best practices.
Variable Settings: Name, Tooltip, & Placeholder
When a string of template code is converted into a variable, the DY Admin opens the Variable Settings panel for you to specify the variable's attributes. The most important setting to define is the variable type. There are over a dozen variable types to choose from, such as Text variables for defining lines of text for the messaging of the content.
Variable Settings Best Practices
Depending on the type, each variable will have at least 1+ settings that should be specified to optimize their appearance and functionality on the Variables tab of the Variation design window. This will enable business users to quickly and easily understand how to properly define each variable of a given Custom Template:
- Name the variable using terms that clearly indicate its purpose. The system will auto-name a variable as soon as you create it with something generic, like "variable1." Rename it with something concise and descriptive. Example: use the name "Background Image" for a variable that lets users upload an image file for the background of a banner.
- Add a Tooltip to display a message about the variable when a user hovers over the field for it from the Variables tab of the Variation window. The Tooltip could be a short description of the variable or brief directions on how to define it. Example:
- Enter a Placeholder to have gray text displayed in the field of a variable before a user has defined it or provided a value for it. Placeholder text typically includes an example value or a brief description what the value ought to be. Example:
Variable Groups
Some Custom Templates may have dozens upon dozens of variables for elements like alignment, padding, button colors, font style, landing page URLs, etc. This can make the process of using a template to design a Variation quite involved. Organize related variables into Variable Groups to streamline the design process and for greater ease of use. Variable Groups can also be collapsed to hide sets of variable fields for added accessibility.To create a Variable Group, scroll to the bottom of the Variations tab and click +New Variables Group. Enter a title for the group in the first field, and then click the Select group variables dropdown and choose the ungrouped variables that you want to include. Once you're finished, click Apply:
Variable Group Best Practices
There are many different ways to organize related variables into groups and it's helpful to consider the use case or general purpose of a given template when deciding which groups to use. Here are some examples of Variable Groups that the DY team likes to use for the OOTB templates that we create:
- Content group: Variables that should be used to for messaging, button text, uploading images, and/or specifying a destination URL of where users will land if they click on the Variation
- Design group: Variables that will allow users to change aspects of the template and/or characteristics of its other variables such as colors, alignment, font styles, font size, and so on
- Tab or Widget group: Organizing a set of essentially the same variables but for separate widget tabs or widget units that are served from the same Variation
Scoping Custom Templates
To truly take advantage of the benefits of Custom Templates, it's important that the business team properly scopes and clearly outlines their wants and needs for each use case. However, business users may not always know what to ask for if they are unsure of the variable settings, options, and template format possibilities that are available. Share these best practices with your team to help them get inspired and to give them ideas for scoping optimal templates more effectively.
Until next time,
Ashley
Ashley Berman
Sr. Customer Education Manager
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Hi Ashley, this was a nice article.
I do have a question for you, Does DY support variable type boolean?
I have a JSON object for API based campaign
{
"active" : ${status}
}
Unfortunately, the above JSON fails in the DY custom API campaigns
{
"active" : "${status}". => this works here but it's setting active of type string and not boolean
}
Would be interesting to know if there is any workaround for this.
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