Using Liquid templates

Liquid Templates significantly broaden Pushwoosh’s personalization capabilities by implementing sophisticated logic in addition to regular Dynamic Content usage.

Message personalization in Pushwoosh is based on Tags (user data). Pushwoosh offers a variety of default Tags and custom Tags. Using them, you can specify user’s first name, city, purchase history, etc. to send a more personalized message, for example: Hi {First_name}, thanks for ordering {item}.

Liquid templates add more logic to dynamic content. For instance, if a user’s subscription tag contains “free,” you can send them a message: “Grab your 10% discount.”

Modifying the message content according to users’ IDs, behaviors, and preferences is the most efficient way to increase relevance and get more impressive results from your marketing campaigns.

Content templates based on Liquid by Shopify use a combination of tags, objects, and filters to load dynamic content. Content templates allow to access certain variables from within a template and output their data without having to know anything about the data itself.

objects define the content that will be displayed to a user. objects should be enclosed in double curly braces: {{ }}

For example, when personalizing a message, send {{Name}} in its body to add the users’ names to the message’s content. The user’s name (Name tag value) will replace the Liquid object in a message the user will see.

Hi {{Name}}! We're glad you're back!

tags create the logic and control flow for templates. The curly brace percentage delimiters {% and %} and the text that they surround do not produce any visible output when the template is rendered. This lets you assign variables and create conditions or loops without showing any of the Liquid logic to a user.

For example, using the if tag, you can vary the message’s language based on what language is set on user’s device:

{% if Language == 'fr' %}
Salut!
{% else %}
Hello!
{% endif %}

filters modify the output of a Liquid object or variable. They are used within double curly braces {{ }} and variable assignment, and are separated by a pipe character |. Multiple filters can be used on one output, and are applied from left to right.

{{ Name | capitalize | prepend:"Hello " }}

Use the Liquid syntax in your createMessage requests to implement Liquid Templates. Templates are available for the “content” parameter of createMessage request, as well as for any other parameter supporting Dynamic Content, in particular, platform-specific “title”, “subtitle”, and “image” params.

By using content templates, you can either specify the data in your API requests (passing the “template_bindings” parameter) or get the data from Tag values stored on users’ devices (by not using the “template_bindings” parameter). This way, you’re able to build user-based push campaigns containing the extremely relevant content.

To define the template logic using the Tags with spaces in their names, use the following technique:

Example

{% capture my_tag %}{{My Tag}}{% endcapture %}
{% if my_tag == 'value' %}
Content to send in this case
{% else %}
Content to send otherwise
{% endif %}

Here you’ll find several use cases when Liquid Templates come in handy.

Liquid Templates make it possible to definitely specify in what language should users receive your push messages. Look at the simple example of the API request and the message received depending on template bindings used in the request.

{% if Language == 'es' %}
¡Hola!
{% else %}
Hello!
{% endif %}

{
  "request": {
    "application": "XXXXX-XXXXX", // Pushwoosh app code
    "auth": "yxoPUlw.....IyEX4H", // API access token from Pushwoosh Control Panel
    "notifications" : [ // push message parameters
      {
       "content": "{% raw %}
{% if language == 'es' %}¡Hola!{% else %}hello!{% endif %}
{% endraw %}",
        "template_bindings": { // optional. When no template_bindings are passed in a request, Tag values from the device are used.
         "language" : "es"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Encourage your customers to upgrade their subscription based on their current plan.

{% if Subscription == 'Basic' %}
    Upgrade to Silver for getting more product features and 24/7 support.
{% elsif Subscription == 'Silver' %}
    Upgrade to Gold for priority support and advanced features.
{% else %}
    Please contact your manager to renew your subscription.
{% endif %}

{
  "request": {
    "application": "XXXXX-XXXXX", // Pushwoosh app code
    "auth": "yxoPUlw.....IyEX4H", // API access token from Pushwoosh Control Panel
    "notifications" : [ // push message parameters
      {
       "content": "{% raw %}
{% if Subscription == 'Basic' %}Upgrade to Silver for getting more product features and 24/7 support.{% elsif Subscription == 'Silver' %}Upgrade to Gold for priority support and advanced features.{% else %}Please contact your manager to renew your subscription. {% endif %}
{% endraw %}",
        "template_bindings": { // optional. When no template_bindings are passed in a request, Tag values from the device are used.
         "language" : "es"
        }
      }
    ]
  }
}

Content templates are quite helpful to handle Tags of a List type.

One of the possible use cases is to deliver different content depending on the number of values the Tag contains. For example, you can provide different discounts to customers with different behaviors. Let’s say the customer has some items in their WishList - encourage them to purchase with the most fitting discount based on how many products they’re going to buy!

• Liquid input
• API request
• WishList size ≥ 3
• WishList size = 2

{% if WishList.size >= 3 %}
Get 20% off your next purchase!
{% elsif WishList.size == 2 %}
Get a 10% discount on your next purchase!
{% else %}
Hey, take a look at new outwears!
{% endif %}

One more case you might need to cover is to deal with List Tags values and deliver the most relevant content based on what values the Tag contains.

• Liquid input
• API request
• Variable contains data
• Variable does not contain data

{% if WishList contains 'Skinny Low Ankle Jeans' %}
Get 20% off products in your wishlist!
{% else %}
Hey, take a look at the brand new Skinny Low Ankle Jeans!
{% endif %}

By using the content templates, you’re able to adjust messages content according to users’ behavior. For example, you can modify the message text to contain plural words in case the List Tag contains more than one value.

• Liquid input
• API request
• Plural
• Singular

    Get 20% off item
{% if WishList.size > 1 %}
    s in your WishList!
{% else %}
    in your Wishlist!
{% endif %}

Template for timezones converts the date and time according to the timezone specified.

• Liquid input
• API request
• Output

{{ MyDate | timezone: MyTimezone | date: \"%Y-%m-%d %H:%M\" }}

Connected content is a feature in Liquid templates that allows you to dynamically retrieve and use data from an external source, such as a web service, directly within your email or push notification messages. This feature enables real-time personalization by fetching JSON data from a specified URL and saving it to a variable that can be utilized in your content.

• Product recommendations: Display personalized product lists tailored to each user.

• Promo codes: Insert unique promo codes generated by a backend service.

• To use Connected Content, you must have your own backend service that generates and provides the required data (e.g., promo codes, product recommendations) based on User ID, HWID, or custom tags. Pushwoosh then fetches this data before sending a message.

The backend service should:

• Accept a request containing user-specific parameters (e.g., userId). Connected Content supports UserID, HWID, or any custom tags you’ve set up in your project.
• Return a JSON response with the required data. This content can then be inserted dynamically into messages

1. In the Push or Email content editor, insert the Connected Content syntax into the message field.

Example

{% connected_content http://your-backend-url.com?userId={{ ${userid} }} :save result %}

Syntax breakdown

Authentication (optional)

If your backend service requires authentication, you can include an API key or token in the Connected Content request to ensure secure access.

{% connected_content http://your-backend-url.com?userId={{ ${userid} }}&auth=YOUR_API_KEY :save result %}

Using tags in Connected content

To include custom tags, insert them as query parameters in the Connected Content request ({{ tag_name }}).

{% connected_content http://your-backend-url.com?userId={{ ${userid} }}{{ Language }} :save result %}

2. Next, add the message text incorporating the retrieved data, like this:

Hey, {{userid}}, grab your personal promo code - {{result.code}}

3. After finalizing the message content and configuring the preset settings, save it for reuse in campaigns.

Send a message with this preset using the one-time push or email form or customer journey.