Connected content

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.

Key use cases

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

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

Prerequisites

• 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.

Step-by-step implementation guide

Developer assistance needed

You’ll need your developer team’s help to use Connected content. Share this guide with them to get started.

Step 1. Set up backend service

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

How it works

The backend service acts as a data provider, responding to HTTP requests with user-specific information.

1. Pushwoosh sends a request to your backend, passing user-specific identifiers as query parameters.
2. Your backend processes the request and retrieves the requested data.
3. Your backend returns a JSON response.
4. Before sending a message, Pushwoosh fetches the JSON response from the backend service and uses the returned values (e.g., the code) in the message content dynamically.

Example response

{ "code": "SPECIALOFFERFORUSER12345" }

Step 2. Create a preset with Connected content in Pushwoosh

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

connected_content	Fetches JSON data from the specified backend URL.
http://your-backend-url.com	The backend endpoint that returns required data in JSON format.
userId={{ ${userid} }}	A dynamic query parameter that passes the user ID to the backend. Inside connected_content, wrap a variable in ${}. In the message text, write {{userid}} without it.
:save result	Stores the fetched JSON response in the result variable for use in Liquid templates

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 %}

You can also send authentication (or any other) data as HTTP headers using the optional :headers parameter — a JSON object of header names and values.

{% connected_content http://your-backend-url.com?userId={{ ${userid} }} :headers {"Authorization": "Bearer YOUR_TOKEN", "X-Api-Key": "YOUR_API_KEY"} :save result %}

:headers {...}	A JSON object of HTTP headers sent with the request, e.g. Authorization: Bearer <token>.

Static values only

${} personalization variables work only inside the URL. Values inside :headers are static and are not interpolated.

Keep credentials out of the URL

Prefer :headers over a URL query parameter (e.g. &auth=YOUR_API_KEY) for API keys and tokens: if the fetch fails, the request URL is written to logs, exposing a key placed there. Values inside :headers are never logged.

Connected content also requires Liquid content templates to be enabled for your account. If they aren’t, the whole connected_content tag — including any key inside it — is sent to every recipient as literal text instead of being rendered. Contact Pushwoosh Support if you’re unsure whether your account has this enabled.

Using tags in Connected content

To include a tag value, add it to the URL as a query parameter in the same {{ ${tag_name} }} form. Written as {{ tag_name }} inside the connected_content tag, the value is sent empty.

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

Step 3. Send a message using the configured preset

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

Important

If the service returns a status other than HTTP 200 OK, the email or push notification will not be sent. This ensures that your communication only goes out if the necessary data is successfully retrieved.