Previewing personalized content

When adding or editing content that contains HandlebarsHandlebars is Airship’s templating language for personalization. Handlebars expressions use double curly braces wrapped around a content template, ranging from a simple variable, e.g., {{first_name}}, to complex evaluations of personalization data., preview the appearance with actual values from sample data. The sample data can come from a member of a Preview GroupA preview group is audience group used for previewing personalized content in the dashboard. Wherever a personalization preview is available, you can select a preview group, and its group members’ attributes will appear for any Handlebars references to attributes. You can enable any preview group as a test group so you can send test messages to its group members. These messages appear as tests in Messages Overview. or from a random or specific ContactAny user in your project. Contacts are identified as either an Anonymous Contact or a Named User. Airship can set targeting data on these identifiers, which are also used to map devices and channels to a specific user.. You can also enter your own JSON sample data and override the data for any selected user. Message namespace data is available in previews.

Where message, TemplateReusable message content. Templates support personalization using merge fields and other logic., and SnippetA reusable piece of content that you can define in Airship for later use in your messages and templates. Snippets support text or HTML content and can be used for commonly used elements such as a copyright, header image, or custom CSS. previews appear, select View for Preview Data to open the configuration drawer. To close it, select Hide or select the arrow icon in the Preview Data drawer. Select and hold the drag handle icon () to drag the Preview Data element to a new position on the screen.

• For ScenesA single or multi-screen in-app experience cached on users’ devices and displayed when users meet certain conditions in your app or website, such as viewing a particular screen or when a Custom Event occurs. They can be presented in fullscreen, modal, or embedded format using the default swipe/click mode or as a Story. Scenes can also contain survey questions., first enable the Interactive mode preview tool to access the Preview Data option.
• For email, Message Center, and landing page content, previewing is available within the Interactive EditorA tool for creating content for landing pages, Message Center, email, and In-App Automation. You can provide your own HTML or design using the drag-and-drop WYSIWYG option. only. When using the WYSIWYG editor, select Preview to access the Preview Data option.
• Previewing personalization is not available for In-App AutomationMessages cached on users’ devices and displayed when users meet certain conditions within your app, such as viewing a particular screen or opening the app a certain number of times. messages or templates.

After configuring preview data, it persists in other screens within the same message, template, or Snippet. You do not have to reenter it. Within Sequences, preview data persists between the Manage and Performance screens and is independent of the preview data in individual messages.

Configure a preview data source

After entering content that contains Handlebars, select View for Preview Data, and then configure a data source in the drawer:

JSON sample data for Automations and Sequences

If your template or message is for an Automation or Sequence triggered by a Custom EventEvents that indicate that a user performed a predefined action, such as adding an item to a shopping cart, viewing a screen, or clicking an Unsubscribe button. Custom Events can trigger automation, including Sequences and Scenes. You can code them into your app or website, or send them to Airship from an external source using the Custom Event API. Custom Events contain properties that you can use to personalize messages., you will want to use sample data based on that event.

Enter Custom Event properties representative of an audience member, mirroring the properties object in a Custom Event object. See also Personalize messages using Custom Events.

The following are a Custom Event and the JSON you would enter when configuring preview data for that event.

{
    "occurred": "{{event_time}}",
    "user": {
        "named_user_id": "user"
    },
    "body": {
        "name": "purchase",
        "subscribe": true,
        "properties": {
            "customer_name": "user",
            "total": 48,
            "cost_units": "USD",
            "purchase": [
                {
                    "qty": 4,
                    "item": "MLB regulation baseball",
                    "per": "$12",
                    "total": "$48"
                }
            ]
        }
    }
}

{
    "total": 48,
    "cost_units": "USD",
    "purchase": [
        {
            "qty": 4,
            "item": "MLB regulation baseball",
            "per": "$12",
            "total": "$48"
        }
    ]
}