Special Placeholders

Use special placeholders in the setup of your communication to help you achieve the right content for your brand and customers.

Overview

You can tailor your communications to show specific information based on certain values in the Journey Manager module in the App. Special placeholders allow you to customize the content you send out so your customers receive relevant and useful information relating to their order at all times.

Configuring Special Placeholders

The following sections describe how to configure special placeholders to display content differently based on conditional blocks, specific values, and plain text.

Conditional Blocks

Any placeholder can also be used as a conditional block. Whether conditional blocks are shown or not is type dependent.

If you are using a placeholder (for example: {{orderNo}}) but you know that this field is not set for every tracking, you can open a conditional block with {{# and close it again with {{/.

Conditional Blocks Example 1

In this example, trackings with an order number display different content than those without based on if the field has a value.

If the record has an orderNo set, the second sentence with the order number will be shown. If not, the whole second sentence will be removed.

using-placeholder-as-conditional.html

<p>
Your package has been shipped with {{courier/pretty}}!
{{#orderNo}} Your order number is {{orderNo}}. {{/orderNo}}
</p>

The opposite behaviour can be achieved if you are using a placeholder (for example: {{cashOnDelivery}}) but you know that this field is only applicable when it is not set or valid. To do this, you can open a conditional block with {{! and close it with {{|.

Conditional Blocks Example 2

In this example, customers with cash on delivery receive different content than customers without based on if the field does not have a value or a valid value.

Both a value of 0 for cashOnDelivery or simply not setting cashOnDelivery at all would trigger the second block.

{{#cashOnDelivery}}
<p>Please remember to pay {{cashOnDelivery}} $ on delivery.</p>
{{/cashOnDelivery}}

{{!cashOnDelivery}}
<p>Your order is already paid in full, you don't have to pay on delivery.</p>
{{|cashOnDelivery}}

Value-Specific Conditionals

All placeholders can be used to drive content based on a given value in the parcelLab system. You can use standard conditions (that is: "if is" and "if is not") with the relevant values to display the required content.

These conditions are displayed as follows:

• The conditional block for the "if is" condition is {{#...}} {{/...}}

• The conditional block for the "if is not" condition is {{!...}} {{|...}}

If you want to display specific text (for example: Click here for delivery options) only for a particular carrier/country (for example: =dhl-uk), you can open a conditional block with {{# and close it with {{/).

Value-Specific Additional Text Example

In this example, customers will receive additional text in their communication for DHL UK deliveries.

To achieve this, you need to do the following:

• Use the {{courier/pretty}} placeholder to return the parcelLab carrier code

• Open the conditional block with {{#...}}, enter the required text (for example: Click here for delivery options), and close it with {{/...}}

• Enter the value check by adding the carrier and country (for example: =dhl-uk)

This will be presented in the following way when added together: {{#courier/pretty=dhl-uk}} {{/courier/pretty=dhl-uk}}.

show-only-for-dhl-uk.html

{{#courier/pretty=dhl-uk}}
<a href="#"> Click here for delivery options </a>
{{/courier/pretty=dhl-uk}}

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Country-Specific Content

You can set up conditional placeholders to show specific content only for certain destination countries. For this, you need to know the country's ISO Alpha 3 code (for example: USA for the United States, GBR for the UK, and DEU for Germany).

If you want to let recipients know details of the customs process for a country, you can open a conditional block with {{# and close it with {{/).

Country-Specific Message Example

In this example, customers in the United States will receive a message specific to them only.

To achieve this, you need to do the following:

• Open the conditional block with {{#...}} and enter the required country ISO Alpha 3 code.

• Enter the required text for the specified country.

• Close the conditional block with {{/...}} and enter the required country ISO Alpha 3 code.

show-only-for-usa.html

{{#isUSA/boolean}}
<p>This is a special message for all recipient in the States.</p>
{{/isUSA/boolean}}

Non-Clickable Numbers on Mobile Phones

By default, certain number formats will be interpreted as a phone number and turned clickable by iPhones and other mobiles.

As this also affects most order number formats, parcelLab offers special placeholders that guarantee to be plain text.

When using the order number in the subject line, you can use the {{orderNo/non-clickable-subject}} placeholder instead of the {{orderNo}} placeholder.

non-clickable-subject-line.txt

A subject line with for your order {{orderNo/non-clickable-subject}}

When using the order number in the content, you can use the {{orderNo/non-clickable}} placeholder instead of the {{orderNo}} placeholder.

non-clickable-order-number.html

<p>This is a order number, not a phone number: {{orderNo/non-clickable}}</p>

This method also works for any other placeholders (for example: {{deliveryNo}} and {{phone}}).