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Nesting a personalized Turtl Doc inside a personalized Landing page

Chain two personalizations so each account gets a personalized Landing page that opens its own personalized Doc, with steps for each personalization method.

Note: This feature is available if you have purchased the Personalization module. Please contact support if you want to upgrade your plan.

Some campaigns need two layers of personalization: a personalized Landing page that also contains a personalized Turtl Doc, both tailored to the same account or contact. For example, a Landing page for Apple could show an eBook personalized for Apple, which opens when the reader clicks it.

Turtl doesn't have a single option for nesting personalizations. Instead, you personalize the Doc first, then use its outputs (the Personalization URL and Teaser image) as values when you personalize the Landing page.

This article walks through the setup using batch personalization for both, then gives short steps for each of the other personalization methods.

Note: This is different from Nested Docs, where one Doc is placed inside another Doc as a chapter. Here, the personalized Doc is linked from an image on the Landing page and opens in a lightbox.

How it works

  1. Personalize the inner content first: the Turtl Doc (in our example, an eBook).

  2. Get the Personalization URL and Teaser image of every personalized Doc. With batch personalization, they're in the output file.

  3. Personalize the outer content: the Landing page. Add the Doc's Personalization URL and Teaser image as values, alongside the Landing page's own personalization fields.

  4. Each personalized Landing page shows the Teaser image of the matching personalized Doc. When the reader clicks it, their own personalized Doc opens in a lightbox.

Which personalization methods can you combine?

You can personalize the Doc and the Landing page with the same method or with different ones. The Doc must already exist, with its Personalization URL and Teaser image, before you personalize the Landing page. Dynamic personalization is the exception, because the Doc personalizes itself when it opens.

Method

Doc

Landing page

Batch personalization (CSV)

Yes

Yes

Internal form

Yes

Yes

Personalization API

Yes

Yes

Reader form

No

Yes, with one chosen Doc for all readers

Dynamic personalization

Yes

Yes

For example, you can create the personalized Docs with a batch, then personalize individual Landing pages with the internal form as you need them.

The batch steps below also cover the setup every method needs: the personalization forms, the tokens and the image on the Landing page. The sections after them only cover what's different for each method.

Step 1: Personalize the Turtl Doc

Set up your Doc with a personalization form and add tokens to the content. In this example, we'll personalize only the company name and logo.

Set up the personalization form

  1. Open the Turtl Doc in the Editor.

  2. Go to the "Personalization" tab and click "Start manually".

  3. Add a "Single-line" field with the token company_name.

  4. Add a "Logo" field.

Add tokens to your content

Next, add tokens to the content. Turtl swaps each token for the real value when it creates the personalization. In our example:

  • Replace the word "you" in the cover heading with %company_name%.

  • Add a Personalized logo widget to the first Content page.

  • Add %company_name% to the Doc title, so it's easier to tell the personalized versions apart.

The "Logo" field takes a domain (e.g. turtl.co) and automatically pulls in that company's logo. It places the logo on the Doc cover or in a Personalized logo widget in your content.

Note: Enter the logo domain without https:// or www (e.g. turtl.co, not https://www.turtl.co).

Create the batch of personalized Docs

  1. Publish the Doc.

  2. Click "View Doc" to open it outside the Editor.

  3. Open the three-dot menu and select "Batch personalization".

  4. Click "Import from CSV", then "Download my template".

  5. Open the template in a spreadsheet app or text editor. Each column is a form field and each row is one personalized version. In our example, we add three rows: Apple, Google and HubSpot.

  6. Save the file as a .csv and upload it to Turtl.

  7. Map the CSV columns to the fields in your personalization form.

  8. Once the batch is complete, click "Download Personalizations".

For every personalized Doc, the output file includes:

  • Personalization ID: The unique ID that appears in the Doc URL.

  • Personalization URL: The link to that company's personalized Doc.

  • Cover image: A link to the Doc's static cover image (.png).

  • Teaser image: A link to the Doc's animated cover teaser (.gif).

Keep this file. You'll use the Personalization URL and Teaser image values in Step 2.

Tip: Preview the batch from the same screen before moving on, to check that every Doc was personalized correctly.

For more detail on preparing the CSV file, see How to create a batch of personalized Docs via File upload.

Step 2: Personalize the Landing page

Set up the Landing page for personalization the same way, with its own personalization form. Then add two extra fields that will hold the outputs from Step 1.

Set up the personalization form

In our example, the Landing page uses these fields:

  • company_name: "Single-line" field for the company name.

  • Logo: "Logo" field for the company logo.

  • intro: "Single-line" field for a personalized intro.

  • ebook_teaser: "Single-line" field for the Teaser image URL of the personalized Doc.

  • ebook_url: "Single-line" field for the Personalization URL of the personalized Doc.

You can add any other fields your Landing page needs. For example, our test Landing page also uses map_image and map_url fields to show a personalized map image that opens a website in a lightbox.

Add tokens to your content

  • Replace the word "you" in the heading with %company_name%.

  • Add a Personalized logo widget.

  • Add %intro% where the personalized intro should appear.

  • Add a placeholder image for the Doc. Set its personalization token to %ebook_teaser%.

  • Click the image to open "Image configuration". On the "Interaction" tab, set "Link" to %ebook_url% and "Open in" to "Lightbox".

Notes:

  • Landing pages need a Personalized logo widget for the "Logo" field to work. A logo placed in a regular image widget won't be replaced.

  • On mobile, the Doc opens as a full page instead of in a lightbox.

Create the batch of personalized Landing pages

  1. Publish the Landing page.

  2. Download the CSV template, the same way you did for the Doc in Step 1.

  3. Fill in one row per company. Use the same companies as in Step 1.

  4. Open the output file from Step 1. Copy each company's Teaser image into the ebook_teaser column and its Personalization URL into the ebook_url column.

  5. Save the file as a .csv, upload it to Turtl and check the field mapping.

  6. Once the batch is complete, preview it or click "Download Personalizations".

Tip: Match rows by company name, not by row order. If the rows get out of sync, a company's Landing page will open another company's Doc.

Each personalized Landing page now shows the Teaser image of the Doc personalized for the same company. Clicking it opens that company's personalized Doc in a lightbox.

Use the internal form

Use this method when you only need a few personalized versions. Set up the Doc and the Landing page as in Steps 1 and 2 first.

  1. Open the Doc, click "Personalization", fill in the form and click "Build Content".

  2. In the personalized Doc, click the share icon. On the "Link" tab, click "Copy". This is the Personalization URL.

  3. In the same window, open the "Email" tab and click "Copy for email". Paste the snippet somewhere that shows HTML. The image source is the Teaser image URL.

  4. Open the Landing page, click "Personalization" and fill in its fields. Paste the Teaser image URL into "Ebook teaser" and the Personalization URL into "Ebook url".

  5. Click "Build Content".

Tip: The Teaser image URL always follows the format https://assets.turtl.co/teasers/[Doc ID]-[Personalization ID].gif. The Personalization ID is the pid value at the end of the Personalization URL.

Use the Personalization API

Use this method to create both personalizations automatically from your own system. Set up the Doc and the Landing page as in Steps 1 and 2 first.

  1. Create the Doc personalization: send a request to POST /api/v1/personalizations with the Doc's ID as docId and its fields.

  2. From the response, take url (the Personalization URL) and assets.animationLocation (the Teaser image).

  3. Create the Landing page personalization with the same endpoint. Use the Landing page's ID as docId, and send the two values as ebook_url and ebook_teaser with its other fields.

  4. The url in the second response is the link to the personalized Landing page.

Example request for the third step:

{
  "docId": "[Landing page ID]",
  "fields": {
    "company_name": "Acme",
    "logo": "acme.com",
    "intro": "Your intro text",
    "ebook_teaser": "[assets.animationLocation from the second step]",
    "ebook_url": "[url from the second step]"
  }
}

Note: You can find a Doc's or Landing page's ID in its Editor URL: yourcompany.turtl.co/story/[ID]/edit. For authentication and the full request format, see Personalization API.

Use the reader form

With the reader form, readers personalize content themselves, so a reader-personalized Doc can't be used as the inner Doc. You can still let readers personalize the Landing page, as long as it opens one Doc you've chosen in advance (for example, a Doc personalized for one industry).

  1. Personalize the Doc you want every reader to see, using any of the methods above. Note its Personalization URL and Teaser image.

  2. In the Landing page's Editor, open the "Personalization" tab and select the ebook_teaser field. Enter the Teaser image URL as the "Default", then on the "Advanced" tab set "Visible" to "No".

  3. Do the same for ebook_url with the Personalization URL.

  4. Open the three-dot menu, select "Settings" and go to the "Personalization" tab. Select "Anyone" and click "Save".

  5. Publish the Landing page.

Readers now see only the fields they need to fill in. Every reader's Landing page shows the same teaser and opens the same Doc.

For more on the reader form, see How to empower external readers to create personalized content using the reader form.

Use dynamic personalization

With dynamic personalization, the Doc personalizes itself for each identified visitor when it opens, including inside a lightbox. You don't need personalized URLs or the ebook_url and ebook_teaser fields.

  1. Set up the Doc for dynamic personalization, with smart defaults for every field, and publish it. See Set up dynamic personalization in your Turtl content.

  2. On the Landing page, add an image for the Doc. You can use the Doc's default teaser: https://assets.turtl.co/teasers/[Doc ID].gif.

  3. Click the image to open "Image configuration". On the "Interaction" tab, set "Link" to the Doc's URL and "Open in" to "Lightbox".

  4. To personalize the Landing page too, set it up for dynamic personalization in the same way.

  5. Publish the Landing page and select "Dynamic personalization".

Each identified visitor now sees the Landing page and the Doc in the lightbox personalized for their account. Visitors who can't be identified see your smart defaults.

Note: The teaser image isn't personalized. It always shows the Doc's default version.

#personalisation #personalise
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The personalization engine is protected by US patents.

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