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Add Personalization tokens

How to create and set up personalization tokens

Nastja Sodin avatar
Written by Nastja Sodin
Updated this week

Note: This feature is available if you have purchased the Personalization module and are on a Professional or Unlimited plan.

This article provides an overview of personalization tokens which are used to define what areas of a Doc can be personalized. This article is suitable for someone who already has a basic understanding of how to set up Turtl Docs for personalization including the concepts of a personalization form and page rules. If you want to recap on the basics, read our step-by-step guide for setting up a Doc for personalization.

Introduction

What is a personalization token?

A personalization token is a word or string of text that represents a point of personalization in your Turtl Doc. This token can be used in various ways within your Doc:

  1. Within text: As part of any text e.g. a sentence, hyperlink, table cell contents

  2. Attached to media: Attached to media such as an Image or Video widget

  3. Within pages: Attached to any chapter or page

The image below provides an example of how a personalization token might look when used in a line of text.

Example of a Turtl Doc cover page with personalization token

Why are they important?

Personalization tokens are a critical component of the personalization process. When a personalizer inputs tailored content into a personalization form or makes decisions on what pages or chapters to include, it is the personalization tokens that ensure that the correct content is pulled into the personalized version of the Turtl Doc.

Where can personalization tokens be used?

  • Doc title: Within the title of your Turtl Doc

  • Any text: Any text within your Turtl Doc

  • Images: Any image on either a Surf or Immerse page

  • Videos: Any video on either a Surf or Immerse page

  • Hyperlinks: Any hyperlink on text or an image

  • Pages: Placed on whole pages or chapters

  • Tables: Within the cells of the Table widget

  • Polls: Within the text of the Poll widget

How do these connect to the personalization form?

As soon as you add a personalization token to your Turtl Doc, the token will be available to reference within your personalization form. This allows you to map the token to a specific form field so the content can be replaced during the personalization process.


How to add personalization tokens into a Doc

Add personalization tokens into the Doc title

It’s a good idea to add a personalization token to the title of your Doc as it allows you to easily distinguish between personalizations when reviewing your analytics or looking through a list of all your personalizations.

To add a personalization token into the title of your Doc, highlight the text within your title and click the lightning icon. You can create a new personalization token or choose an existing one if you’ve already added it elsewhere in your Doc.

If you prefer, you can also manually type your token between two percentage signs e.g. %name%. This will generate a token in the same way using the lightning bolt icon would.

Add personalization tokens to text

Add a personalization token to text by highlighting any text within your Doc and clicking the lightning icon. You can create a new personalization token or choose an existing one if you’ve already added it elsewhere in your Doc.

If you prefer, you can also manually type your token between two percentage signs e.g. %name%. This will generate a token in the same way using the lightning bolt icon would.

Add personalization tokens to media

Add a personalization token to an image or video by locating the asset and selecting the lighting icon. Personalization tokens can be added to media on both Surf and Immerse pages.

Add personalization tokens to hyperlinks

You can personalize any hyperlink with a Turtl Doc. To do this, open the hyperlink settings on either a Surf or Immerse page and manually type your token between two percentage signs e.g. %link%. This will generate a token in the same way using the lightning bolt icon would.

Add personalization tokens to pages

Adding personalization tokens to pages and chapters has a couple of additional steps. Read this article to learn best practices.

Key considerations

1. You can re-use personalization tokens: If you want to personalize a customer’s name multiple times throughout a Doc, you can use the same token again and again. For example, you could place a %name% token within the Doc title, on your cover page, and within the body of your text. When a Personalizer adds the customer’s name to the personalization form, the %name% token will be replaced in every location.

2. Use clear naming: Each of your personalization tokens needs to be linked to a personalization form field. To make the form setup process easy, use clear and obvious naming for your tokens so it’s easy to know which token should map to each form field.

3. You can edit the wording of your personalization tokens: If you need to change/update the wording of your token, you can adjust the text as you would any other text on Turtl. When you're done, ensure to update the token within your personalization form as well.

4. Tokens are case sensitive: Tokens are case sensitive. If you set two tokens, one as %Name% and one as %name%, these will be considered as two separate tokens within the Doc and need two separate personalization form fields.

5. Tokens should not include any special characters: Tokens do not support numbers, spaces, commas, periods, parentheses, or dashes. For example, you could not use %token 1% as a token as it contains a number and a space. Instead, you would use %token_one% or %tokenone%.

6. Tokens can include underscores: Tokens can include underscores to make them more readable, for example %first_name%.

7. Optimum length: Personalization tokens should have a length ranging from 3 to 30 characters.

8. Be consistent: As a best practice, aim to create all tokens in lowercase. There is nothing to stop you from using uppercase, however, wherever possible it is best to keep the format consistent.

Note: Any user that can create Turtl Docs on a given workspace (Editor, Publisher, or Owner) or a Global Admin can add personalization tokens in a Doc.

Next steps

Once you’ve added personalization tokens to your Doc, build your personalization form and map each personalization token to a form field so your personalizers can input tailored information. You can learn more about personalization forms here or review our step-by-step guide for setting up a Doc for personalization from start to finish.

#personalisation #personalise

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