Content Blocks

To create a new Content Block:

1. In the Tool Ribbon, click + New Content Block.

2. A "New Item" pop-up window is displayed. To select the folder where you want to save this new Content Block, click the folder name in the Navigation Tree on the left side of this pop-up. The "Where?" field is updated with the selected folder name.

3. In the "Name" field, enter a name for your new Content Block. This name must be unique within the selected folder.

4. Using the toggle buttons, select the data source for this Content Block: either "Messaging" or "EDP."

5. If you selected "Messaging" in step 4, from the "Data Source" drop-down menu, select the Messaging source table for this Content Block.

Note: You can never modify this source table after the Content Block is created.

6. From the "Channel" drop-down menu, select "Email."

7. Click Create. 

8. Provide the content for this Content Block:

• If you have the Content Designer feature enabled in your account, the Content Designer is displayed. Please see the Content Designer Help topic for more details.

• If you don't have the Content Designer feature enabled in your account, the Workspace is refreshed to show the Advanced Editor. The tabs across the top of the Advanced Editor indicate which format version of your message you're currently editing. An Email Content Block will have an "HTML" version by default. Optionally, to switch to a different version of your message, click the appropriate tab. Enter, or copy-and-paste, the message content into the Advanced Editor. For more details on working with the Advanced Editor, please see the Advanced Editor Help topic.

9. If you're including links within your Content Block, you can optionally provide a friendly name for the link, right from within the Advanced Editor. Friendly names makes it easier to read the Campaign reports that track link usage (friendly link names can also be defined on the Link Library).

• Within HTML content, add a name attribute ("data-link-name") to the anchor tag.

<a data-link-name="Cheetah Digital home" href="http://www.cheetahdigital.com">Cheetah Digital Home Page</a>  

• Within either HTML or Text content, use a new URL merge tag to specify the friendly name.

{@Cheetah Digital home|http://www.cheetahdigital.com@}

10. In the Tool Ribbon, click save.

Simple Looping is a simplified version of a Looping Block that allows you to "loop" through the records in a joined table, and display one or more records. You can define how many records to display, and how to sort them. A common use case for this feature is to display one or more of a recipient's purchases within an email message. For a given recipient, the platform will "loop" through the purchases on a joined Orders table to display them within the email content.

Simple Looping is limited by the following constraints:

• The Simple Loop must be defined within a Content Block.

• You can access tables that are joined to the Content Block source table only in the one-to-many direction. If you need to join to a table in the many-to-one direction, you'll need to use a Looping Block.

• You can access only tables that are joined directly to the Content Block source table. For example, let's say your Content Block uses a Recipient table as its source table. Your Order table joins to the Recipient table, and an Item table joins to the Order table. You could use Simple Looping to access records in the Order table, but not records in the Item table, as the Item table is not joined directly to the Recipient table. If you need to access data in the Item table, you'll need to use a Looping Block.

• Data transformations must be done through XSLT code.

• To add Simple Looping to your Content Block, you must use the Advanced Editor, and not the Content Designer. Simple Looping is currently not supported in the Content Designer (this feature is coming soon).

To add Simple Looping to a Content Block:

1. Within the Advanced Editor, select the desired format version, and position your cursor where you want to insert the Simple Loop.

2. Click the "Personalization & Library" bar along the right-hand side of the screen to expand the Personalization Panel.

3. In the Personalization Panel, click on the "Looping Data" section to expand it. All of the available joined tables are listed.

4. Click on the desired joined table to expand it. All the fields in the table are listed.

5. Double-click on the field name (or, optionally, you can drag the desired field from the Personalization Panel, and drop it into the text editor at the desired insert location). An "Insert Looping Data" pop-up window is displayed.   

6. Enter a name for the Looping Data, then click ok.

7. The system creates a new Merge Symbol for this Looping Data, and inserts it at the current cursor position (or at the drop location if you drag-and-dropped the item from the Personalization Panel). A Merge Symbol is a textual representation of the Looping Data, consisting of its name and Object Reference ID enclosed in double-brackets. For example: {[OrderLoop|8687]}. The Merge Symbol is highlighted and outlined with a black border, in order to make it easier to find within the rest of the Content Block code.

8. If necessary, click the Merge Symbol to expand the Looping Data section (the section is expanded by default).

9. The Looping Data section represents the content that you want to repeat, or "loop." Within this section, add the desired code. The platform supports the use of HTML, XML, and XSL.

10. Optionally, you can add other personalization fields into the Looping Data. You can add any fields on the Content Block source table, or any fields in the Looping Data's joined table. You can NOT add fields from other joined tables.

11. To define other properties of the Looping Data, click the Settings tab within the Looping Data section. Select or enter the following:

• Order by: From this drop-down menu, select the field by which you want to sort the looping data. This menu is populated with all fields on the Looping Data's table.

• Max Rows: In this text field, enter the maximum number of records you want to display.

• Sort: From this drop-down menu, select the sort order -- either Ascending or Descending.

• XSLT Version: From this drop-down menu, select the version of XSLT code you're using. The platform supports version 1 and 3.

12. In the Tool Bar, click save.  

Engage+ allows you to establish points in the system that require approval before processing can continue, or before an item can be used. This feature, called an Approval Workflow, allows you to establish the rules around the approval -- who the requestors and approvers are, the types of items that require approval, and what the next steps should be after an item is approved or rejected.

Request Approval

If you are a "requestor," and your user account has been configured to use an Approval Workflow for Content Blocks, you can submit a request to the approver to review and approve this Content Block.

1. Define your Content Block as described above.

2. In the Tool Ribbon, click Actions > Request Approval.

3. The platform sends a notification to the requestor, and sets the Content Block status to "Approval Requested."

Note: You won't be able to use this Content Block in a Campaign until the Content Block has been approved.

Review and Approve

If you are an "approver," and you receive a notification that a Content Block is waiting for approval:

1. Navigate to the Content Block.

2. Review the Content Block configuration.

3. Make an approval decision. From the Actions menu in the Tool Ribbon, select either:

• Approve: The platform sets the Content Block status to "Ready." The Content Block can now be used.

• Reject: The platform sets the Content Block status to "Draft."  

To preview the Content Block:

1. In the Tool Bar, click preview. The system displays a pop-up window containing a simulated version of your content.

2. To test any Personalization Fields in the Content Block, click the "Personalization" tab. The system displays all of the Personalization Fields in the Content Block, populated with their corresponding Merge Symbol (for example: {[first_name]}. Type a test value into a Personalization Field. The system refreshes the preview screen with this value inserted into the Content Block. When finished, click Reset to revert back to displaying Merge Symbols.

3. If your Content Block contains multiple format versions (HTML, plain text, etc.), you can select which version you want to view. From the format drop-down menu, select a format version. The screen is refreshed to show the selected version of the content.

4. When finished, click the ← Preview icon to close the Preview window.

To copy an existing item to use as the basis for a new item:

1. In the Tool Bar, click copy. A "Copy Content Block" dialog box is displayed.

2. Enter a name for the new Content Block.

3. By default, the new Content Block will be saved in the same folder location as the base Content Block. Optionally, click the magnifying glass icon to browse to and select a different folder location.

4. Click copy. The system creates a copy of the current Content Block.

To view or edit an existing Content Block:

Note: While editing a Content Block, if another user has this same Content Block open at the same time, and he or she modifies and saves the Content Block, the system will alert you with a "Changes Detected" pop-up window. This window tells you that changes have been made, and by whom. If you want to discard your local changes and reload the screen to show the other user's version of the Content Block, click reload content block. Or, if you want to overwrite the other person's changes, click ignore changes.

1. Search for the desired Content Block (see Search for an Item for more details on the available search methods).

2. Click on the Content Block name. The Content Block screen is displayed and populated with the details of the selected Content Block.

• If you have the Content Designer feature enabled in your account, the Content Designer is displayed. Please see the Content Designer Help topic for more details.

• If you don't have the Content Designer feature enabled in your account, the Workspace is refreshed to show the Advanced Editor. For more details on working with the Advanced Editor, please see the Advanced Editor Help topic.

3. Optionally, to view detailed information about the Content Block, click the small down-arrow icon beneath the Save button. The Item Details panel is displayed, showing who created the item, who modified it last, and what the last actions taken on the item were. The direct link URL to the Content Block is available here, which can be copied to the clipboard using the "Copy Link" icon. This can be used to easily share and also open the Content Block in a browser. The "Related Items" section lists other items in the system that reference or utilize this Content Block. You can download a list of these items to an Excel sheet by clicking the download link to the right of this section. The Excel sheet will include the following information: Name of campaign, block, etc; File Location of the associated campaign, block, etc.; Content Details (i.e. “Variable Content”).

4. In the Tool Bar, the name of the Content Block is displayed within a text field. To rename the Content Block, enter the new name within this field.

5. The tabs across the top of the Advanced Editor indicate which format version of your content you're currently editing. Optionally, to switch to a different format, click the appropriate tab.

6. Make any necessary changes to the Content Block.

7. To save your changes, click save in the Tool Ribbon.

8. Optionally, you can push these changes out to any launched Campaigns that utilize this Content Block. Please see "Push Content Block Changes" below for more details on this process.

To delete a Content Block:

1. In the Tool Bar, click Actions > Delete. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.

2. Click delete. The system moves the Content Block to the Recycling Bin.  

After you make changes to an Email Content Block, you can optionally push those changes out to any launched (but not yet finished deploying) Campaigns that utilize this Content Block. This feature runs the "Pick Up Changes" process on the Campaigns you select. When running "Pick Up Changes," the platform suspends the current version of the Campaign, copies it into a new version, applies the updated content, then launches that new version containing the updated content. All messages not yet deployed will be updated to include the changes (the platform doesn't modify messages that were deployed prior to running Pick Up Changes).

Note: When you use this feature to push out changes to your Content Block, please note that the platform will also pick up and apply any additional changes that may have been made to the Campaign or the Campaign's content. These changes can extend beyond just the revisions to the Content Block.

To push Email Content Block changes to launched Campaigns:

1. Make the necessary changes to the Content Block and save the changes.

2. In the Tool Ribbon, click Actions > View Active Campaigns. The "Active Campaigns" pop-up window is displayed, listing all Campaigns that use this Content Block, and that have launched, but not yet finished deploying (and to which you have edit access privileges).

3. Place a check mark next to one or more Campaigns that you want to update (or check the check box in the top header row to automatically select all Campaigns).

4. Click Push Changes. A confirmation dialog box is displayed. Click Push Changes.

This topic describes how to create a new Content Block through the Content Block screen. In addition, Content Blocks can be created through the New Item screen (see Create a New Item: Content Block), or defined though an API request (see Content Block API for more details).  

To create a new Content Block through the Content Block screen:

1. In the Tool Ribbon, click + New Content Block.

2. A "New Item" pop-up window is displayed. To select the folder where you want to save this new Content Block, click the folder name in the Navigation Tree on the left side of this pop-up. The "Where?" field is updated with the selected folder name.

3. In the "Name" field, enter a name for your new Content Block. This name must be unique within the selected folder.

4. Using the toggle buttons, select the data source for this Content Block: either "Messaging" or "EDP."

5. If you selected "Messaging" in step 4, from the "Data Source" drop-down menu, select the Messaging source table for this Content Block.

Note: You can never modify this source table after the Content Block is created.

6. From the "Channel" drop-down menu, select the marketing channel that will utilize this Content Block.

7. Click save. The Workspace is refreshed to show a blank Content Block details screen. The tabs across the top of the Content field indicate which format version of your message you're currently editing. The default version(s) created for this Content Block depends on the channel you selected above in step 5. For example, an SMS Text Content Block will have a "Mobile Text" version by default, but an Email Content Block will have an "HTML" version by default. Optionally, to switch to a different version of your message, click the appropriate tab.

8. Enter, or copy-and-paste, the message content into the Advanced Editor. For more details, please see the Advanced Editor Help topic.

9. If you're including links within your Content Block, you can optionally provide a friendly name for the link, right from within the Advanced Editor. Friendly names makes it easier to read the Campaign reports that track link usage (friendly link names can also be defined on the Link Library).

• Within HTML content, add a name attribute ("data-link-name") to the anchor tag.

<a data-link-name="Cheetah Digital home" href="http://www.cheetahdigital.com">Cheetah Digital Home Page</a>  

• Within either HTML or Text content, use a new URL merge tag to specify the friendly name.

{@Cheetah Digital home|http://www.cheetahdigital.com@}

10. Optionally, you can assign one or more tags to your Content Block. To assign a tag, click Actions > Set Tags of the Tool Ribbon. The system displays a pop-up menu of all the existing tags. You can select one of these tags, or type in a new one and press Enter. You can repeat this process to add more tags. To remove a tag, click the "X" icon next to the tag label.  

11. To save your Content Block, click Save in the Tool Ribbon.

12. Optionally, to see a mockup of your Content Block, click Preview in the Tool Ribbon. The Preview screen is displayed. If your message contains Personalization Fields, the pane on the right-hand side of the screen lists each of these fields. Optionally, type in a value; the system refreshes the preview screen with this value inserted into the message. When finished, click Edit > Show > Edit in the Tool Ribbon to return to the Advanced Editor.

13. If your user account has been configured to use an Approval Workflow, you can submit a request to the approver to review and approve this Content Block. In the Tool Ribbon, click Edit > Status > Request Approval. You won't be able to use this Content Block in a Campaign until the Content Block has been approved.

To copy an existing item to use as the basis for a new item:

1. Search for the desired item (see Search for an Item for more details).

2. Click on the item name. The main item screen is displayed and populated with the details of the selected item.

3. In the Tool Ribbon, click Save As. A "Save as" dialog box is displayed.

4. Enter a name for the new item.

5. By default, the new item will be saved in the same folder location as the base item. Optionally, click the magnifying glass icon to browse to and select a different folder location.

6. Click Save a copy. The system creates a copy of the selected item.

To view or edit an existing Content Block:

Note: While editing a Content Block, if another user has this same Content Block open at the same time, and he or she modifies and saves the Content Block, the system will alert you with a "Changes Detected" pop-up window. This window tells you that changes have been made, and by whom. If you want to discard your local changes and reload the screen to show the other user's version of the Content Block, click reload content block. Or, if you want to overwrite the other person's changes, click ignore changes.

1. Search for the desired Content Block (see Search for an Item for more details on the available search methods).

2. Click on the Content Block name. The Content Block screen is displayed and populated with the details of the selected Content Block.

3. Optionally, to view detailed information about the Content Block, click the Content Block tab in the Tool Ribbon. The Item Details screen is displayed, showing who created the item, who modified it last, and what the last actions taken on the item were. On this screen, click "Related Items" in the Function Menu to see other items in the system that reference or utilize this Content Block. When finished, click the Edit tab in the Tool Ribbon to return to the main edit screen.

4. Optionally, you can assign one or more tags to your Content Block. To assign a tag, click on the "Add tag" field in the Edit > Tags section of the Tool Ribbon. The system displays a pop-up menu of all the existing tags. You can select one of these tags, or type in a new one and press Enter. You can repeat this process to add more tags. To remove a tag, click the "X" icon next to the tag label.  

5. Optionally, to rename the Content Block, click on the content block name and edit the name as required. Click outside the text box and the new name is saved.

6. The tabs across the top of the Content field indicate which format version of your message you're currently editing. Optionally, to switch to a different format of your message, click the appropriate tab.

7. Make any necessary changes in the Advanced Editor. For more details on how to use the Advanced Editor, please see the Advanced Editor Help topic.

8. To save your changes, click Save in the Tool Ribbon.

9. Optionally, you can push these changes out to any launched Campaigns that utilize this Content Block. Please see "Push Content Block Changes" below for more details on this process.

To delete an item:

1. Search for the desired item (see Search for an Item for more details).

2. Click on the item name. The main item screen is displayed and populated with the details of the selected item.

3. In the Tool Ribbon, click Actions > Delete. A confirmation dialog box is displayed.

4. Click delete item to confirm the deletion.

Foldered items are moved to the Recycle Bin. Non-foldered items are permanently deleted.

After you make changes to a Content Block, you can optionally push those changes out to any launched (but not yet finished deploying) Campaigns that utilize this Content Block. This feature runs the "Pick Up Changes" process on the Campaigns you select. When running "Pick Up Changes," the platform suspends the current version of the Campaign, copies it into a new version, applies the updated content, then launches that new version containing the updated content. All messages not yet deployed will be updated to include the changes (the platform doesn't modify messages that were deployed prior to running Pick Up Changes).

Note: When you use this feature to push out changes to your Content Block, please note that the platform will also pick up and apply any additional changes that may have been made to the Campaign or the Campaign's content. These changes can extend beyond just the revisions to the Content Block.

To push Content Block changes to launched Campaigns:

1. Make the necessary changes to the Content Block and save the changes.

2. In the Tool Ribbon, click Actions > View Active Campaigns. The "Active Campaigns" pop-up window is displayed, listing all Campaigns that use this Content Block, and that have launched, but not yet finished deploying (and to which you have edit access privileges).

3. Place a check mark next to one or more Campaigns that you want to update (or check the check box in the top header row to automatically select all Campaigns).

4. Click push changes. A confirmation dialog box is displayed. 

Once you've created your Content Block, you can use it within one or more Campaigns. Messaging has two methods for assigning a Content Block to a Campaign: either 1) define the Content Block as the primary Content Source for the Campaign, or 2) insert the Content Block into the Campaign message.

Content Source

To change the Campaign's primary Content Source to use a Content Block:

1. Navigate to the desired Campaign (see Campaigns for more details).

2. Scroll down to the "Message" section, and click change. The "Choose Content Source" pop-up window is displayed.

3. Click content block. The "Browse Content Blocks" pop-up window is displayed.

4. From the "Browse Content Blocks" pop-up window, you can click on a folder in the directory structure to see a list of all the Content Blocks stored within that Folder. Or, if you want to search across the entire system, click the double-left arrow icon near the top of the directory structure; the system collapses the directory structure and shows every Content Block in the system. This pop-up window also allows you to search based on Tags, or by Content Block name. When you find the desired Content Block, click on the Content Block name.

Note: Content Blocks have to be created using the same source table as the Campaign in order for them to be available as a selection.

5. The Content section is refreshed to show the name of the selected Content Block.

Advanced Editor

To insert a Content Block into the Campaign message:

1. Navigate to the desired Campaign (see Campaigns for more details).

2. Scroll down to the "Message" section, and click edit. The "Advanced Editor" screen is displayed.

3. Place your cursor in the main content field. The Personalization Pane appears on the right-hand side of the screen.

4. In the Personalization Pane, click on the "Content Blocks" group to expand it.

5. Within the "Content Blocks" group, double-click on "Content Block" (or, optionally, you can drag "Content Block" from the Personalization Pane, and drop it into the content field). A "Browse Content Blocks" dialog box is displayed.

6. From the "Browse Content Blocks" pop-up window, you can click on a folder in the directory structure to see a list of all the Content Blocks stored within that Folder. Or, if you want to search across the entire system, click the double-left arrow icon near the top of the directory structure; the system collapses the directory structure and shows every Content Block in the system. This pop-up window also allows you to search based on Tags, or by Content Block name. When you find the desired Content Block, click on the Content Block name.

Note: Content Blocks have to be created using the same source table as the Campaign in order for them to be available as a selection.

7. In the Clipboard section of the Personalization Pane, the system creates a new Merge Symbol for this Content Block. A Merge Symbol is a textual representation of the Content Block, consisting of the Block's name and Object Reference ID enclosed in double-brackets. For example: {[Logo_Header|8687]}.

8. Place your cursor where you want to insert the Content Block, then click the Merge Symbol for that Block in the Clipboard. The system inserts the corresponding Merge Symbol at the indicated position.

If your Content Block isn't rendering as expected, trying the following steps:  

• Delete your browser cookies and cache, then retest the Content Block. 

• Copy the Campaign, then send proofs to a different ESP, such as Gmail or Yahoo etc., to see if the content renders correctly. 

• Copy / paste the Content Block into an external HTML editor to see if the content renders correctly outside of the platform. If not, the issue may lie with your HTML code.

• If the content renders correctly in an external HTML editor, but not within the platform, you will need to identify the problematic code by removing parts from the Content Block until it works correctly.

If the Content Block isn't displaying in the Campaign:

• Verify that the Content Block's Merge Symbol is placed correctly in the Campaign message. 

• Send proofs to yourself to see if you can replicate the issue. 

 If the problem persists, please contact Global Support for further assistance.