LiveRender is an advanced element for setting complex personalized animations and images, where data unique to each recipient is a key to provide information and drive action. LiveRender provides a great deal of flexibility in rendering animations, but requires knowledge of JSON and some creativity to obtain the results you aim for.
Examples are displaying point balance on an animated bar image, Data usage in a gauge diagram, Progress bars for miles earned, Profile completion tracker showing a percentage, Spend summaries, Donation thermometer, etc.
With LiveRender you typically measure clicks, conversions and loyalty redemption.
In this topic, we will discuss the different configuration options specific for the LiveRender as well as the preview and embed codes. Check out the topic Create a new campaign first for more information on how to initially create a campaign.
Once your campaign including the LiveRender element has been created, a series of steps need to be followed:
- Choose your template
- Configure basic settings
- Further configuration of LiveRender
- Define targeting rules and AB tests
2. Preview and test the LiveRender
Configure the LiveRender
Note: LiveRender is an advanced element for setting complex personalized animations and images. It is recommended to have the assistance of a skilled developer in JSON format. To help expedite the process, developers can use one of our LiveRender Templates which come complete with sample code.
Because LiveRender elements use the input from one or more Custom fields, you need to first set up these Custom fields in your Liveclicker account. For example, a Custom field storing the number of loyalty points, amount spent, number of purchases made, etc.
Choose your template
You can create a LiveRender from scratch, or you can choose one of the templates provided by Liveclicker. These templates will help you get started with some of the most common animations. They include:
- Animated Progress Bar — When opened in email, a user will see an animated progress bar personalized to show their individual progress towards completing the bar.
- Animated Activity Gauge — When opened in email, a portion of the gauge will animate up to a specific percentage unique to each opener.
- Animated Ticker — When opened in email, animated numbers will tick up to a final number unique to each opener.
- Animated Speedometer — When opened in email, a portion of the dial will animate up to a specific number unique to each opener.
1. Click View Templates to access the available templates;
2. Select a template on the right by ticking the check box. Fill out the properties on the left;
Depending on the selected template, the properties are slightly different:
For the progress bar, gauge and speedometer following fields need to be filled out:
- Custom field — The Custom ESP field that will be used as the source for the data in the animation. This must be a numeric field.
- Expected minimum value — The minimum value at which the animation will start.
- Expected maximum value — The maximum value at which the animation will stop. When presenting a percentage this would typically be 100.
For the ticker, following fields are required:
- Custom field — The Custom ESP field that will be used as the source for the data in the animation. This must be a numeric field.
- Number of digits — The number of digits displayed on the ticker. This depends on the maximum value the selected Custom field can hold.
3. When you are happy with your choice, click Create element. A new LiveRender element is created and the template is now used in your LiveRender element.
Configure basic settings
The settings configured in the basic settings section apply to all the different variants of the element, if these exist.
Linking — In the basic settings you define if a clickthrough URL is required or only the embedded image, without the possibility to click through. If you choose the option to add a clickthrough URL, you will have to define the url in the configuration of the element further down.
Alt text — This is the text that will be displayed when the image cannot be rendered. It is recommended to always set an alt text in case openers have disabled image rendering in their email clients or for openers that use screen readers. The alt text is appended to the embed code of the element.
Click Save and Next, to continue to the next step: the configuration of the elements.
Further configuration of LiveRender
When a LiveRender campaign is created, there is always a default LiveRender element that will be the fallback image when the targeting rules do not apply to the opener of the email or when no targeting rules have been defined.
Start by configuring the default LiveRender.
1. Set the dimensions for the LiveRenders image, by defining a width and height. Note that these dimensions must correspond to the dimensions of the image used as the background image of your LiveRender
2. Define a clickthrough URL if you set up the option in the Basic settings.
Note: You can use a regular clickthrough link or a mobile deeplink. Mobile deeplinks are URLs that the mobile device will interpret as an instruction to open the app if it is installed, and go to a specific location in the app. If the app does not exist, in general it will take the opener to the location where the app can be downloaded.
Note 2: Clickthrough URLs can be personalized with ESP tags. Please check out our dedicated topic on this subject if this is something you consider doing.
3. Upload the LiveRender Images. These images are used the create the animation. The first image on the left, is by default the background image.
You can upload up to 5 images. These images will be referenced in the JSON with their unique ID. The first image on the left has ID=1, the second image from the left has ID=2, and so on.
Note: If you have chosen to use a template, these images are already uploaded, but you can still overwrite these with your own images.
4. Adapt or enter the JSON code. This code defines the Custom field used as the source for the animation, how many frames are used in the animation, if the animation will loop, what the start and end point is, what the background image is, and many more. For a detailed explanation of all the JSON nodes, please check out this topic.
5. Once the code has been updated, you can test the result. In the Run, Preview & Debug section, enter a value for the Custom field. It is referenced as dimx where x represents the number of the Custom field, as created in the Account settings. Dimx is also the syntax used in the JSON to refer to the Custom field. The name of the Custom field is provided between brackets as well.
6. Click Run to execute the code and see the result for the entered value for the Custom field in the preview. Use the Full screen button to display the JSON and the preview in full screen to optimize your workspace.
7. A preview of the LiveRender is shown.
8. You can also Generate a Full test. Every frame within the animation is shown, together with the values they represent. To be able to use this feature you must be able to pull usable ranges from your JSON code. It needs to have at least one input node with a source, and min and max properties. Generating this test page will also help make your campaign run faster by pre-generating your images.
Example for the progress bar:
9. Upload a Personalization Fallback Image. This image will be served when it is not possible to retrieve the Custom field value used for the animation. The Personalization Fallback Image is also served in a LiveRender campaign when account overages are disabled, and an account runs out of credits.
10. Define a Fallback clickthrough URL.
Now you have finished the configuration of your first LiveRender.
At this point you can either add an alternative version of the LiveRender or move on to the targeting and testing section.
An alternative version can be used when targeting rules are implemented, presenting some of the viewers with one version, and others with another version.
11. If you want to do this, click the button Add Alternate LiveRender and repeat the configuration steps as for the default LiveRender.
12. When done, click Save and Next to set up the targeting rules.
Define targeting rules and AB tests
1. In this last step, you can decide which subscriber should get a specific version of the LiveRender through the use of targeting rules. A targeting rule will split up the audience and only target a segment of the audience with a specific version. There are 2 options:
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Define targeting rules from scratch.
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When you have already defined targeting rules for a different element in this campaign, you can re-use these targeting rules for the current element.
For more details on setting up targeting rules, please check out the dedicated topic.
2. In addition, you can also set up AB testing for this element. With A/B testing the final version of the LiveRender shown to the remainder of the audience, is determined by the A/B test.
3. When done, click Continue. You are taken to the next element to configure, if any. Otherwise, you are taken to the Preview.
Preview and test the LiveRender
The Preview tab for your campaign becomes available when all elements in your campaign have been configured. It provides you with the ability to test the look and rendering of the elements in your campaign, either as a static preview or as a dynamic preview, simulating an opener. You can also send yourself or others an email preview.
For more details on how to test your elements using preview, please read the corresponding topic.
Retrieve the embed codes
In this last step, you need to provide some estimated campaign details, such as expected opens, launch date and Expiration date, as well as the Subscriber ID field.
All this information will be used by Liveclicker to optimize resources but also to create the embed code.
For more details on the Embed codes, check out this topic.
