What is conditional content?

Conditional content gives you a way to create different versions of content within a single marketing email. Instead of creating multiple emails for different groups, you can build one email and determine which version of specific content each recipient sees. This takes personalization beyond inserting individual details such as a recipient's name. You can customize larger pieces of an email, including images, text, calls to action, and other content.

Personalizing one email for different audiences

Conditional content is useful when you're sending the same general message to a broad audience but want certain parts of that message to change for particular groups. For example, you could use conditional content to:

• Display different images based on audience interests.
• Adjust messaging using demographic or behavioral information.
• Present content in different languages.
• Change information based on a recipient's location.
• Customize sections or calls to action for different audience groups.

This allows you to maintain one primary email while creating more relevant experiences for the people receiving it.

Using recipient data to create conditions

Conditional content can be tied to attributes associated with the people receiving your email. For example, if information stored in your CRM categorizes contacts by a particular role, department, location, or other attribute, you can use that information as the basis for deciding which version of your content appears. You might create one variation for contacts matching one condition, a second variation for contacts matching another condition, and a default version for everyone who doesn't match either condition.

Creating conditional variations

Start by designing the default version of the content you want recipients to receive. Then select the email content that you want to make conditional and create the appropriate condition. The condition tells Dynamics 365 which recipient information to evaluate when deciding which variation to display. From there, create additional variations and customize the content in each one. Depending on your campaign, those variations could change:

• Text
• Images
• Offers
• Calls to action
• Links
• Other elements within the selected content

The result is a single email containing multiple possible experiences.

Always include a default version

When building conditional content, it is important to consider recipients who do not meet one of your specific conditions. A default version gives those recipients appropriate content instead of assuming that everyone in your audience will match one of the variations you've created. For example, if you create conditional versions for two specific audience categories, recipients who fall outside those categories can receive the more general default version.

Conditional content versus dynamic content

Dynamic and conditional content both personalize marketing emails, but they serve different purposes. Dynamic content inserts specific information into an email. A common example is pulling a recipient's first name from their contact record and inserting it into the message. Conditional content changes what content someone receives based on defined criteria. Rather than simply inserting a field value, the system decides which version of the content is appropriate for that recipient. These approaches can be used together to create emails that are both personalized and relevant.

Conditional content versus A/B testing

Conditional content also differs from A/B testing. A/B testing allows you to create variations so you can compare their performance and determine what works most effectively. Conditional content instead uses information about recipients to intentionally determine which version they receive. The goal is personalization rather than experimentation.

Planning your conditional content

Before creating conditional variations, think carefully about your audience and the CRM data available to support your conditions. Useful questions include:

• Which audience groups would benefit from different messaging?
• What attributes distinguish those groups?
• Is the information stored consistently on your contact or lead records?
• What should recipients receive if they do not match a condition?
• Does the change make the message more useful or relevant to the recipient?

Conditional content works best when the data behind your conditions is reliable and each variation has a clear purpose.

Creating more relevant email experiences

Conditional content can help you reduce the number of separate emails you need to manage while still tailoring communications to different portions of your audience. Rather than sending every recipient exactly the same message, you can use information already available in Dynamics 365 to make individual parts of your email more relevant to the person receiving it. Combined with other personalization capabilities, conditional content gives you another way to create targeted marketing communications while managing the campaign through a single email.