When creating templates you have the option of setting specific criteria when that template should be used. Note that this is an advanced feature of Message Hub and unless you are sure you need this level of customisation in your messaging then it's best to leave the send criteria as "Always Send". If you can think of reasons why this could be useful, or are just interested in learning more about how to create criteria and see if that inspires you, then read on!

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To set criteria for a particular message template you first need to select "Criteria Met" in the send criteria dropdown. This will then open up additional fields for you to construct your criteria. Criteria are essentially a series of statements and consist of 3 elements, the Field Code, the Operator and the Value.

When the Field Code for the guide or invitation is applied to the Operator and Value and resolved as TRUE then this template will be used for that invitation. Most standard field codes are available when setting criteria and all custom field codes that you create can be used. See Field Codes explained for more details about field codes.

An example criteria statement would be:

Field Code = {{guide_name}} Operator = EQUAL TO Value = "Beach Oasis"

In the above statement the template will only be used for invitations when the guide name is Beach Oasis.

You can apply more than one statement to a template and link them through either AND or OR. AND means both statements must resolve TRUE. OR means either statement can be resolved as TRUE.

The final statement must resolve fully as TRUE for the template to be used on the invitation.

For example

Field Code = {{arrival_date}} Operator = ON OR AFTER Value = "01 May 2022"

AND

Field Code = {{arrival_date}} Operator = ON OR BEFORE Value = "30 Sep 2022"

In the above statement the template will only be used for invitations when the arrival date is between 1st May 2022 and 30th September 2022. This could be used for messages that are seasonal and highlight information for summer guests. In this example you would then need to create new message templates for the following seasons.

⚠️ If you copied a field code from an older version of this article with # in front of it, delete the #.

Criteria can be combined with custom field codes to create a high level of personalisation in your messaging. For example, you could create a custom field code to classify your guests as "family", "couple", "celebration" etc and send different messages to people depending on the reason for them staying with you. More details on creating custom field codes can be found in Field Codes explained (legacy Hub: Field Codes explained (Legacy hub)).

We thoroughly recommend testing any criteria that you add to templates to be sure they are working as expected. To do this you will need to create some invitations and set the data according to your criteria. After entering the invitation details the message schedule screen will show you the message templates that will be applied. We would suggest making both positive tests, where you expect to see your new template used, and also negative tests where you do not expect the template to be included. To delete the invitation without actually scheduling any of your test messages, do not click "Schedule messages". Instead, close the message schedule screen from the cross at the top right of the box and then delete the invitation using the "Delete" option in the 3 dots menu of the Invitation table.

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