What are the fundamentals

In this section we'll go over what are the fundamentals to understand before you get going with setting up your organization in Alpaco.

Preliminary

In order to get started with making your templates smart, first you'll need:

1. A template in HTML

2. Basic understanding of HTML

3. Understanding of Liquid markup coding.

What is a Template?

A Template is the entirety of the combinations of design, rules, dependencies you create your emails with. A template contains the overall design rules and thus serves as the foundation for your emails. In order to distinguish between what is the "foundation" and what is the building blocks that can be set on to that foundation, we've divided the Template into two different sections. "Base" will be referred to as the foundation, where as "Blocks" are the building blocks to be inserted into the Base - they're both vital elements around the concept of a Template.

A Template usually starts off only with the top and bottom, leaving a frame in the middle to insert Blocks, also known as the Base.

For more on how to get started with a template, read the section Base in Fundamentals.

What is a Block?

A Block is an element that can be moved around, repeated, deleted and basically what is being drag & dropped into the Base. It is a container that has its own sets of code and rules.

A Block can be many things, containing many different rules and settings, however you like it - the fundamental principal to understand is it's movable within the "foundation" that is the Base.

Here a Block has been inserted into the frame. Right side shows the settings allowed in that Block.

For more on how to get started with a block, read the section Blocks in Fundamentals.

What is an Integration?

An Integration is the link that is made between Alpaco and your Email Service Provider(ESP). Through the integration the email you've created will be exported to your ESP, which will populate your email with customer data and be able to send it out. It's important to understand that Alpaco is not an email platform, but serves as an addition to your current Email Marketing Setup. It will substitute the editing and creative part, making it increasingly faster and more productive working with email.

Here the user has completed the content creation of an Email and is now ready to export it to their ESP.

For more on how to setup an integration, read the section Integrations in Account Settings.

What is a Merge Tag?

A Merge Tag is a personalization variable that is contained, defined and managed within your Email Service Provider(ESP), and to be used within the content of your emails. It can be things like your customers Firstname, Birthdays, loyalty-points ect. Basically anything you have in a structured format, to be used in text. Whichever syntax your ESP dictates, Merge Tags can handle. Because these variables can be hard to spell correctly and are even stripped if typed in-correct, Merge Tags is a way of setting them up in a simple and structured dropdown, so you don't have to remember the exact syntax of for instance "firstname".

Here the user has clicked the Merge tag button on a text field to show which Merge Tag is available to them.

For more on how to get started with a Merge Tags, read the section Merge Tags in Account Settings.