Personalization recipes personalization-recipes

This page provides ready-to-use personalization patterns for the most common use cases in Adobe Journey Optimizer. All examples use the personalization editor syntax and can be copied directly into email, SMS, or push content.

For a complete reference of available functions, see Helper functions, Date/time functions, String functions, and Array functions.

Date & time recipes date-time-recipes

Recipe 1 — Display the current date in a readable format recipe-current-date

Use formatDate with getCurrentZonedDateTime() to render today’s date in any format:

{%= formatDate(getCurrentZonedDateTime(), "MMMM dd, yyyy") %}

Output (example): April 11, 2026

Common format patterns:

Recipe 2 — Countdown to an expiry or event date recipe-countdown

Use dateDiff to compute the number of days remaining until a profile date attribute, then render it dynamically:

{% let daysLeft = dateDiff(getCurrentZonedDateTime(), stringToDate(profile.loyalty.expiryDate)) %}
{%#if daysLeft > 0%}
Your reward points expire in {{daysLeft}} day{%#if daysLeft > 1%}s{%/if%}. Use them before they're gone!
{%else%}
Your reward points have expired.
{%/if%}

Output (example): Your reward points expire in 7 days. Use them before they're gone!

Recipe 3 — X days before a dynamic end date recipe-days-before

To compute a date that is X days before a profile attribute (e.g. to reference in content or subject lines), use addDays with a negative offset:

{%= formatDate(addDays(stringToDate(profile.subscription.endDate), -7), "MMMM dd, yyyy") %}

Output (example): April 04, 2026 (7 days before April 11)

To also set a fixed time of day (e.g. 9 AM), combine with setHours:

{%= formatDate(setHours(addDays(stringToDate(profile.subscription.endDate), -7), 9), "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm") %}

Recipe 4 — Display current time as HH:MM only recipe-time-only

Use extractHours and extractMinutes to show only the time portion, with a leading-zero guard for minutes:

{% let h = extractHours(getCurrentZonedDateTime()) %}
{% let m = extractMinutes(getCurrentZonedDateTime()) %}
Your appointment is at {{h}}:{%#if m < 10%}0{%/if%}{{m}}.

Output (example): Your appointment is at 14:05.

Recipe 5 — Detect weekend vs. weekday recipe-weekend

Use dayOfWeek to adapt content based on the day. The function returns 1 (Monday) through 7 (Sunday). Use the single = operator (PQL syntax, not ==):

{%#if dayOfWeek(getCurrentZonedDateTime()) = 6 or dayOfWeek(getCurrentZonedDateTime()) = 7%}
We're closed on weekends — our team will follow up on the next business day.
{%else%}
Our team will get back to you within 24 hours.
{%/if%}

Array & loop recipes array-recipes

Recipe 6 — List all items from a profile array recipe-list-items

Use {{#each}} to iterate over a profile array and render each item. This is available in the personalization editor (email, SMS, push) only:

{{#each profile.purchases.recentItems}}
  - {{this.name}}: {{this.price}}€
{{/each}}

Output (example):

- Running shoes: 89€
- Water bottle: 15€
- Gym bag: 45€

Recipe 7 — Show the top N items from an array by price recipe-first-n

Use topN to sort and retrieve the top N items by a numeric field. Since topN is a PQL function, assign it to a variable first with {% let %}, then loop with {{#each}}:

{% let topOrders = topN(profile.orders, price, 3) %}
{{#each topOrders}}
  {{this.name}} — {{this.price}}€
{{/each}}

Or use head to get only the single top item:

{%= head(profile.purchases.recentItems).name %}

Recipe 8 — Render content conditionally per array item recipe-conditional-loop

Use {%#if%} inside {{#each}} to render output only for matching items. Define a loop alias with as |order| so the PQL evaluator can resolve the attribute reference in the condition:

{{#each profile.orders as |order|}}
  {%#if order.status = "pending"%}
  Order {{order.id}} is pending — we'll notify you when it ships.
  {%/if%}
{{/each}}

String & formatting recipes string-recipes

Recipe 9 — Clean a string with replaceAll and reuse it recipe-replaceall-reuse

replaceAll returns a new value — it does not modify the original. Use {% let %} to store the result and reference it multiple times without repeating the function call:

{% let cleanName = replaceAll(profile.person.name.firstName, "[^a-zA-Z]", "") %}
Hi {{cleanName}},
Your exclusive code is: WELCOME-{%= upperCase(cleanName) %}

Output (example):

Hi John,
Your exclusive code is: WELCOME-JOHN

Recipe 10 — Double-quote a value in JSON output recipe-json-quotes

To include a literal double quote inside a string (e.g. generating JSON for a custom payload), escape it with a backslash (\"):

{ "greeting": "Hello \"{{profile.person.name.firstName}}\"" }

Output: { "greeting": "Hello \"John\"" }

Recipe 11 — Format a date component in uppercase recipe-uppercase-date

Combine formatDate with upperCase to render month or day names in uppercase:

{%= upperCase(formatDate(getCurrentZonedDateTime(), "MMMM")) %}

Output (example): APRIL

For a full uppercase date string:

{%= upperCase(formatDate(profile.person.birthDateTime, "EEEE MMMM dd yyyy")) %}

Output (example): WEDNESDAY JANUARY 01 2020

Conditional logic recipes conditional-recipes

Recipe 12 — IF/ELSEIF/ELSE in personalized content recipe-if-elseif

Use {%#if%}, {%else if%}, and {%else%} for multi-branch conditional logic. This pattern works in email content and fragments:

{%#if profile.loyalty.tier = "gold"%}
As a Gold member, enjoy free shipping on all orders.
{%else if profile.loyalty.tier = "silver"%}
As a Silver member, enjoy free shipping on orders over €50.
{%else%}
Join our loyalty program to unlock exclusive benefits.
{%/if%}

Recipe 13 — Null-safe attribute display recipe-null-safe

Use a conditional fallback to avoid rendering empty values when a profile attribute may be null or missing:

{%#if profile.person.name.firstName%}
Hi {{profile.person.name.firstName}},
{%else%}
Hi there,
{%/if%}

Or inline with a ternary-style pattern using isEmpty:

Hi {%#if isEmpty(profile.person.name.firstName)%}valued customer{%else%}{{profile.person.name.firstName}}{%/if%},

PQL edge case recipes pql-edge-cases

Recipe 14 — Reference a hyphenated attribute key recipe-hyphenated-key

If your XDM schema field name contains hyphens (e.g. order-total, event-type), wrap it in backticks inside a PQL expression to prevent the hyphen from being interpreted as a subtraction operator:

{%= profile.events.`order-total` > 100 %}

Recipe 15 — Reference a numeric event ID in a context attribute recipe-numeric-event-id

When using a journey context event whose ID is a numeric string (e.g. 1697323153), wrap the ID in backticks and use {% let %} with toDateTime() and formatDate():

{% let appointmentDate = formatDate(toDateTime(context.journey.events.`1697323153`.timestamp), "dd/MM/yyyy HH:mm") %}
Your appointment: {{appointmentDate}}

Output (example): Your appointment: 18/03/2026 14:30

Recipe 16 — Type coercion: compare a string field to a number recipe-type-coercion

PQL is strongly typed. When a profile field is stored as a string but you need to compare it numerically, convert it first with stringToNumber():

{%= stringToNumber(profile.loyalty.pointsBalance) > 500 %}

For boolean fields stored as strings:

{%= toBool(profile.consents.email.val) = true %}