Outbound Data Connector - Advanced Guide

The Outbound Data Connector (ODC) pushes structured JSON payloads to an external system or API whenever a trigger fires (for example, a workflow step, status change, or scheduled event). Each JSON value can be static or dynamic — dynamic values are resolved at send-time using Liquid template tags pulled from the triggering record. This guide covers the complete filter library, conditional logic, available data objects, best practices, and a full tag reference.

Liquid templating — core concepts

Liquid is an open-source templating language used to embed dynamic values into text, emails, and data payloads. The JSON payload is a template: Liquid tags act as placeholders replaced with real record data before the payload is transmitted. One connector configuration serves thousands of records.

Available data objects

The following top-level objects expose fields via dot notation inside your payload.

Note: Not all objects are available in every trigger context. A loan-triggered connector has loan.* fields; a contact-triggered connector may not. Verify which objects are in scope for your workflow trigger before mapping fields.

Filter library

Filters transform a field value before it is output. Append them to a variable using the pipe character (|) and chain multiple filters left to right. Test each filter in your environment before relying on it in production, as platform implementations may support a subset.

String case filters

Number and math filters

Default value filter

Note: The default filter is concise but does not handle all edge cases (for example, "false" or "0" may be treated as falsy by some engines). The {% if %}...{% else %} pattern is more explicit and reliable for critical fields.

Date filters

Date format code reference:

Conditional logic tags

Unlike filters, conditional tags control which value or content is output based on a test. They use the {% %} block syntax and must always be closed.

Note: All block tags in Liquid must be explicitly closed: {% if %} requires {% endif %}, {% unless %} requires {% endunless %}, and {% capture %} requires {% endcapture %}. Failing to include the closing tag will cause ODC payload transmission to fail.

Basic if / else

Checks if a field has a truthy value (non-null, non-empty, non-false):

"field": "{% if owner.ai_preferred_name_first %}{{owner.ai_preferred_name_first}}{% else %}{{owner.f_name}}{% endif %}"

Note: When the condition is false and no {% else %} branch is provided, the field renders as a blank string — not null. Always include an {% else %} clause for required fields to ensure a value is always sent.

If / elsif / else (triple fallback)

Chain multiple conditions with elsif — evaluates top to bottom and uses the first match:

"field": "{% if owner.field_a %}{{owner.field_a}}{% elsif owner.field_b %}{{owner.field_b}}{% else %}{{owner.field_c}}{% endif %}"

Comparison operators

Note: Numeric comparisons (>, <, >=) require the field to be stored as a numeric type, not a string. Fields like loan.amount may be stored as a decimal string (for example, "480000.00"), which can cause numeric comparisons to return blank. If a comparison returns blank unexpectedly, the field may be string-typed. Use the default filter as a fallback and test in your environment before relying on comparisons in production.

Boolean operators (and / or)

Combine multiple conditions in a single {% if %} using and / or:

"field": "{% if contact.state == 'TX' and loan.amount > 200000 %}Eligible{% else %}Not Eligible{% endif %}"

Unless (negative condition)

unless is the inverse of if — the block renders when the condition is false. Useful for "render this unless the field is populated":

"field": "{% unless owner.ai_preferred_name_first %}{{owner.f_name}}{% endunless %}"

Full reference payload

The following is a production-ready reference template incorporating conditional fallbacks, filters, and static values. It is designed for a contact-triggered connector with loan officer owner fields and enriched rate data. Copy this payload into your connector's Request Body field. Remove enriched.rate.* fields if your trigger context does not include rate enrichment, and verify all field names against your platform instance.

{
  "prospect_id": "{{contact.id}}",
  "owner_id": "{{contact.owner_id}}",
  "email": "{{contact.email | downcase}}",
  "phone_number": "{{contact.phone_cell}}",
  "phone_number_2": "{{contact.phone}}",
  "phone_number_3": "{{contact.phone_home}}",
  "phone_number_4": "{{contact.phone_office}}",
  "first_name": "{{contact.f_name | capitalize}}",
  "last_name": "{{contact.l_name | capitalize}}",
  "state": "{{contact.state | upcase}}",
  "zip_code": "{{contact.zip}}",
  "property_city": "{{contact.city}}",
  "loan_close_date": "{{contact.close_date | date: '%m/%d/%Y'}}",
  "created_at": "{{contact.creation_date}}",
  "lead_type": "",
  "transfer_phone_number": "{% if owner.ai_transfer_phone_number %}{{owner.ai_transfer_phone_number}}{% else %}{{owner.phone_cell}}{% endif %}",
  "transfer_first_name": "{% if owner.ai_transfer_name_first %}{{owner.ai_transfer_name_first}}{% else %}{{owner.f_name}}{% endif %}",
  "transfer_last_name": "{% if owner.ai_transfer_name_last %}{{owner.ai_transfer_name_last}}{% else %}{{owner.l_name}}{% endif %}",
  "loan_officer_first_name_phonetic": "{{owner.ai_phonetic_spelling_first}}",
  "loan_officer_last_name_phonetic": "{{owner.ai_phonetic_spelling_last}}",
  "te_loan_officer_email": "{% if owner.ai_appointment_schedule_email %}{{owner.ai_appointment_schedule_email | downcase}}{% else %}{{owner.email | downcase}}{% endif %}",
  "te_loan_officer__phone_cell": "{{owner.phone_cell}}",
  "te_loan_officer__phone_office": "{{owner.phone_office}}",
  "te_loan_officer__first_name": "{% if owner.ai_preferred_name_first %}{{owner.ai_preferred_name_first}}{% else %}{{owner.f_name}}{% endif %}",
  "te_loan_officer__last_name": "{% if owner.ai_preferred_name_last %}{{owner.ai_preferred_name_last}}{% else %}{{owner.l_name}}{% endif %}",
  "te_loan_officer__ms_booking_service_page_url": "{% if owner.ai_appointment_scheduling_link %}{{owner.ai_appointment_scheduling_link}}{% else %}{{owner.appointment_scheduling_url}}{% endif %}",
  "entity_type": "CONTACT",
  "Brand_Info": {
    "Brand_Data": "comarketer",
    "company_name": "{{ brand_company_name }}"
  },
  "loan_amount": "{{contact.enriched.rate.loan_amount | formatNumber: 0}}",
  "loan_rate": "{{contact.enriched.rate.loan_rate | formatNumber: 3 | append: '%'}}",
  "new_monthly_savings": "{{contact.enriched.rate.estimated_monthly_savings | formatNumber: 0}}",
  "new_property_value": "{{contact.enriched.rate.estimated_home_value | formatNumber: 0}}",
  "min_reengagement_days": 14
}

Best practices

Use conditional fallbacks for all owner AI fields

Do:

{% if owner.ai_preferred_name_first %}{{owner.ai_preferred_name_first}}{% else %}{{owner.f_name}}{% endif %}

Don't:

"{{owner.ai_preferred_name_first}} OR {{owner.f_name}}"  ← Sends the literal word OR in the payload

Note: This fallback pattern is not limited to AI Agent fields. Use it any time a field may be unpopulated — for example, {% if contact.phone_cell %}{{contact.phone_cell}}{% else %}{{contact.phone}}{% endif %}. This ensures the payload always contains a value even when the primary field is empty.

Match JSON data types

Note: To determine a field's data type, refer to the field descriptions in the Complete Liquid Tag Library section — Boolean fields are noted explicitly. When a field's type is unclear, treat it as a string and quote it. Use | formatNumber or arithmetic filters only after confirming the field is numeric.

• Numbers unquoted: 14 not "14"
• Booleans unquoted: true / false not "true"
• Strings always quoted: "CONTACT" not CONTACT

Normalize data with filters

Note: To strip unwanted characters from phone numbers, chain multiple | remove filters: {{contact.phone_cell | remove: '-' | remove: '(' | remove: ')' | remove: ' ' | remove: '/'}}. Each character must be removed separately. This produces a digits-only string such as 5125551234.

• Email fields: | downcase to normalize casing
• State codes: | upcase to ensure consistent format
• Names: | capitalize if data entry is inconsistent
• Dollar amounts: | formatNumber: 0 to remove decimals and add commas

Validate JSON structure before saving

Liquid tags inside JSON can obscure structural errors. Paste your payload (with Liquid tags intact as strings) into a JSON linter before saving. Ensure brackets, commas, and quotes are all balanced.

Test with sparse records

The most common failure mode is the record where every AI-specific field is empty. Always test with an owner that has no ai_* fields populated to confirm fallback values render correctly.

Troubleshooting

Quick reference card

Complete Liquid tag library

This section provides a comprehensive reference of every available Liquid tag for use within a Total Expert Outbound Data Connector payload. Tags are organized by object and sub-object. Tag availability depends on the ODC trigger context and enabled features. Scenarios 2 and 3 of rate_quote fields (suffixed _2 and _3) follow identical patterns to Scenario 1 — substitute the scenario number.

contact — core contact fields

Available in Contact ODCs. May also be available in Loan ODCs via the primary borrower.

contact.custom — custom contact fields

Custom fields follow the pattern {{contact.custom.field_name}}. Field names must match exactly as configured in your TE instance.

contact.enriched.equity — Customer Intelligence equity fields

Populated by the Customer Intelligence (CI) feature. Requires CI to be enabled and available public records data.

contact.enriched.rate — CI Rate Alert fields

Populated by the CI Rate Alert feature. Requires Customer Intelligence and reflects mortgage monitoring data.

contact.enriched.debt — Debt Enrichment fields

Requires Debt Enrichment. Use | formatNumber: 0 for dollar amounts and | formatNumber: 2 for rates.

owner — loan officer / user fields

Available across Contact, Loan, and User ODCs.

owner.ai_* — AI Agent fields

Populated only when the loan officer has the AI Agent feature enabled in TE. Always use conditional fallback logic when referencing these fields.

loan — core loan fields

Available in Loan ODCs. Exposes data from the loan record that triggered the event.

loan — date fields

Format with the date filter (for example, | date: '%m/%d/%Y') before including in payloads that expect a formatted date string.

loan.[participant] — loan participant contact fields

Each loan participant is a contact record accessible via a participant-role prefix. Every participant supports the same field set as the core contact object. Example: {{loan.borrower.f_name}}, {{loan.buyers_agent.email}}, {{loan.coborrower.credit_score}}.

lead — lead record fields

Available in Lead ODCs. Boolean fields (already_found_home, first_time_buyer, veteran) render as true or false — do not quote them in JSON payloads.

For questions about configuring the Outbound Data Connector or troubleshooting a specific payload, contact your Total Expert implementation team or submit a support request.