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Merge tags

Personalising a campaign, and what happens when a value is missing.

Merge tags substitute per-recipient values into subject lines and bodies.

Hi {{contact.first_name}}, here is what is new at {{brand.name}}.

What is available

Two namespaces, and only two.

{{contact.*}} — the standard fields plus any custom attribute you have defined on your workspace.

TagValue
{{contact.email}}Their address
{{contact.first_name}}First name
{{contact.last_name}}Last name
{{contact.<your_attribute>}}Any custom attribute

{{brand.*}} — who the mail is from.

TagValue
{{brand.name}}Brand name
{{brand.legal_name}}Registered legal name
{{brand.postal_address}}Postal address
{{brand.website_url}}Website

There is no {{order.*}}, no {{event.*}} and no {{promo.*}}. If you need per-recipient data beyond this, put it in a custom attribute; the tag list is generated from your actual schema, so anything you can store you can merge.

A missing value skips the recipient

If a campaign uses {{contact.first_name}} and a contact has no first name, that recipient is skipped. They are not sent the email, and the send is not counted against your plan.

This is a deliberate choice and worth understanding, because the alternatives are worse. Sending “Hi ,” is visibly broken. Sending “Hi {{contact.first_name}},” is embarrassing and marks you as careless. Substituting a cheerful default like “there” means you cannot tell the difference between somebody called Ada and somebody you know nothing about.

Skipping is the only option that neither sends something bad nor pretends the data exists. The campaign report shows exactly who was skipped and which tag was missing, so you can fill the gap and send to them afterwards.

If you would rather reach everyone, do not personalise that campaign, or make sure the attribute is populated first. A quick check before sending is to filter your contacts on the attribute being empty.

Before you send

The dashboard previews a campaign against a real contact and tells you how many recipients would be skipped and why. Worth a look on any campaign using a tag you are not certain every contact has.

Updated at, Saturday, October 10, 2026