Construct dynamic emails and SMS messages using merge tags
By adding dynamic merge tag in the body of an email or SMS message, you can craft personalized messaging for your guests to receive based on the information we have about them. This can help prevent your automated messages or real-time broadcasts from feeling too general and impersonal.
What is a dynamic merge tag and why would I use them?
A merge tag is basically an automated shortcut -- you use it to tell the system that it needs to fill in some other information. What makes our merge tags dynamic is that if you're sending out an email blast to 250 contacts that have visited your cafe in the last week, you can use a single merge tag, but it will dynamically fill in each customer's personal information as it sends out each message.
For example, you could easily start a mass email with "Hey there!" or "Hey, loyal customer!" or something along those lines -- generic enough to not sound too weird, but not overly formal. But, using a merge tag, you could replace that with "Hey, {{first_name}}!" -- and every single contact will have it personalized with their own first name.
Using merge tags in emails
You can access the merge tags by clicking Merge tags in the text customization toolbar while typing your message.
Select the merge tag that you want to use, and the tag will be inserted into your text field.
Using merge tags in SMS messages
You can also insert merge tags into your SMS messages by clicking Insert Tag.
Available dynamic merge tag parameters
| Merge Tag | Description | Example |
| {{full_name}} | Contact's Full Name | John Doe |
| {{first_name}} | Contact's First Name |
John |
| {{last_name}} | Contact's Last Name | Doe |
| {{email}} | Contact's email address | john.doe@gmail.com |
| {{social_network}} | The social network that the contact used to log in | |
| {{social_network_id}} | The ID for that social network | 10158001109505148 |
| {{phone_number}} | Contact's phone number | 4165551234 |
| {{birthdate}} | Contact's birthday | August 9th |
| {{birthdate_dayofweek}} | The day of the week that their birthday falls on this year | Wednesday |
| {{datenotime}} | The date when the automation or broadcast was triggered | April 20th |
| {{datetime}} | The date and time when the automation or broadcast was triggered | April 20th 3:04 pm |
| {{time}} | The time when the automation or broadcast was triggered |
3:04 pm |
| {{day_of_week}} | The day of the week when the automation or broadcast was triggered |
Wednesday |
| {{age}} | The contact's age |
30 |
| {{gender}} | The contact's gender |
Male |
| {{timezone}} | The contact's home timezone, according to their device |
GMT-5 |
| {{locale}} | The contact's language setting on Facebook |
English (US) |
| {{picture_url}} | The contact's profile picture URL -- this can be inserted into an HTML block! |
https://graph.facebook.com/v2.11/... |
| {{visits}} | The total number of visits for that guest |
5 |
| {{last_visit_date}} | The last date that that guest visited one of your locations | April 9th 2020 |
Dynamic Replacement
When the email or SMS automation or broadcast is processed, it will automatically replace the tag with the appropriate information from your guest's user profile.
You may also use the same merge tag multiple times in the same message!
NOTE: If you use a merge tag that pulls information that your guest's user profile does not have, it will just disappear without being replaced. For example, if you had "It's your birthday on {{birthdate}}!" in an email, but included a guest who hasn't given you his birthday, his email would say "It's your birthday on !". Be aware of who your audience is, and what information you're likely to have, before crafting your messages!
Need Help?
If you have any questions, please contact our support team by clicking the support icon located in the bottom right-hand corner of this page.
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