Note: This feature was previously known as 'merge fields'.
When you’re sending a message at scale to students, you might still want to communicate slightly different information to each student. For example, you are inviting 10 students in for an interview, but each of their interviews is at a different date and time.
You don’t need multiple campaigns/templates for this - you need variables.
When you upload student data into a campaign, we ask for certain data fields against those students. For example, we always need a first name and a mobile number.
However, we also have optional extra fields that you can use, depending on the template you have attached to your campaign. Those fields will then dynamically populate the template depending on the data against the student.
For example:
Hi {{firstname}}, thanks for your application for {!contactid.CourseTitle__c}. Please come to your interview on {{event date}} at {{event time}} in {{event location}}. Will we see you there?
Yes
No
Imagine you upload the below data file. It will then create the message shown below:
So, you can personalise messages as much as you need to.
What other variables can I use?
Alongside the variables that you can pick from in the Conversation Designer, you can also insert these fields:
1. Course Title - {!contactid.CourseTitle__c}
2. College Name - {!accountid.name}
3. Email Address - {!contactid.Email_Address__c}
4. Campus - {!contactid.Campus__c}
5. Offer Type - {!contactid.Offer_Type__c}
6. Course Code - {!contactid.CourseCode__c}
7. Student ID - {!contactid.Applicant_ID__c}
8. Account Personality Name (e.g. Jenni) - {!accountid.personality__c}
Variables can be overridden by multiple uploads!
One important thing to remember about variables, is that the latest upload that you do of a contact will override any previously uploaded variables, even if you put them in two different campaigns.
Say you want to send a message to someone on a Monday with their course title as 'Science', but you also want to send them a message on Wednesday with the course title 'English'. If you upload this person into both campaigns, the latest upload will also affect the previous upload, and both messages will go out with the latest course title that you uploaded. So, it is better to wait for one message to go before scheduling the next, so that variables are not affected.
Don’t see the field you want to use? Ask us in the chat bubble (bottom right of your screen) and we’ll see what we can do!