If you are familiar with Mail Merges in Outlook and MS Word, personalization will be a breeze. It's basically the same concept: Personalization allows you to personalize each message using the data you upload to your list for each recipient.
Personalization may be used in the following locations:
- Mailing content
- Mailing subject line
- Tracked link redirection
The Personalization drop-down menu is available for the subject line and in the editor for use in the body of the message. Here are some useful tips:
1) Ensure that your test list contains the same fields as your live sending list. A common mistake is to test delivery with a test list that contains different data from your sending list. Ensuring that both lists use the exact same fields will allow for accurate testing of personalization.
2) ReachMail offers a fallback feature for all personalization fields. This is done with the pipe symbol: | For instance, if you intend to use the First Name personalization in ReachMail: {{first_name}} the fallback can be set as follows: {{first_name|Friend}}. Anything you type after the | but inside the brackets will become the fallback if no first name is found for any recipient(s). We understand that not all list data will be perfect, and as such, using this feature to its fullest capabilities will ensure that your message looks its best.
3) Note that full name, last name, and first name are three separate fields in ReachMail. If you upload your list using the full name field, you will NOT be able to reference the first name or last name specifically. Since a full name may contain a middle name or initial in many cases, there is no way for us to separate a full name into its respective parts in a graceful manner. You will have to reference the full name field with your personalization in order for the proper information to appear: {{fullname}}. Once again, proper testing of your message will ensure problems like this are caught before the message is sent out live to your recipients.
4) The Subject line personalization can be added using the drop-down to the right. The chosen field will be added at the cursor position or added to the end of the subject line.
5) **advanced use of personalization**
Personalization can be used inside the URL of a link in your message as well. This is often done for websites that are coded to handle incoming information. For instance, you might link to a specific page on your site and pass in the email address as part of the query string values in your link like this:
A link with this format would append the recipient's email address to the link to ReachMail's website.
