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Custom field not displaying with tag

edited August 2020 in Troubleshooting

I am currently testing messages with a custom field of FirstName and I'm trying to begin my message with Hi FirstName, .... I'm using the code [FirstName, fallback=there] and my test message is delivering the email as "Hi there," even though there is a FirstName column and there is data in that column for the email I am testing to.

Please advise. Thank you!

Comments

  • Hi,

    If the subscriber have data in the FirstName custom field, Sendy will replace the tag with that data. Otherwise it will use the fallback data in the tag.

    Please ensure you use the custom field tag correct:

    [FirstName,fallback=there]

    instead of:

    [FirstName, fallback=there]

    Thanks.

    Best regards,
    Ben

  • Thank you for your response. I am using [FirstName,fallback=there] but the mailing is not reading the data in the FirstName custom field. It subsitutes "there" for the name even though there is a name under the Custom Field FirstName.

  • So in continuing to explore, I found you say that when uploading a csv file, it should not include* the first column "Name" -- is that correct? If so, that could be where I went wrong on my upload. May I ask why that would be? And how will the "Name" column be populated on existing lists if we are to skip that column? Thanks again.

  • Oh good grief. Ignore my last post. There's a difference between rows and columns :)

  • So as I continue to trouble shoot this issue, I sent a test message using all custom fields on this list. The test message read:

    [Name,fallback=name]
    [Email]
    [FirstName,fallback=first]
    [LastName,fallback=last]
    [DateJoined,fallback=tomorrow]

    The test I received said this:

    name
    cissy@writerspacemail.com
    first
    last
    tomorrow

    So the results act as if there is only data under email even though the address I'm testing contains data for all of the custom fields:

    Name: Admin
    Email: cissy@writerspacemail.com
    Last activity: Aug 13, 2020, 11:54AM
    Added via: App interface
    Custom fields
    FirstName: Cissy
    LastName: Hartley
    DateJoined: 3/23/2011 0:00
    List: Writerspace Clients
    Status: Subscribed
    Notes:
    Click to add a note for this subscriber.

    Just thought this information could help you help me pinpoint the issue.

  • I just tested it with a different list that uses custom fields and I'm having the same problem. only the fallback text posts even through there is data in all fields.

  • You need to send the campaign out to the list (not using the 'Test send' function), then Sendy will populate the personalization tags with the subscriber's data.

    If you send a test email with the test function, the tags will be populated with fallback values.

  • Okay, that was the issue. Thank you. On my current system, the mail merges show in tests so I was looking for them in testing.

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