Whether just the inclusion of a first name, adding a unique voucher code or whole sections of dynamic content, personalising your emails is a powerful way of making an impact on the recipient.
Uploading a list with custom data
Create your list and upload it to Pure360 by going to Lists and then New Contact List.
Step 1 of 3: Add a list name, language, and choose the relevant upload option. Add your data and click next.
Step 2 of 3: First select the primary email address column from the top drop-down. The other columns in your list will appear with a piece of data from a random entry. You can then name your columns, if you have already used certain column names they will appear in a dropdown when you start typing.
Once you’ve mapped all your custom fields, click next.
When preparing your list for upload, add more custom fields than you need and upload them with alternative column names of a,b,c, etc. You can’t add extra custom fields once a list has been uploaded, but you can edit their field names and append lists to add data. Adding more fields before you need them saves you from having to re-upload the list from scratch when you need the extra fields.
Step 3 of 3: Review the details of your list upload and enter the email address where you’d like to be sent the notification that the list has uploaded, and check over the summary. Click finish.
Your list upload will need to be complete before you can use the custom fields in your email content.
Step 2 – Creating your email
Create your email as normal in the Drag&Drop editor, Html editor or Plain Text editor.
To add a custom field, go into your message and click into the place where you want to put the personalisation. Then start typing the curly bracket symbol { , once you do that a drop down will appear with all your available personalisation fields.
Choose the relevant field name from the drop down.
Repeat for as many pieces of personalisation/custom data as you have in your list.
For example, the personalisation field {~First_Name~} will look up the First_Name column from your uploaded list, and insert the relevant name in place of the code.
Advanced Personalisation
You add these tag into the subject line and any part of the html content and they will be replaced, including link urls and image paths. In these scenarios it is recommended to ensure you have personalisation fallbacks set, to ensure everything still works if a contact record does not have a value.
FAQs
Can I personalise a subject line? Yes – absolutely. Just use the same code.
What about the plain text version? The personalisation field needs to appear in the plain text version of the message as well as the HTML email, otherwise it won’t send.
If you get a warning alerting you of unused custom fields, check the plain text version. Sometimes when new emails are created by copying & editing an old one, old custom fields can linger in the plain text