Merge tags are dynamic placeholders to personalize content in each text for each recipient. They pull data from the Tatango database, such as a recipient’s name and other relevant details, and insert it into the message automatically. For example, a merge tag like First Name would be replaced with “John” for one recipient and “Sarah” for another. Using merge tags enhances engagement, improves the subscriber experience and increases the likelihood of a response by making messages feel more tailored and relevant.
When a subscriber's profile has no value for the field being added to the message, the system will fallback to a default value. For example, if there is no first name in the database, the fallback will be friend
.
Note that any custom fields active on your account will have fallback values as defined when the custom field was created.
Here is the full list of default fallback values. If the merge tag is not listed, there is no fallback value (e.g. Last Name does not have a fallback).
Field | Fallback |
Ask | $14.25 |
US State | your state |
US State Abbreviated | your state |
In addition, there are fallbacks for "Highest Previous Contribution" values that can be found here.