Personalizing Emails Using a Field Merge
When creating an email, there are times when you want to make it more personal by adding the receivers first name, or some other data unique to the recipient in the body of the email. This KB will show you how to use a field merge to do that.
First step is to create an email with a spot to put a personalized field like the sample below. In this example we are adding a first name after the word "Hello". In the body of the email we are going to place a field merge with the little arrow tool show below:
Clicking this arrow will pull up a list of available field merge options in Eloqua on the left side of the design editor. The two options that are available to anyone in the UWMADISON instance of Eloqua are:
- !Contact First Name
- !Contact Last Name
(If more than these are needed, please reach out to the Eloqua Team at marketingautomation@wisc.edu, and we can discuss your specific need.)
In this example email we will be selecting "!Contact First Name" to add after the word Hello.
Once you select the merge field, you'll need to give it the same styling as the rest of the text in your email. In this example, the type is 16pt Arial, so make sure this new merge field matches those settings.
Next step is to test to make sure things will look like how you are imagining them to look. This can be done by previewing the email as someone in your segment. Click on the "Actions" dropdown and then selecting "Preview" as shown below.
Type in the email address you'd like to use as your preview. Then click on the email address from the results list, and "Preview" button at the bottom right of the window.
The preview of your email will appear with the merge of the first name next to the word "Hello". If that looks as expected, you have successfully personalized the email. Congratulations!
