You can insert merge fields into an SMS campaign body so each message goes out with the recipient's own data substituted in. The tokens are replaced at send time, before the message leaves the platform.
Available merge fields
Type any of these tokens directly into the message body, or use the merge field dropdown in the composer to insert one at the cursor position:
| Token | What it inserts | |---|---| | {firstName} | Contact's first name | | {lastName} | Contact's last name | | {nickNameOrFirstName} | Nickname if one exists, otherwise first name | | {fullName} | First and last name combined | | {prefix} | Title prefix (Dr., Mr., etc.) | | {askAmount} | Current ask amount (e.g. $500) | | {lastDonationAmount} | Amount of the contact's most recent donation | | {lastDonationDate} | Date of the contact's most recent donation (MM/DD/YYYY) | | {totalUnfulfilledPledgesAmount} | Sum of unfulfilled pledges | | {lastUnfulfilledPledgeAmount} | Most recent unfulfilled pledge amount |
How to insert a merge field
Open the SMS campaign and go to the message body field.
Place your cursor where you want the personalized text to appear.
Click the merge field dropdown button next to the body field.
Select a field from the list. The token is inserted at the cursor position.
You can also type a token directly, for example {firstName}, without using the dropdown.
What happens when a field has no value
If a contact has no data for the field you chose, the token is replaced with an empty string. For example, if a contact has no first name on record, {firstName} becomes nothing. The rest of the message sends as written.
{nickNameOrFirstName} is the safer choice for a first-name greeting because it falls back to first name when no nickname is recorded. If neither nickname nor first name is on the contact record, the field resolves to an empty string.
Segment and length implications
Names vary in length, so a message body that fits in one segment for one contact may split into two segments for another. The segment estimator in the composer shows segment count based on the sample values, not actual contact data.
Standard SMS segment limits: 160 characters per single segment (GSM-7 encoding), or 153 characters per segment when the message requires multiple segments. Messages with characters outside the GSM-7 set use UCS-2 encoding, which reduces those limits to 70 and 67 characters respectively.
Check the segment count in the composer after adding a merge field, using the longest plausible name for your contact list as a mental benchmark.