Personalization fields in email

A personalization field is a name-value pair that you can add to email messages, hosted landing pages, and to URL parameters in hyperlinks. Personalization fields that are added to an email communication serve as placeholders that accept data that is provided by the recipient list when you run the mailing.

You define personalization fields in the recipient list that you reference to the mailing. The recipient list is created as an Output List Table (OLT) that maps each personalization field to a corresponding field in a marketing database that provides the recipient-specific information.

In the email communication that is referenced to the mailing, the message designer adds personalization fields to zones defined in the email communication or embeds the fields in the HTML code of the document. The personalization field display name in the communication must exactly match the display name that is defined in the recipient list.

When you run the mailing, the system replaces each personalization field with data from your marketing database. Each email can be unique because the email content is determined by the unique information that your marketing database provides about the email recipient.

The OLT must provide all of the personalization information that is required by the email communication. To establish the required connection between the list and the communication, you must reference the OLT and the communication to the same Deliver mailing. Every standard Deliver mailing must reference an email communication and an OLT.

The name of the personalization field must be unique within your Deliver installation. After you create a personalization field, it becomes available for use within any recipient list. You can use the same personalization field in multiple recipient lists and in multiple documents.

To enable the system to properly evaluate personalization fields and provide accurate previews, you must reference the OLT and the email communication to the mailing as early as possible in the mailing configuration process.