Contact Field Variables Reference

Every standard and additional contact field is available as a Velocity variable. To see all fields available in your account, go to Settings → Additional fields.

Additional fields page with the Settings menu and Additional fields sidebar link outlined in red, showing New field and New list of fields buttons

You can insert a variable manually or use the personalization menu in the message editor — a UI shortcut that inserts the correct variable syntax automatically.

Text block settings with the Merge Tags dropdown outlined in red, above the birthday email text reading Hello ${firstName}!

The menu is available in all channels: Email, SMS, Viber, Mobile Push, Web Push, App Inbox, Telegram. The variable syntax is the same across all channels.

Mobile Push editor with the Personalisation icon outlined in red and the Field search dropdown open, First name option underlined in red, and the Title field reading Hello ${firstName}

Standard Contact Fields

FieldVariable
First name${firstName}
Last name${lastName}
Full name${firstName} ${lastName}
Email${email}
Phone${sms}
External ID${externalCustomerId}
City${town}
Address${address}
Region${county}
Postcode${postcode}
Message name${messageName}

Additional Field Examples

Additional fields follow the same syntax. The variable name matches the field name defined in Settings → Additional fields.

FieldVariable
Bonus balance${personal.bonus}
Promo code${personal.promocode}
QR code${personal.qrcode}
Manager name${manager.name}
Manager phone${manager.phone}
Subscription status${subscription.status}

Variable names in your account may differ depending on how your contact fields are named.

Handling Missing Values

Depending on the syntax, variables behave as follows when a value is absent:

  • ${firstName} — insert the value; if missing, outputs the literal text ${firstName}
  • $!{firstName} — output nothing if the value is missing
  • ${firstName|'friend'} — show fallback text if the value is missing
  • ${personal.bonus|'0'} — show a default value

Example:

Hello, ${firstName|'friend'}!
You have ${personal.bonus|'0'} bonus points.
Your manager: ${manager.name|'our support team'}

Notes

  • Field names are case-insensitive: ${firstName}, ${FIRSTNAME}, and ${firstname} all work the same way.
  • Use ${variable} with curly braces when the variable is adjacent to other text to avoid ambiguity.
  • Contact field variables work the same way across all channels: Email, SMS, Mobile Push, Web Push, Viber, App Inbox, Telegram.
  • For event data and external sources, variable availability depends on the context. See Velocity in Messages and Velocity in Workflows for details.


Did this page help you?