Merge Fields
Merge fields put values from the record into the message, so one template serves every recipient.
Where to find it
Architect Panel → Layout & Pages:
- E-mail Templates — where fields are inserted
Architect Panel → Data:
- Datastores — the fields being merged
Architect Panel → Activity:
- E-mail Log — every message sent, with its result
What can be merged
Values from the record the message concerns, and context about the send. The available set depends on what is sending — a template used by one process may have fields another does not.
Empty fields are the main hazard
The failure everybody has received: "Dear ," or "Your appointment on is confirmed."
It looks careless, it undermines the message, and it happens whenever a field is optional and somebody left it blank. Merge fields do not fail loudly — they simply produce nothing.
Design for the blank case
Two approaches, and both are better than hoping:
- Make the field required where the message genuinely depends on it.
- Write around it — "Hello" rather than "Dear [first name]" — so a blank is invisible.
The second is usually the more robust, because required fields get worked around and imported data arrives incomplete.
Check the field is the one you meant
Similar names are easy to confuse — the contact's name and the account's, the site address and the billing address. The mistake is invisible until somebody receives a message addressed to their company's parent, and the log will show it went out that way to everybody.
Formatting
A date merged raw may not read as you would write it. Where a value has a natural presentation — a date, an amount, a reference — check how it appears in a real message rather than assuming.
Do not merge what should not be there
A merge field is a way to put data into an outgoing message, which means it is a way to disclose it. Think about whether each value should be in an e-mail at all — mail is not confidential, is forwarded, and sits in mailboxes indefinitely.
Reference numbers are usually better than the details behind them: "regarding case TKT-00042" rather than the case's contents.
Test with real records
Including an awkward one — the record with a blank optional field, an unusually long name, an apostrophe, an accented character. A template tested only against a tidy example will meet all of those in its first day.
Check the log after a template change
The log holds what was actually sent, so it is where a merge problem is visible. Reading a few real sends after changing a template catches an error before hundreds go out.
Worked example
A reminder template was tested against a record with every field populated and went out to 400 people, forty of whom had no title recorded and received "Dear ,". The template now opens with "Hello" and no merged salutation, and template changes are checked against a deliberately sparse test record.
Recommendations
- Write around optional fields rather than requiring them.
- Verify you have the field you meant.
- Prefer a reference to the details behind it.
- Test with a sparse record, not a tidy one.