Merge Fields default value in email messages

Amy Shelly
Amy Shelly
Third Anniversary
in Blackbaud CRM™ General Discussions

When using Merge Fields in an email message, how do you set a default value to appear for a field that's missing data? For example, how can I make sure Dear <First_Name> will show Dear Friend if the First_Name field is blank for any constituent in an imported list?

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  • Chris Kastner
    Chris Kastner Blackbaud Employee
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    @Amy Shelly There's nothing in the merge field functionality that can deal with this unfortunately.

    If you're talking about an ‘imported list’ (i.e. the CSV imported email list data source) then you can just set this in the data.

    If you're sending emails out to constituents from BBCRM or BBIS, you could split your email list into those who have first name, and those who don't - and set the “dear <name>/friend" line accordingly for both.

    As a side point, using say, Informal Salutation as a merge field is a better option than using first name, as that can deal with some of the limitations of just a plain ‘first name’ field has.

    My general recommendation is just to keep things simple, and use a salutation line in your email where the absence of a first name doesn't actually break the grammatical flow, e..g “Hi <firstname>”… where ‘Hi’ still makes sense, but ‘Dear’ does not.

  • Kristi Kolpanen
    Kristi Kolpanen
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    @Amy Shelly - we utilize Name Formats from CRM - specifically, we have an “Individual Informal Salutation” Name Format built that pulls in nickname, if available, and if no nickname exists, it pulls in first name. That way, all individuals have a value and we are using their preferred first name as the salutation in the email.

  • Alan French
    Alan French
    Tenth Anniversary Kudos 5 Name Dropper Participant

    @Kristi Kolpanen could you share how you get it to only include the first name if there is no nickname please? I can see a setting to do the opposite (i.e. remove a field if the one next to it is blank) but I can't see how I would remove the first name if the nickname was not blank. I'm new to CRM so there might be something we've overlooked. Thanks!

  • Kristi Kolpanen
    Kristi Kolpanen
    Ninth Anniversary Kudos 1 Name Dropper Participant

    @Alan French - hi, Alan! According to our Director of Reporting, @Laura Pyle, we borrowed a custom solution from another university and then modified it to add more SQL function that then create fields for various name formats. I have included Laura in this thread as she definitely better understands how this is built out. I just take the fields and use them in communication efforts - ?

  • Troy Lewis
    Troy Lewis
    Tenth Anniversary Name Dropper Facilitator 1 Loyalty Badge

    @Alan French What Kristi is referring to is one of our custom name format functions that was created and then added as a name format to every constituent's record via global change. Since name formats created this way can follow any custom rules, our individual informal salutation is based on a nickname then first name order to build that name.

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