Placeholders automatically insert contact-specific details, like a first name or company name, into your email campaigns. When a placeholder can't find a matching field in your contact data, it falls back to a default value instead. This article explains why that happens and how to fix it.
Why This Happens
Each placeholder works by searching your contact data for a field with an exact matching name.
For example, a placeholder like {custom_company_name:{company_name:your company}} follows this order:
It looks for a field called
custom_company_name.If that's not found, it looks for
company_name.If neither exists, it uses the fallback value. In this case, "your company."
If you're seeing fallback text in sent emails, none of the field names in your placeholder matched a column in your contact list.
🚨 Important: Placeholder names are case-sensitive. They must match your CSV column headers exactly, including spaces, capitalization, and special characters.
How to Fix It
You have two options:
Option 1 — Update your placeholder
Change the placeholder to match the exact column name in your CSV. For example, if your CSV has a column called Company Name - Cleaned, update your placeholder to:
{Company Name - Cleaned}
Option 2 — Rename your CSV column
Rename the column in your CSV to match your existing placeholder. For example, rename Company Name - Cleaned to company_name, and your placeholder {company_name} will work as expected.
Best Practices
Use Interceptly's built-in default placeholders wherever possible. These are pre-configured to map reliably to standard contact fields, reducing the chance of mismatches.
Before launching a campaign, send a test email to verify all placeholders are pulling in the correct data.
Keep CSV column names consistent across your contact lists to avoid repeated mismatches.
FAQs
Q: Why is fallback text appearing even though I have that data in my CSV?
A: The placeholder name and the CSV column name must match exactly. If your CSV column is First Name (with a capital F and N) but your placeholder uses first_name, they won't match. Check for differences in capitalization, spaces, and special characters.
Q: Can I use the same placeholder across multiple campaigns?
A: Yes. As long as your contact lists use consistent column names, the same placeholder will work across campaigns. If you use different CSV formats for different campaigns, you may need to adjust the placeholder or the column name for each one.
Q: What happens if I don't set a fallback value?
A: If no fallback is defined and the field is missing, the placeholder may appear as blank text in your sent email. Always set a sensible fallback (e.g., "your company" or "there") to avoid empty spaces in your messages.
🚀 Success! Once your placeholder names match your CSV columns, your emails will personalize correctly. If you're still seeing fallback text after making changes, contact support and we'll take a look.