Placeholders let one instruction produce personalized messages at scale: write [first name] once, and every prospect gets their own name. Substitution happens at writing time with the prospect's actual data, and quality checks catch anything that fails to resolve — a message with a broken placeholder does not ship.
Which placeholders can I use?
| Placeholder | Substituted with |
|---|---|
| [first name] | The prospect's first name |
| [company] | The prospect's current company name |
Placeholders work anywhere your text is used as written — most importantly in verbatim touchpoints ("Use exactly this text: …"), where your exact message is kept and only the placeholders change per prospect.
What happens if a placeholder cannot be resolved?
Unresolved placeholders are treated as a quality failure, not shipped as broken text. The universal quality checks (which run in every language) include a placeholder check precisely so a prospect never receives "Hi [first name]". See Understanding Message Quality Checks.
When should I use placeholders vs. free AI personalization?
| Situation | Best tool |
|---|---|
| You need exact, approved wording (compliance, brand) | Verbatim touchpoint + placeholders |
| You want per-prospect relevance beyond name/company | AI personalization — the AI anchors messages to the prospect's real profile and activity |
| Both: fixed frame, personalized opening | Verbatim for the core + instructions for the personalized element |
💡 Placeholders guarantee accuracy; AI personalization creates relevance. The strongest sequences use both deliberately — see How AI Assists in Personalization.