How to insert personalization into text blocks

You will learn

Learn how to add personalization to email templates. You can add these tags to your templates by typing them directly into a text field by copying them from the email preview modal, or by using the personalization menu in a text block. Use these tags to include things like a recipient’s first name, custom properties, an unsubscribe link, and more. 

Before you begin

Before you get started, it’s helpful to understand how personalization works within Klaviyo. The tags available in your account are different from the tags in anyone else’s Klaviyo account, and are dependent on the data you store in Klaviyo. 

You can store and use a small handful of default Klaviyo properties (like first and last name), along with an unlimited number of custom profile properties and dynamic event data. To see all of the tags available in your own account, follow the steps for adding them through the personalization menu or the preview modal below. 

Add tags using the personalization menu

To add personalization without copying, pasting, or typing anything, use the personalization menu. A searchable dropdown menu will appear with a list of profile and custom properties, along with select event properties in certain event-triggered flow messages. Scroll through the tags or search to find the one you’d like to add, then click it to add it to your template. 

Add personalization from the preview modal

You can add profile property and event data by copying them from the preview modal and pasting them into your message. Learn more about using the preview panel for message personalization. 

Adding profile properties

To add profile personalization from the preview modal: 

1. Click Preview and test from the template editor. 
2. Click Search for a profile and enter the email of a profile that includes the tag you’d like to add; note that you’ll only copy the tag name from the sample user’s profile, and each recipient of the email will see information from their own profile. 
3. Scroll through their Profile properties and Custom properties until you find the tag you’d like to use.
4. Hover over the tag's name until you see the message Copy {{ person.variable_name }} variable, then click to copy it.
5. Click Done.
6. Paste the variable into a block in your template.

Adding event variables

To add an event variable from the preview modal:

1. Click Preview and test from the template editor. 
2. Under Preview data source, click Event.
3. Select an event from the dropdown.
4. Scroll through the Event properties until you find the variable you’d like to use; if you don’t see the variable you need, use the arrows to the right of Previewing with recent event: to select a different instance of the event.
5. Hover over the variable’s name until you see the message Copy {{ event.variable_name }} variable, then click to copy it.
6. Click Done.
7. Paste the variable into a block in your template.

Manually adding personalization

If you know a variable’s name, you can add it by typing it into a text field directly. Klaviyo variables use the following structures: 

Setting a default value

You may not always have complete information for every email recipient you contact. For example, you might have some subscribers’ first names, but not others. To avoid blank spaces in your emails for those recipients with incomplete data, use the default filter to set a backup. 

To add the default filter, add the following after your variable name: |default:''

Then, add your default variable between the single quotes. In an email, this might look like: 

When the message is sent, any recipients whose names are not stored in your database will see this message: 

Learn more about using filters to customize your variables. 

Learn more about template tags and variables

To take a deep dive into how personalization works in Klaviyo, head to our guide to message personalization. 

Additional resources

• Message personalization reference
• Guide to the email template editor