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What is a merge tag?

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Merge tags are something that we use to gather data on an individual level. To be able to do this, we need a unique value to tie the data to. Other names for merge tags are substitution strings, personalization fields or personalization tags. These tags are used to insert unique user data from your mailing list into emails. For example, a CampaignMonitor user who’d like to insert their subscriber’s first name into their email would use the merge tag [firstname]. Each time CampaignMonitor finds the tag [firstname] in your email, they will replace this tag with the unique data associated with each recipient in your list.

Each email service provider implements merge tag technology differently, so we provide a drop down menu that includes some of the most popular ESPs. If you don’t see your ESP on the list, ask them which merge tags they’re using and enter your chosen one in the field below.

By providing us with a merge tag, you instruct your ESP to insert the recipient’s email address in our tracking code, which lets us tie the results we track to that individual recipient.

Note: When using our Email Analytics, we highly recommend selecting a merge tag for the most accurate results. Without a merge tag, we cannot track unique ID’s for subscribers and instead rely on the IP address. This can result in unique customers being identified as one customer because they are on the same IP address.