You’ve probably seen this already, since it’s very likely you’ve received an email with your name or other personal details, preferences, or information related to previous actions.<\/p>\n
That data, that personalization, has very likely helped build a greater sense of trust, or made the rest of the process easier for you, saving you time, for example.<\/p>\n
How does this data appear in the email?<\/strong><\/p>\n Well, what’s used is what’s known as custom fields or tags.<\/strong><\/p>\n They’re variables, “words,” that the email marketing system can read and replace with certain values.<\/p>\n In other words, when you send your mailing, the mailing system looks for these variables and replaces them with the content that should appear, preparing the final email that will be sent.<\/p>\n \n The simplest way to understand dynamic or custom variables is as placeholders.<\/p>\n They’re words that represent a code telling the email marketing system to replace that tag or code with another piece of data.<\/p>\n For example, you could have something like this:<\/p>\n Here, “name” should be replaced with the name of the contact the email is sent to.<\/p>\n Easy, right?<\/p>\n That said, for this substitution to work, you first need to load the data into the system.<\/p>\n This way, instead of sending a generic mass email, you can include a personalized greeting that creates a greater sense of closeness with the recipient (something necessary to create persuasive emails<\/a>).<\/p>\n And much more, as we’ll see throughout the article.<\/strong><\/p>\n All of it, of course, automatically<\/a>.<\/p>\n Although segmentation is actually a different feature, the truth is it works together with custom fields or variables.<\/p>\n With this information available in custom fields, you can segment \u2014 that is, group or separate \u2014 the contacts on your list based on that information.<\/p>\n Imagine you have a custom field called “city” \u2014 you could segment the contacts on your list based on that data.<\/p>\n Segmentation, combined with custom fields, can help you create highly personalized email campaigns.<\/p>\n Now that we know what dynamic variables in emails are, it would be helpful to talk about their benefits.<\/p>\n Even though most of them will probably sound familiar, it’s worth highlighting them:<\/p>\n You have to keep in mind that most of your contacts will have inboxes fairly full of emails.<\/p>\n So it’s essential that your email stands out.<\/strong><\/p>\n Including a custom field, like the contact’s name, can make your email stand out from the rest. <\/p>\n After all, most emails won’t include the contact’s name<\/strong>, so the odds of it being seen and opened are higher.<\/p>\n Just like with the subject line, showing personalized content to the customer will help improve results \u2014 more clicks, more engagement.<\/p>\n The content can show information personalized for the contact.<\/p>\n Like their location, for example.<\/strong><\/p>\n Imagine a newsletter<\/a> with a button that reads:<\/p>\n If the contact is from Madrid, their interest will increase, since they can clearly see the content is relevant to them.<\/p>\n This relevance is what helps improve the click-through rate (CTR<\/a>).<\/p>\n Further down, we’ll look at some examples of how to do it.<\/p>\n As a result of improving the two previous points \u2014 higher open rates and more engagement \u2014 conversions also tend to improve.<\/p>\n The more emails opened, the greater the chances of conversion.<\/p>\n If engagement also improves, the chances of conversion increase too.<\/p>\n So, investing effort in email personalization pays off.<\/p>\n Can personalized emails improve your relationship with your contacts?<\/p>\n Yes \u2014 as we’ve been discussing, contacts see that the content is more aligned with their interests; it’s not just another mass email that wastes their time.<\/p>\n This greater potential usefulness improves how your emails are perceived and sets them apart from the rest of the emails your contacts receive.<\/p>\n It sparks and keeps their interest.<\/strong><\/p>\n The next step is to look at how you can use dynamic variables and custom fields with your Mailrelay account.<\/p>\n We’ll go through it step by step.<\/p>\n The first necessary step is to have the contact data you want to use.<\/p>\n For example, first name, last name, city, etc.<\/p>\n You can request this data through subscription forms<\/a>, or, if you already have it, prepare it in a CSV file to import it, for example.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that this data needs to be genuinely useful for your strategy \u2014 don’t ask for data just for the sake of it in your forms, since you’ll get fewer sign-ups, as the forms will be more tedious to fill out.<\/p>\n Well, once you know what data you’ll need, keep in mind that some fields already exist in Mailrelay:<\/strong><\/p>\n What happens if you have a piece of data that isn’t any of these?<\/strong><\/p>\n In that case, you’d need to create a custom field.<\/p>\n You can go to the Subscribers \u2013 Custom fields menu and add one.<\/strong><\/p>\n You’ll see a screen like this:<\/p>\n On this screen you can set the following values:<\/p>\n This way you can create all the fields you need.<\/p>\n During the contact import process, you’ll be able to choose which data goes into which fields:<\/p>\n This way, you can import contacts with their custom fields fully filled in.<\/p>\n Let’s look at some examples of how to add custom fields.<\/p>\n For example, the name.<\/p>\n In Mailrelay, custom fields can have two structures; for fields the system already includes, it would look something like this:<\/strong><\/p>\n In curly braces, {{ subscriber.name }}, you can place it wherever you want it replaced with the contact’s name.<\/p>\n You don’t need to memorize this \u2014 when you’re editing your email’s text, you’ll see a dropdown called “Variables”:<\/strong><\/p>\n Just click on the variable you want to insert, and it will be placed in the email.<\/p>\n For example, in the previous case, for sports activity:<\/p>\n When you send, the system will replace that custom field with the contact’s content.<\/p>\n And what if the contact doesn’t have that value?<\/strong><\/p>\n We can set a default one by clicking on that variable:<\/p>\n That way, if the contact doesn’t have that value, the default value will be used, so the text of your newsletter still makes sense.<\/p>\n For custom fields, you can insert them like this:<\/p>\n Notice that in this case, sport, is the tag name we saw above.<\/p>\n Usually it’ll be easier for you to use the variables dropdown, which also lets you set a default value.<\/p>\n Besides displaying content, you can use variables to show or hide parts of the email.<\/p>\n Let’s look at an example:<\/p>\n Here we have three parts:<\/p>\n Remember that in the check, the text must exactly match the variable’s content.<\/p>\n Keep in mind that using variables, custom fields, blocks, and conditionals affects how your newsletter<\/a> displays.<\/p>\n So it’s important to run some display tests before making the actual send, to make sure everything looks right.<\/p>\n Also, be sure to check what happens when there’s no data \u2014 how it displays in that case.<\/p>\n Using custom variables is very useful; however, there are a few things to keep in mind for proper use. Let’s take a look:<\/p>\n It’s important that the data is up to date and standardized. <\/p>\n What should you look out for?<\/p>\n For example, avoid using different formats \u2014 imagine a piece of data that’s sometimes in uppercase and sometimes in lowercase; even though it might display fine, it wouldn’t be useful for segmenting your contacts.<\/p>\n To avoid these errors, try to make sure the data follows a consistent format.<\/p>\n Using a couple of custom variables can create a very specific email for the recipient.<\/p>\n However, overusing variables can significantly increase complexity and make display errors more likely.<\/p>\n The more variables you use, the more testing you’ll need to do to make sure everything displays correctly in every case.<\/p>\n Remember that besides using variables to personalize your emails, you can use the segmentation tool to target a precise audience based on the data you have.<\/p>\n By targeting the right segment, your open and click results will improve.<\/p>\n Although personalizing the subject lines of your mass email campaigns tends to be very effective, you can make sure of it!<\/p>\n In Mailrelay you have an A\/B testing tool that lets you test personalized and non-personalized subject lines, so you can confirm which one works better.<\/p>\n Once you’ve run your campaigns, be sure to review the statistics to check the results.<\/p>\n See whether personalization is helping or not, and what level of personalization is optimal.<\/p>\n Not all email marketing platforms include the features needed to send personalized campaigns, especially on their free accounts.<\/p>\n Mailrelay does.<\/strong><\/p>\n Mailrelay offers the largest free account of any email marketing tool.<\/p>\n Allowing you to send up to 80,000 free emails a month to up to 20,000 contacts. <\/p>\nWhat Are Dynamic Variables in Email Marketing?<\/h2>\n
\n
\u00b7 And What About Segmentation?<\/h3>\n
![\"Why](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/marketing-online-traffic.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWhy personalize your emails with dynamic variables<\/h2>\n
\u00b7 Higher open rate<\/a>: <\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Improved Clicks and Engagement: <\/h3>\n
\n
\u00b7 Increased Conversions: <\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Better Relationship with Your Audience: <\/h3>\n
![\"How](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/email-marketing-.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nHow to use dynamic variables to personalize your emails<\/h2>\n
\u00b7 Collect and Organize Your Subscribers’ Data: <\/h3>\n
\n
![\"create](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/nuevo-campo-personalizado-Mailrelay.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n
\u00b7 Import Contacts with Custom Data:<\/h3>\n
![\"import](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/importacion-de-contactos-con-datos-personalizados-1024x275.png\")
<\/figure>\n\u00b7 Add Custom Fields to Your Newsletters:<\/h3>\n
\n
![\"insert](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/insercion-de-campo-personalizado-en-un-email.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"insert](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ejemplo-de-campo-personalizado.png\")
<\/figure>\n![\"default](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/valor-por-defecto-en-campo-personalizado.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n
\u00b7 Use Variables to Show Content Blocks:<\/h3>\n
![\"example](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ejemplo-de-email-con-variables-para-mostrar-u-ocultar-contenido.png\")
<\/figure>\n\n
\u00b7 Preview and Test Your Personalized Emails: <\/h3>\n
![\"Best](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/writing-and-sales-persuasion.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nBest practices when personalizing emails<\/h2>\n
\u00b7 Ensure Data Quality and Keep It Up to Date:<\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Do not overuse personalization: <\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Take Advantage of Segmentation Along with Variables: <\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Run A\/B Tests to Optimize Results: <\/h3>\n
\u00b7 Analyze the Metrics <\/a>and Adjust Your Strategy:<\/h3>\n
![\"Why](\"https:\/\/mailrelay.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/email-marketing-V3-1.jpg\")
<\/figure>\nWhy use Mailrelay for your personalized mailing campaigns<\/h2>\n
\u00b7 Unbeatable free plan: <\/h3>\n