Hello FNAME and Other Merge Field Mistakes

A greeting nobody checked

The newsletter program offers to greet each reader by name. In the preview it looks warm and personal, because the preview uses a tidy sample name.

Then the email goes to the whole list. Some readers get Hello followed by a lonely comma. Some get Dear ABC PLUMBING LTD. A few get Hi FNAME, because the code itself was printed.

If the list was ever sorted one column at a time in a spreadsheet, some get somebody else's name entirely.

Each version tells the reader the same thing: a machine sent this, from a list nobody looked at.

How a merge field fills in

A merge field is a placeholder in the email, a short code standing for first name or company. At sending time the program swaps in whatever sits in that field for each address.

It does not judge what it finds. A blank field produces nothing, capitals produce capitals, and a company name produces a company name.

If the code is typed wrong, copied from a program that uses a different style of code, or split by formatting in the editor, it is not recognised, and the reader sees the code itself.

Where the bad names come from

• Invoices, where the customer is a company rather than a person.
• Contest ballots, typed in by staff in capitals.
• Online sign-up forms where the name was optional.
• Old spreadsheets with the whole name in one column.
• Records typed in at the counter, with nicknames and initials.
• Lists merged from several of these over the years.

The last is where the real mess comes from. Each source filled the same field in its own way, and once merged, nobody can tell which record came from where.

Look before you clean

Export the list to a spreadsheet, and keep an untouched copy before changing anything.

Sort the working copy by the first-name field, keeping every column together. Blanks gather at one end, capitals and odd characters at the other, and company names stand out by their Ltd and Inc.

Count each kind of problem. A list with forty blanks and three company names needs a fallback greeting; a list with hundreds of capitalised names needs an evening of cleaning first.

Fixing the fields

Move company names into a company field and leave the first name blank unless a person's name is known.

Split full names into first and last. Where a record says Mr. and Mrs., or two names joined by and, decide on one plain form and use it everywhere.

Capitals can be corrected with a spreadsheet formula, but check the results by eye. Formulas turn McDonald into Mcdonald and van der Berg into Van Der Berg.

Delete obvious junk: test entries, single letters, and the none or asdf typed by people who preferred not to say.

A fallback for the blanks

Most email programs let you set default text for a merge field, used whenever the field is empty. Hello there, or simply Hello, reads naturally.

Set one for every merge field the email uses. A fallback covers blanks only; capitals and company names still need the cleaning.

Another option is a greeting that needs no name at all. Plenty of good newsletters open with the news.

A worked example

A sports bar in a suburban plaza, with a dozen screens and a kitchen open late, sends a monthly email with game-night specials and the trivia schedule.

Its list came from four places: a website sign-up where the name was optional, ballots from a monthly draw typed in by staff in capitals, a spreadsheet of office party bookings, and an old loyalty card program.

The first email with a personal greeting reached readers as Hi MIKE, as Hi with nothing after it, and in a few cases as Hi ABC CONTRACTING LTD.

The cleanup took an evening. Capitals were fixed and checked by eye, company names moved to their own field, and full names were split.

The greeting now falls back to Hi there, and every send goes first to a dozen real records drawn from all four sources.

Names in the subject line

A first name in the subject line multiplies the risk, because the subject is read in the inbox before anyone decides to open.

A blank field turns a friendly subject into one that starts with a comma. A capitalised name looks like shouting, and a company name looks like an invoice.

Keep names out of subject lines until the fields are clean, and even then set a fallback that reads as a complete sentence on its own.

Test with real records

The program's preview shows a sample name in perfect shape. It cannot show what your list will actually produce.

Many programs let you preview or send a test as a particular subscriber. Pick a handful of real records from each source: one from invoices, one ballot, one with a blank name, one with a long name.

Send those tests to yourself and read each one on a phone and on a computer, including the plain-text version, where a broken code is easiest to spot.

Keeping new records clean

Cleaning once helps only if new records arrive in better shape.

On the website form, use separate fields labelled first name and last name. If the greeting depends on the first name, make it required; if not, consider leaving it off.

Ask staff who type in ballots to copy names as written rather than in capitals, and give business customers a company field when they are imported.

The counter-case

A small list typed in carefully by one person may need little more than a fallback greeting and a test.

And some lists suit no name at all. A business whose customers are mostly companies, or whose emails are short notices, can open with the news and lose nothing.

For a list built from several sources over several years, though, clean the fields, set a fallback, and test with real records before the next send.

Before the next send

1. Export the list and keep an untouched copy.
2. Sort by first name to see the problems.
3. Move company names into their own field.
4. Set a fallback greeting for empty fields.
5. Keep names out of subject lines for now.
6. Send tests to real records from each source.
7. Use separate name fields on the sign-up form.

Step six is the one that catches what the others miss. A preview flatters the list; a handful of real records shows what hundreds of readers are about to see.

Checking what readers actually see applies to the subject line as well, covered in emoji in a subject line and the empty box some see.

Frequently asked questions

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