We’ve made some design improvements to the way merge fields and form fields appear in your message builder. Functionality hasn’t changed, but the new layout makes things easier to use and gives you a cleaner experience when building messages. You’ll also notice a couple of extra options to make personalisation even smoother.
How to use merge fields and form fields
Open your message builder, site builder or form builder
You can access our new merge fields in a variety of places within our platform, such as email/sms builders, your microsite and form success page.Look for the thunderbolt widget
Now, your dynamic fields and form fields have been grouped together in a single, easy-to-use place — the thunderbolt widget ⚡.
Click the thunderbolt
When you click the thunderbolt, you’ll see a dropdown menu with all the available categories. These represent the different types of information you can pull directly into your messages:Campaign details
Event details (where your campaign is a multi-event campaign)
Registration flows
Registration forms
Supporter info
Fundraiser actions
Order details
Donation details
Choose your field
Once you select one of the categories, you’ll be able to browse all of the available merge fields and form fields. Simply click on the field you want, and it will be added into your message as a placeholder (e.g. {First Name} or {Donation Amount}).Send personalised messages
When your message is sent, these placeholders will automatically be replaced with the supporter’s real details, ensuring your communications feel personal, accurate, and relevant.
Note: Sending test emails will not populate many supporter-specific details as test emails are not linked to a specific supporter. Instead, they may appear blank in your test email. Don't be alarmed! This is normal and will pull through supporter-specific details once your email has been sent to your audience.
Nothing about how merge fields and form fields work has changed. The update is purely design-based. The thunderbolt widget groups everything in one place, making it faster and easier to personalise your supporter communications.