What are placeholders?
Placeholders (also known as merge tags) are a simple way to add a personal touch to your SMS messages. They allow you to automatically insert dynamic content—like customer names, order numbers, or invoice details—directly into each message.
How to setup placeholders
We’ll show you how to use placeholders with an example.
Let’s say you want to send a reminder to clients to pay their outstanding invoices. You’d like to include their name, the invoice number, and the amount owing in each message.
Prepare your contact list in a spreadsheet, with the following columns:
First name
Last name
Contact number
Invoice number
Invoice amount
Upload your contacts to ClickSend.
Import your spreadsheet as a CSV file in the ClickSend Dashboard.
During the upload, you’ll be prompted to map each column in your file with ClickSend’s placeholders.
Your spreadsheet might look like this:
First name | Last name | Contact number | Custom string 1 | Custom string 2 |
Jack | Smith | 1234567890` | A123441 | $698 |
Make sure you map First Name, Last Name, and Contact Number to the correct placeholders. For Invoice Number and Invoice Amount, use Custom String 1 and Custom String 2.
How to add placeholders to SMS
It’s simple to add placeholders where you’re using Quick SMS, SMS Campaign or Messenger.
Compose your message.
Add the placeholders using brackets. For example:
Hi (First Name), invoice number (Cust. 1) is now due. Please pay the amount of (Cust. 2) as soon as possible. Thank you.
If your placeholders are set up correctly, you’ll see something like this in the preview:
Hi Jack, invoice number A123441 is now due. Please pay the amount of $698.
Do not manually enter data into placeholders. The placeholder relies on your contact list fields, and manually entering details will prevent dynamic insertion.