Add personalization safely
Insert tokens with fallbacks and test both populated and missing values.
Purpose and outcome
Why it matters. Personalization helps only when it reads naturally for everyone.
Expected outcome. Every token has a fallback and reads well with real and missing data.
When to use it
- Using a contact property in subject, preview or body.
Prerequisites and access
- Know which properties are populated.
Suggested roles (not yet approved): Marketing Coordinator
Instructions
- 1
Click Personalize and choose the contact property.
From training· ~42:30 - 2
Set a fallback value.
From training· ~43:00 - 3
Read the sentence aloud with the fallback in place.
Recommended practice - 4
Preview as a contact who has the value, and as one who does not.
Recommended practice
Examples
Hi [First name], (fallback: there)
Thanks for your interest in [community] (fallback: Caivan communities)
Watch out
- Don’t assume every record has a first name; older and imported records may not.
- Associated Communities can hold several values. Don’t place it in a sentence as if it always contains one.
Caivan example
“Hi there,” appears for an imported contact without a first name, and reads correctly.
Completion checklist
Common mistakes and troubleshooting
Preview shows “Hi ,”.
The fallback is missing. Edit the token and add one.
Preview shows “Hi ,”. The fallback is missing. Edit the token and add one.
Sources and items needing confirmation
- From training· ~42:30–47:00Caivan | HubSpot Marketing Training, Sep 28, 2026 (recording transcript)
- Recommended practiceHubSpot Knowledge Base: Use personalization tokens
- Recommended practiceHubSpot Knowledge Base: Create default values for personalization tokens
Account configuration described in training reflects September 28, 2026 and may have changed.