Seeing my name in an article stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to know how it was done, and your article came up first in my Google search. Thanks so much!!!
Thank you, Cassandra! I had already noticed this effect on another Substack — seeing my first name appear in an article — but I couldn’t figure out how it was done. Your post helped me understand the %%first_name%% variable, and I then spent some time testing it in different ways. I even came across an additional little trick involving article previews. Thank you for putting me on the right track! ------------ Merci Cassandra ! J’avais déjà remarqué cet effet sur un autre Substack — voir mon prénom apparaître dans un article — mais sans comprendre comment cela fonctionnait. Ton article m’a permis de découvrir la variable %%first_name%%, puis j’ai passé un peu de temps à la tester de différentes façons. J’ai même trouvé une petite astuce supplémentaire autour de l’aperçu des articles. Merci de m’avoir mise sur la bonne piste !
Anywhere in the body of your article or emails where you want to make it feel more personal. I think the most common place to do this is at the beginning, the way I start with "Hey NAME".
I saw someone else share it, but sadly I can’t remember who now! It’s been getting passed around, but I don’t know how the first person figured it out 🤯
Seeing my name in an article stopped me dead in my tracks. I had to know how it was done, and your article came up first in my Google search. Thanks so much!!!
It's a little shocking the first time 🤣
For true! 😆
I'm familiar with this type of feature in CRMs and form builders. I didn't know Substack had it. Thanks for sharing.
Me too. It makes me wonder if we'll get more (officially supported) variables soon!
Probably. Substack has been getting more powerful email marketing features. I love their new audience segmentation feature.
I wondered how it was done on substack. Thanks for sharing… great find. Just subscribed! 🙂
Thank you, Cassandra! I had already noticed this effect on another Substack — seeing my first name appear in an article — but I couldn’t figure out how it was done. Your post helped me understand the %%first_name%% variable, and I then spent some time testing it in different ways. I even came across an additional little trick involving article previews. Thank you for putting me on the right track! ------------ Merci Cassandra ! J’avais déjà remarqué cet effet sur un autre Substack — voir mon prénom apparaître dans un article — mais sans comprendre comment cela fonctionnait. Ton article m’a permis de découvrir la variable %%first_name%%, puis j’ai passé un peu de temps à la tester de différentes façons. J’ai même trouvé une petite astuce supplémentaire autour de l’aperçu des articles. Merci de m’avoir mise sur la bonne piste !
No way this is such a cool find 🤘
Great tip! :)
My name appears as "Jor'El".
It must not be able to handle apostrophes!
Where exactly should I place it?
Anywhere in the body of your article or emails where you want to make it feel more personal. I think the most common place to do this is at the beginning, the way I start with "Hey NAME".
I tested that, but didn't work 🤷🏼♀️
%%first_name%%? I still see my name at the top of this post so it should still be working 🤔
I start with Hello %%first_name%%?
Yes. You should see your name when you preview your post (but not in a test email).
Ahhh... that was my problem, I tested in an email. Thanks Casandra!
Thank you so much, Casandra! I had no idea...this is incredibly helpful. How did you discover it?
I saw someone else share it, but sadly I can’t remember who now! It’s been getting passed around, but I don’t know how the first person figured it out 🤯
Thanks for sharing this. I'm not sure why they haven't made this an official feature, but it could be useful.
Maybe they are counting on some of us to be unofficial beta testers first.
Does it help open rates / engagement?
I doubt it since they don't work in the subject line, only in the email body.