Personalization fields and variables

Messages can include variables in single curly braces, such as {first_name}. Victoria fills them in for each lead when the step sends. There are three kinds: lead fields, custom fields from your CSV, and AI Personalization fields that Victoria writes for each lead.

Insert a variable into a message

Open Campaigns → your campaign → Sequence, click a step, and select Insert Variable under the field you're editing. The menu has three sections:

• Standard: First Name, Last Name, Company, Job Title, Email, LinkedIn URL.
• Custom Fields: the extra columns from leads you uploaded by CSV.
• AI Personalization: the campaign's AI fields, with + to add one.

Always use single braces. {{first_name}} doesn't work, and the readiness check blocks a sequence that uses it.

What a blank lead field becomes in a message

When a lead has no value for a standard field, the send still goes out with a stand-in:

• {first_name} becomes "there", so "Hi {first_name}," reads "Hi there,".
• {company} becomes "your company".
• {last_name} and {title} become empty.

Write copy that still reads well with those stand-ins. A custom field the lead has no value for is reported by the readiness check instead; see "Lead data coverage for variables" below.

Add an AI Personalization field

An AI Personalization field is a variable Victoria researches and writes for each lead before the step sends.

1. In the step editor, open Insert Variable and select + next to AI Personalization.
2. Enter a Field Name, such as recent_achievement. Use lowercase letters and underscores.
3. Write AI Instructions: what to write, how long, and from what. "In one sentence, name something specific the company launched or announced recently" works better than "Find information about this company".
4. Optionally enter a Fallback value, up to 400 characters.
5. Choose Data Sources: Website, LinkedIn Profile or both.
6. Select Add Field, then insert it with Insert Variable → AI Personalization.

AI fields can go in email subjects, email bodies and LinkedIn messages. Connection notes offer only standard and custom fields. The personalization instructions playbook has instruction patterns that work.

How an AI Personalization field is filled

When a step that uses an AI field is about to send, Victoria reads the lead's LinkedIn profile and recent posts, the company website, or both, and writes the value. It writes only what those sources support. If the sources don't support the instructions, it works down this ladder:

1. Generated: the research supports a value. It's used.
2. Fallback: a fallback value is set. It's used.
3. Generic: no fallback is set. Victoria writes a neutral line from the lead's basic fields: name, title, company, industry and size.
4. Held: nothing usable came out. The lead is held for 24 hours and tried again. It's not skipped and nothing is sent in the meantime.

Set a fallback on every field so you control what a lead gets when research finds nothing. Without one, a lead can get the generic line or wait.

Preview AI Personalization results for a lead

Open the step and select Preview, pick a lead, and select Generate. The preview runs the same research as a real send and marks each value:

• highlighted: generated from research;
• Fallback: the fallback value was used;
• Generic: a neutral line was written because there's no fallback;
• underlined amber: the lead would be held for 24 hours and retried, with what was missing;
• underlined red: generation failed; select Try again.

Add a fallback value → opens the field so you can fix it from the preview. Generating a preview spends credits, the same as a send.

Lead data coverage for variables

Before activation, the readiness check counts how many enrolled leads lack data for each lead field or custom field the sequence uses:

• If more than 10% of leads are missing a variable, activation is blocked until you add the data or remove the variable.
• At or below that, it's a warning. You can activate, and those leads get the blank-field stand-ins above.

AI fields aren't part of this check; they're written at send time. See Preflight checks.

What AI Personalization costs

Writing a lead's AI fields costs about 3 credits per lead on average. The cost is metered from how much the model reads and writes, so it varies. Credits are spent when the step sends, or when you select Generate in a preview. Creating or editing a field costs nothing. Lead fields and custom fields cost nothing.

When the balance reaches zero, sending stops. See Credits and rollover.

Use fewer AI Personalization fields

One or two AI fields per sequence, in the first message after connecting or the first email, is the pattern the Copilot follows. Each field adds cost and another chance of a held lead. Never put two in one message. See Personalization that works.