In some cases, you may want to include information in your flows that doesn't necessarily live in fields on Salesforce. What you can do is set up custom merge fields in order to use this additional information.

There are two ways to create these custom merge fields for fast personalization at scale:

CSV Import With Custom Merge Fields

1. Create a CSV file with the Contacts or Leads you're looking to import to the flow, and include your Custom Merge Fields

• You must include a column for the email address, Contact ID, or Lead ID of the people you're looking to import to the flow.

• To have a custom merge field apply to each person, you must include a column with the following syntax: flow.name_of_the_merge_field

• In the example below, there are two custom merge fields that apply to each person in the CSV file: "flow.personalized_message" and "flow.last_meeting"

   

2. Insert the Merge Fields into a Template and add the template to a Flow, with the following syntax: {!flow.name_of_merge_field}. Note: you must include the {!...} for Groove to recognize this as a merge field.

• To merge the fields from the example CSV above, we would include {!flow.personalized_message} and {!flow.last_meeting} within the template, then use that template for a Flow email step

• Important: 'flow' must have a lowercase 'f' in order for this merge field to work

• Note: You cannot select custom merge fields from the "insert merge field" button. You will need to type it out.

   

  

   

  4. Preview the Merge Fields

  Click on "Complete merge fields" to preview and, if you'd like, edit the inputs.

   

  

   

  5. Send out your personalized emails

  Click into the due emails to find that the merge fields from Salesforce, as well as your custom merge fields, are both appropriately populated so that your targeted emails are set up for success

   

  

   

   

  One-off Custom Merge Fields

   

  If you would like to include custom merge fields for people in your flow for specific reasons that may not apply to everyone in your flow, you can do so without using the CSV import method explained above.

   

  1. For your template you'll want to create a merge field for the personalized section with this format:

  • The format for the merge field is {!flow.Merge field name} (important: 'flow' must have a lowercase 'f' in order for this merge field to work)

     

    

     

    2. After creating the merge field you will see this button appear within your flow:

     

    

     

    3. This will bring you to the customization page, where you can fill out the merge field for each person in the flow, and confirm when it is completed.