Getting Started With Clips To Personalise Emails

What Are Clips?

Clips are mainly used to take the information we hold on Activists and insert it into emails, just like a mail merge. The simplest example of this is the First Name Clip which we use to address emails to individual recipients, rather than addressing emails to members. That is, instead of Dear Members we can start emails with Dear John.

There are other kinds of Clips that can insert information based on certain conditions being met. For example, if someone has a Volunteer tag we could include some text thanking them for being a Volunteer, or include a link to a volunteer sign-up form for those without the tag.

We can also use Clips to show the date, sign-off messages, or randomise a series of values. In this guide, we'll go through some of the more straightforward Clips, but not all of them.

How To Insert A Clip Into An Email

1. Whilst editing the Text of an email you'll see some formatting options. In the bottom right of these options, you'll see Clips.

2. Click on the Clips option and a dropdown menu will appear.

3. Click on the clip you want to use and it'll be added to your email.

Activist Information Clips

Clip Name	Clip	Result
First Name	{{ FirstName | default: 'Friend' }}	This clip will show the Activist's first name. If there is no value in the Activist's First Name field then the default value of Friend will be displayed.
First Name (Commonized)	{{ FirstName | commonize | default: 'Friend' }}	This Clip inserts the Activist's first name, but is based on the most common names in the US. It's intended to filter out names that may have been entered incorrectly, but we recommend against using this Clip as it may inadvertently filter out less common names.
Last Name	{{ LastName | default: '' }}	This will insert the Activist's last name. The default value is blank, so if no last name is recorded none will be shown.
Email	{{ Email | default: 'your email' }}	This will show the email address we have for the Activist. This will be the same email address the email is sent to.
Address	{{ Address | default: 'your address' }}	The Address Clip will display the first line of an Activist's address. If no address value is stored the default value that will be displayed is the text your address.
City	{{ City | default: 'your town' }}	This will display the value of the City field in the Activist's record. If no value is present then it will display the text your town.
State (Abbreviation- US Only)	{{ StateAbbr | default: 'your state' }}	This Clip will return the abbreviated State name for an Activist. This information is only available for US Activists and so will be of no use to you.
State (Full)	{{ StateFull | default: 'your state' }}	This Clip will return the value of the State field. For GPEW members this will be either England, or Wales. If no value is available the default text that will display is your state.
State (Full- US Only)	{{ StateFull | us_state_full | default: 'your state' }}	This is another US-only Clip and so will be of no use to GPEW Action Network users.
Country (Abbreviation)	{{ CountryAbbr | default: 'your country' }}	This will show the short country code, so for most members this will show as GB. The default value is the text your country.
Country (Full)	{{ CountryFull | default: 'your country' }}	This will return the full country name, so for most GPEW members this will display as United Kingdom. The default value is the text your country.
Zip Code	{{ ZipCode | default: 'Zip' }}	This will display the postcode held for Activists. The default value will be Zip.
Mobile Number	{{ Phone }}	This will show the value held in the Mobile Number field for the Activist.

Fundraising Information Clips

Clip Name	Clip	Result
Highest Previous Contribution	{{ HighestPreviousContribution | default: 5 }}	This Clip will show the value of the Activist's highest previous donation to your Group. The default value is 5.
Latest Donation Amount	{{ LatestDonationAmount | default: '' }}	This clip will add in the value of their latest donation amount. If no donation has been made the default value is blank.
Latest Donation Date	{{ LatestDonationDate | default: '' }}	This will insert the date of the most recent donation the Activist has made. It will be in the format "July 23, 2021" and so there's no need to worry about US date formating. The default value for this clip is blank.

To see how these Clips, and more, will display in an Email you can request a demo email here.

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