Personalizing Your Messages

Using Custom Fields

• Use the format {{ custom_field }} to dynamically insert custom fields.

• See here for the list of reusable fields available to use in message customization.

Using Conditional Statements

You can also use if statements. For example:

• Can you chip in {% if previous_donation and previous_donation > 20 %}$20{% else %}$5{% endif %} today?

• Hi {% if first_name %}{{ first_name }}{% else %}friend{% endif %}!

Note: if you want to check if a custom field has an exact value, use == (two equals signs) instead of just one. For example:

• Thanks for being a {% if total_donations == 1 %}one-time{% else %}repeat{% endif %} donor!

You can also use or statements if you just want to have a backup option for a blank field, or if you're combining two lists with differently named custom fields. For example:

• {{sb_first_name or 'friend'}} will show sb_first_name if it's present, or the word friend if it isn't.

• {{sb_first_name or firstname or 'friend'}} will try sb_first_name first, then try firstname, then use friend as a last resort if both are missing.

If you’re using a previous donation amount to suggest an ask, you may want to set a maximum or minimum so your message doesn’t ask for an unusually high or low amount.

For example, the below example:

• Uses the most recent donation amount if it exists

• Falls back to $10 if that field is blank

• But also caps the ask at $100 and raises very small asks to $5

${% if ((sb_most_recent_donation_amount or 10) | int) > 100 %}100{% elif ((sb_most_recent_donation_amount or 10) | int) < 5 %}5{% else %}{{ sb_most_recent_donation_amount or 10 }}{% endif %}

This means:

• If sb_most_recent_donation_amount is blank, use 10.

• If the amount is greater than 100, show 100.

• If the amount is less than 5, show 5.

• Otherwise, show the donor’s most recent donation amount (formatted as an integer)

You can replace 100, 5, or 10 with the maximum, minimum, or fallback amounts you want to use.

Using Math Operations (like <, >, +, )

If you are using a custom and/or reusable field that does NOT have 100% coverage over your list, some of these more complex statements may fail. If you are using any field in a math operation (like <, >, *) you will need to make sure the value exists. For example:

${% if sb_max_amount_donated %}{{ (sb_max_amount_donated * 0.75) | sb_money}}{% else %}5{% endif %}

{% if sb_max_amount_donated %} - this part checks to make sure there is real value for the field sb_max_amount_donated, otherwise it will use the "else" section (in this case 5). If you were to not include the "if" part, when we try to render the message for a phone number with a missing sb_max_amount_donated, the * part would cause the message to fail.

How do I check coverage of fields in my list?

When drafting your message, under “custom fields available” you can see coverage ratios like this:

Formatting

Formatting Names

If you'd like to make sure fields are formatted with proper capitalization, use the keyword title.

• Hello {{sb_first_name | title}}

This will turn sb_first_name values like jane or JANE or JaNe all into Jane.

Formatting Money

If you'd like to display a money amount, you can use the keyword sb_money to make sure the number is formatted properly. If the field is a full dollar amount, we will not include the .00. So 100.5 becomes 100.50, but 100.00 becomes 100. For example, for the custom field previous_amount, you can write:

• Can you chip in ${{ previous_amount | sb_money }} today?

Formatting Dates

If you'd like to display a date in a more readable format, you can use the keyword sb_date with the date format you want. For example, if sb_most_recent_donation_date is 2026-09-18:

• {{ sb_most_recent_donation_date | sb_date("%B %-d, %Y") }} → September 18, 2026

• {{ sb_most_recent_donation_date | sb_date("%b %-d, %Y") }} → Sep 18, 2026

• {{ sb_most_recent_donation_date | sb_date("%-m/%-d/%y") }} → 9/18/26

• {{ sb_most_recent_donation_date | sb_date("%m-%d-%Y") }} → 09-18-2026

Bolding and Italicizing Fields

You can now bold and italicize your fields by adding |bold}} or |italic}} to the end of your field.

• 𝗖𝗮𝗻 𝘄𝗲 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁 𝗼𝗻 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝘁𝗼 𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗶𝗻 {{ sb_first_name | bold }}?

• 𝘊𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘵 𝘰𝘯 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘱 𝘪𝘯 {{ sb_first_name | italic }}?

Note: You can bold numbers (0-9) but you cannot italicize numbers.

Other Fields You Can Use

We make the following generic variables available in templates for convenience.

• {{ sb_month }} - Shows the current month (in Hawaii Standard Time). ex: July

• {{ sb_weekday }} - Shows the current weekday (in Hawaii Standard Time). ex: Wednesday

• {{ sb_day }} - Shows the current day of the month (in Hawaii Standard Time). ex: 29

• {{ sb_year }} - Shows the current year (in Hawaii Standard Time). ex: 2024