Use merge tags to make your SMS messages feel more personal by automatically inserting employee information like first name, location, title, and more.
Why use merge tags?
Personalized messages help create a better employee experience and can improve engagement.
Requirements
- Available on Enhanced and Premium plans
- Employee attributes must exist in Workshop
- Attributes can be synced from AD, Okta, Google Workspace, HRIS platforms, or uploaded via CSV
Common use cases
- Greet employees by name: "Hi [first_name]"
- Reference office or home locations
- Communicate employee specific details such as migration date, etc.
- Celebrate milestones like work anniversaries
Add a merge tag to an SMS
- Create a new SMS or open an existing draft.
- Place your cursor where you want the personalized content to appear.
- Select Merge tags.
- Choose the employee attribute you want to use (for example,
first_name). - Optionally add fallback text to display when an employee does not have a value for that attribute.
- Select Insert tag.
Preview before sending
Preview mode will display the fallback text for merge tags rather than employee-specific data. This allows you to confirm the message layout and verify that your merge tags are inserted correctly, but it does not show how the message will appear for individual recipients.
To validate employee-specific merge tag values, send a test message to yourself to see your employee data populate within the sent text.
Viewing available employee attributes
- Go to Manage > Directory.
- Select an employee.
- Review the User Attributes section to see available attributes and their data sources.
FAQ
Do I need fallback text?
No. Fallback text is optional. If no fallback is provided and the attribute is empty, Workshop will insert a blank space.
Can merge tags contain links?
No. Merge tags can only be used to insert employee attribute values as text. They cannot be used to dynamically insert hyperlinks, URLs, or other clickable link destinations.
If you need to direct employees to a webpage, include a standard link in your SMS message instead.