Personalized outreach gets better results than cookie-cutter blasts. But most of us don’t have time to hand-craft every email or LinkedIn message, especially when you’re running campaigns at any scale. If you want to actually sound like a human (without spending all day copy-pasting), dynamic fields are your friend.
This guide is for anyone running outreach—sales, recruiting, partnerships, or just trying to get replies from busy people. We’ll walk through how to use Keycontacts dynamic fields to personalize your campaigns, what works, what doesn’t, and how to avoid awkward mistakes that make you sound like a robot.
Why bother with dynamic fields? (And why most people get it wrong)
Let’s get honest: most “personalized” emails stink. Swapping in a first name is a start, but it’s barely better than spam. People tune it out because it’s obvious you’re just running a mail merge.
Dynamic fields—sometimes called merge tags or variables—let you pull in unique details for every contact, automatically. But they’re only as good as the data you feed them, and how you use them. Overdo it, and you risk weird errors (“Hi {FirstName},”) or creepy oversharing.
What works:
– Using dynamic fields for natural, human details (names, company, recent activity)
– Keeping it simple—one or two variables per message, tops
– Always double-checking your data before you hit send
What doesn’t:
– Jamming in every field you can find (“Hi John at Acme Corp in Boise who likes basketball,”)
– Relying on scraped data that’s old, wrong, or missing
– Treating dynamic fields as a silver bullet—they make good messages better, not bad messages good
Step 1: Know what data you actually have
Before you start plugging in dynamic fields, take a minute to see what’s in your database. Garbage in, garbage out.
In Keycontacts:
- Open your contact list and look at the columns: First Name, Last Name, Company, Title, City, etc.
- Check for gaps, weird formatting, or junk data. If half your contacts have “N/A” or “unknown” as a company, skip that field.
- Clean your data if you need to. Even fixing obvious typos or blank fields makes a big difference.
Pro tip:
Don’t trust that the data’s perfect just because it imported. Always spot-check a few rows before you start sending.
Step 2: Draft your message like a real person
Start with the message you’d actually send if you were writing to one person. Don’t write “Dear {FirstName} {LastName}, I’d like to discuss {Product} solutions at {Company}.” You’d never say that in real life, and neither should your email bot.
A better template:
Hi {FirstName},
I saw you’re leading the team at {Company}, and thought you might appreciate this quick idea…
Keep in mind:
- Use dynamic fields only where they make sense.
- If a sentence would sound weird if the field is missing, reword it or skip the variable.
- Never use dynamic fields for things you can’t verify (e.g., {City} if you’re not sure it’s accurate).
Step 3: Insert dynamic fields in Keycontacts
Keycontacts makes it easy to add dynamic fields—just use the curly braces syntax in your templates.
How to do it:
1. Open your campaign in Keycontacts.
2. In your message editor, type the field you want to insert inside curly braces. For example: {FirstName}, {Company}, {Title}.
3. Keycontacts will auto-suggest available fields as you type. Pick from the dropdown, or enter manually.
Example:
Hey {FirstName},
Noticed you’re at {Company}. Quick question for you...
Common dynamic fields in Keycontacts:
- {FirstName}
- {LastName}
- {Company}
- {Title}
- {City}
Don’t get fancy unless you need to. Most of the time, just a name and company is plenty. People can spot fake personalization a mile away.
Step 4: Set fallback values (so you don’t look silly)
What happens if you don’t have a value for someone’s company or city? You don’t want to send “Hi ,” or “at .” That just screams automation fail.
In Keycontacts:
- When inserting a dynamic field, you can add a fallback value—a default that appears if the data is missing.
- For example:
{FirstName|there} will show “there” if FirstName is blank.
A few good fallback examples:
- {FirstName|there} → “Hi there,” if no name
- {Company|your company} → “your company” if blank
- {City|your area}
But don’t overdo it. If too many contacts are missing data, consider dropping that field instead of using generic fallbacks everywhere.
Step 5: Test before you send (seriously, always)
No matter how careful you are, something will go wrong if you don’t test. Send yourself a preview, or use Keycontacts’ built-in preview tool.
How to test: - Use the “Preview” feature to see how your message looks with real contact data. - Spot-check a handful of contacts, especially those with missing or weird data. - If possible, send a test batch to your own email (or a trusted colleague) before launching the full campaign.
Look for: - Blank spots (“Hi ,”) - Wrong or awkward fallbacks (“Hi your company,”) - Formatting errors (extra spaces, broken links)
Pro tip:
If you’re not cringing at least once in your preview, you’re probably not looking hard enough. Better to catch it now than after 500 emails go out.
Step 6: Don’t get creepy or too clever
It’s tempting to show off how much you know about someone (“Saw you adopted a Labradoodle last spring!”). Unless you have a real, human connection, don’t. People are wary of outreach that feels invasive or forced.
Stick to: - Professional info (company, title, role) - Recent public activity (a conference talk, a blog post—if you can reference it naturally) - Shared connections (if real)
Ignore: - Scraped personal details (hobbies, birthdays, kids’ names) - Anything you wouldn’t mention in a first conversation
If you’re not sure, leave it out. “I noticed you’re CTO at {Company}” is fine; “I saw you posted about running shoes on Instagram” is not.
Step 7: Review, send, and iterate
You’re ready to go. But don’t expect magic just because you used dynamic fields. The real value is in steady, honest outreach that actually tries to be helpful. Look at your results, see what lands, and tweak your approach.
What to track: - Open rates (but don’t obsess—these aren’t everything) - Replies (quality matters more than quantity) - Negative feedback (if people are unsubscribing or calling you out, adjust)
After each campaign: - Check your data. Did any fields fail? Clean up before next time. - Refine your templates. Cut out what’s not working. - Keep it simple. The best outreach is clear and direct.
Honest advice: Keep it simple and human
Dynamic fields are a tool, not a magic trick. Personalization works best when it feels natural—not when you’re shoehorning in every variable just because you can. Clean your data, write like a person, and always preview before you send. The less you try to fake it, the better your results.
Iterate as you go. The best outreach campaigns are built by paying attention, not by chasing the latest hype. Start simple, and you’ll stand out far more than the robots.