firstname custom field in email title doesn't work sometimes

[dunndealpr]

Hello. I'm using version 2.33.1

All my emails must have the first name in the title. This is very important to the success of my campaigns. So, I always make sure to populate the First Name field of each contact.

I test all my campaigns with the Preview Your Campaign function. Many times I receive an email with %%first_name%% in the title instead of the name.
Every time that occurs, the %%first_name%% custom field appears in the email body just fine.

I therefore am forced to create test campaigns, and those also fail as often as they succeed.
Sometimes the %%first_name%% custom field in the email title is completely empty...
Sometimes it works.
But there seems to be no rhyme or reason why it does or does not work.

I had a suspicion that it only worked for email addresses marked Verified, but that seems to also not be true upon further testing.

Please advise. And please do not suggest I upgrade as a solution. I'm not able to upgrade right now.

 

[wasif]

When you are using custom fields e.g. %%first_name%%, you need to keep few things in mind

1- Custom fields don't work in preview the broadcast as it just sends the content as it is, instead of going through the whole database and match the email address to whom the preview is being sent.
2- However, we have an option there, if you put up a subscriber ID while previewing the email, it will fetch the custom fields for that subscriber.
3- In order to fully test the custom fields, you need to schedule a campaign to your seeds and see if it works.
4- If Mumara finds the first name of the recipient, it changes with the value. If Mumara doesn't find any first name value associated with the subscriber, it will send a blank value.

 

[dunndealpr]

When you are using custom fields e.g. %%first_name%%, you need to keep few things in mind

1- Custom fields don't work in preview the broadcast as it just sends the content as it is, instead of going through the whole database and match the email address to whom the preview is being sent.
2- However, we have an option there, if you put up a subscriber ID while previewing the email, it will fetch the custom fields for that subscriber.
3- In order to fully test the custom fields, you need to schedule a campaign to your seeds and see if it works.
4- If Mumara finds the first name of the recipient, it changes with the value. If Mumara doesn't find any first name value associated with the subscriber, it will send a blank value.

Thanks for your reply.
Regarding #2, if you look in my attached pictures you'll see I added a Custom Variable Email. Is that what you're referring to? Why did that not work?
Regarding #3, if I schedule a campaign and it doesn't work, it's a bad situation for me with my recipients. Surely you guys have a way to test your emails before they are sent. I actually did resort to this, and sometimes it does work, and sometimes it does not, which is extremely concerning. The first name field is always populated, yet sometimes the first name field is blank in the email title. Please advise.

Also: I scheduled a campaign, and I received two emails titled "SMTP test", which I assume means the SMTP test was passed. But now that campaign is stuck in Pause mode. Reason given:

SMTP connect() failed.	Sep, 30 2020 11:07 PM
3	No active SMTP available.

 

[wasif]

Regarding #2, if you look in my attached pictures you'll see I added a Custom Variable Email. Is that what you're referring to? Why did that not work?

Try putting up subscriber ID instead of the email address

Regarding #3, if I schedule a campaign and it doesn't work, it's a bad situation for me with my recipients. Surely you guys have a way to test your emails before they are sent. I actually did resort to this, and sometimes it does work, and sometimes it does not, which is extremely concerning. The first name field is always populated, yet sometimes the first name field is blank in the email title. Please advise.

That's why I said to test on your own seeds first. Also, make sure that you are using the correct variable without any spacing or typo. There is no way Mumara should skip first names without any reason. If you can test on your your own seeds and reproduce the case for me to test myself, I'll be happy to do that.

 

[dunndealpr]

Try putting up subscriber ID instead of the email address


That's why I said to test on your own seeds first. Also, make sure that you are using the correct variable without any spacing or typo. There is no way Mumara should skip first names without any reason. If you can test on your your own seeds and reproduce the case for me to test myself, I'll be happy to do that.

Where is subscriber ID? Can't find that field anywhere

 

[wasif]

When you edit or view any subscriber, you'll find the ID in the address bar.

 

[dunndealpr]

When you edit or view any subscriber, you'll find the ID in the address bar.

In Custom Variable Email field I typed 171 and did another test
Still received %%first_name%% in the email title

 

[wasif]

Ok, I have reproduced the case in my test installation. You need to write there the email address (not subscriber ID). And Mumara will find the email address in your database and use the custom fields of the first matching email address found. Make sure the first matching email address has custom fields. Otherwise, add a unique email address for this purpose and use it.

 

[dunndealpr]

Ok, I have reproduced the case in my test installation. You need to write there the email address (not subscriber ID). And Mumara will find the email address in your database and use the custom fields of the first matching email address found. Make sure the first matching email address has custom fields. Otherwise, add a unique email address for this purpose and use it.

As you can see above, I have done exactly that several times. It never works.

 

[wasif]

If you are giving the email address, you might be having that email address several times within the database. Make sure it's not duplicated and must have custom field values. I have reproduced and it worked well.

 

[dunndealpr]

If you are giving the email address, you might be having that email address several times within the database. Make sure it's not duplicated and must have custom field values. I have reproduced and it worked well.

I am positive the email addresses I have tested with only appear once in the database. And every email address in my database has the firstname custom field populated.

 

[wasif]

I suggest opening a support ticket and provide your Mumara details.

 

[dunndealpr]

Where do I submit a support ticket?

 

[wasif]

Under your client area at https://billing.hostingshouse.com/.