Adding Guest Placeholders

Placeholders are one of the most powerful features in Check-in Pax emails. They allow you to personalize every email you send by automatically inserting guest-specific information—like their name, company, or even custom data fields—directly into the email body.

Instead of writing "Dear Guest," you can write "Dear John," and every recipient sees their own name.

What is a placeholder?

A placeholder is a small piece of code that acts as a "fill-in-the-blank" marker. When an email is sent, Check-in Pax automatically replaces the placeholder with the actual data from that guest's profile.

Example:

Placeholder format

All placeholders in Check-in Pax follow the same format:

text

[Guest](Field Name)

• Starts with [Guest](
• Followed by the exact field name
• Ends with )

Important: Field names are case-sensitive and must match exactly as shown below.

Available default placeholders

These fields are available for every guest by default.

Custom fields

If you have created custom data fields for your event (e.g., "Meal Preference," "T-Shirt Size"), you can use them as placeholders too.

Note: Custom field names are defined by you in Event Management → Data Fields. Use the exact spelling and capitalization you created.

Special placeholder

QR code

The QR code placeholder is special. Instead of text, it inserts a unique QR code image for each guest.

When the email is sent, Check-in Pax automatically generates a QR code for that guest and embeds it directly into the email. Guests can show this code on their phone to check in at your event.

Note: Similar to text placeholders, you can technically use any default or custom field as the value for the QR code. The most common choice is the guest's email address [QR](Email), since email addresses are usually unique per guest. Another reliable option is the system-generated Guest ID [QR](Guest ID).
However, you are not limited to these. If you upload your own unique identifiers as a custom field (e.g., "Ticket Number" [QR](Ticket Number)or "Membership ID" [QR](Membership ID)), you can use that field for QR code generation as well. This means Check-in Pax allows external IDs to be used for QR code placeholders and generation.

Where to use placeholders

Placeholders can be used anywhere in the Email Designer:

How to add a placeholder in the Email Designer

1. Open your email template in the Email Designer.
2. Click on any text block where you want to insert a placeholder.
3. Type the placeholder manually using the correct format, e.g., [Guest](First Name).
4. Alternatively, click the View Placeholder button to see a list of available placeholders and copy them into your design.
5. Continue editing the rest of your email.
6. Use Send Test or View as to verify the placeholder works correctly.

Testing placeholders

Before sending emails to real guests, always test your placeholders:

1. Click Send Test in the Email Designer.
2. Send a test email to yourself.
3. Check that every placeholder has been replaced with actual data (not the placeholder code).
4. If you see [Guest](First Name) instead of a name, the field name is incorrect or missing from the guest's profile.

Common issues and solutions

Example: Personalized invitation email

Template with placeholders:

text

Dear [Guest](First Name) [Guest](Last Name),

We are pleased to invite you to our annual conference. 
[Guest](Company) has been a valued partner, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Your table number is: [Guest](Table)

Your QR code for check-in is below:

[QR](Email)

Best regards,
The Events Team

What John Smith receives:

text

Subject: You're invited, John!

Dear John Smith,

We are pleased to invite you to our annual conference. 
Acme Inc. has been a valued partner, and we look forward to seeing you there.

Your table number is: Table 12

Your QR code for check-in is below:

[QR code image appears here]

Best regards,
The Events Team

Pro tips

• Always test with a real guest profile. Use the View email as feature to select a specific guest and see exactly how their email will look.
• Don't over-personalize. Using a guest's name is great. Using every single data field can make the email feel robotic.
• Custom fields are powerful. If you collect dietary restrictions or t-shirt sizes, you can confirm them back to guests using placeholders.
• Double-check spelling. [Guest](First Name) works. [Guest](Firstname) or [Guest](first name) does not.

Related Articles

• Using the Email designer
• Adding QR Codes
• Customizing data fields
• Testing emails and viewing as guest
• Creating new email templates