Dynamic content lets you personalize emails by automatically inserting information about your contacts, events, or transactions. For example, you can address someone by their first name in the subject line or include their subscription tier in a renewal reminder.
How to Insert Dynamic Content
Click the {...} icon to insert dynamic content. You can insert dynamic content in the email body, subject line, and preview text field. You can edit dynamic content variables by clicking on them in the email.
Brew’s AI will automatically insert dynamic content and fallback values to personalize your emails.
Types of Dynamic Content
There are three types of dynamic content you can use in your emails:
| Type | Available In | Description | Example |
|---|
| Contact properties | Campaigns and Automations | Information stored about each contact in your audience, including both default fields like email and name, plus any custom fields you’ve created. Any data you sync to Brew via API, integrations, or CSV uploads can be used. | Hi {firstName}, check out our latest updates! → Hi Alex, check out our latest updates! |
| Event properties | Automations only | Data that gets sent along when an event triggers the automation. These properties travel with the event that triggers the email. | {firstName}, your {eventType} for {productName} is confirmed → Alex, your Registration for Workshop 2025 is confirmed |
| Data variables | Transactional Emails only | Custom fields you define in your transactional email, then populate via API when sending. These can be set as required or optional depending on your intentions. | Your invoice #{invoiceNumber} for {invoiceTotal} is ready → Your invoice #4782 for $149.00 is ready |
Fallback Values (Campaigns & Automations)
Why they matter: If a contact is missing data for a property, emails won’t send without a fallback value.
When you insert dynamic content in campaigns and automations, you’ll be prompted to provide a fallback—this is the text that appears when the actual data is missing.
Examples:
| Dynamic Content | Fallback | Result When Missing |
|---|
Hi {firstName} | ”there" | "Hi there” |
Your {planName} subscription | ”current" | "Your current subscription” |
You can edit fallback settings by clicking on the inserted dynamic content variable in the email.
Data Variables (Transactional Only)
Data variables work a bit differently in transactional emails—you create them as you’re building your email.
Creating a new variable:
- Click the
{...} icon
- Type the name of your new data variable (using a name that doesn’t exist yet)
- Select
Create from the menu or press Enter
- Mark the variable as required or optional. Optional variables can be:
- Omitted from your API request entirely
- Included with an empty string
""
- ⚠️ Cannot be sent as
null (this will cause an error)
Important rules to follow:
- Required variables must be included in every API call—if you’re missing any required variables, the send will fail
- Names are case-sensitive:
invoiceTotal and InvoiceTotal are treated as different variables
- Allowed characters: letters, numbers, underscores, and dashes only
- Value types: data variable values can be
string or number types
