Why Is a Merge Field Not Available for My Message?

If you know a field exists and would like to use it, but Fuse isn't showing it, here are your options.

Why Is a Merge Field Not Available for My Message?

There are two possible explanations. Either the message is lacking an event to give it the context (not using a New Claim event but expecting New Claim merge fields) or you're hunting for an advanced field we haven't added yet.

If the field is context-specific, the subscription conditions must provide the relevant context in order to make the field available.

Some fields are straightforward in that there is only one instance of the field on any customer Account.  Therefore, if an email is sent to the Account under any condition, the field will always be available.  For example, on any account, there is only one occurrence of each field at the Customer level and one occurrence of each field at Fuse's "Account" level.

On the other hand, it is possible for an Account to have multiple occurrences of each field at the Policy, Contact, or Claim level because it is possible for an account to have multiple Policies, multiple Contacts, or multiple Claims.

In these cases, we can only use merge fields from those applicable sections if the sequence is set up to be triggered on a per-policy, per-contact, or per-claim basis, depending on which data you want to merge into the message.  For example, if you want to be able to merge fields from Claims data, the sequence needs to be set up to add subscribers based on the New Claim Event.  This event will recognize when there is a new claim and run the sequence based on the information in that specific claim.  This allows you to use the Claims-related merge fields because the system knows which claim it should merge the information from.

If the subscriber conditions are set up based on a different event, or based on segment criteria such as "claim date is not blank", the system may be able to add subscribers that match the segment criteria, but since it is possible for customers to have more than one claim over time, the system will not know which claim it is basing the campaign on.  Therefore, it cannot make the Claims-related merge fields available.

Solution

If you'd like to use merge fields from Contacts, Policies, or Claims, make sure your sequence is set up to add subscribers based on a relevant event (such as the New Claim Event as described above, if you'd like to merge Claim data), or that it is set to run "per Contact" (if you'd like to use the Contact-related merge fields), or "per policy" (if you'd like to use Policy-related merge fields).

Some "Foreign Data" Fields Are Not Programmed as Merge Fields by Default

"Foreign data", as it relates to the fields you see in Fuse, simply means the "raw data" we receive from your management system.  Foreign data is found under the tab labeled according to your management system (AMS360 Data, TAM Data, Epic Data, Power Broker Data, Hawksoft Data, etc.).  During integration, our system reads and interprets the meaning of these fields and places them in the appropriate sections of Fuse such as Account, Contacts, Policies, etc.  The fields found in those sections are automatically formatted and linked up with event triggers and merge fields as needed to produce the rich functionality of the Fuse platform.  However, the raw data (aka "foreign data") from your management system is unformatted and unfiltered.  Therefore, much of it is not pre-programmed for use as merge fields.

Solution

  1. It is always best to use merge fields and segment criteria fields from the Account, Contacts, and Policies sections when possible.  If you're uncertain of how to best create your desired segment using these sections of data, please contact our support team for help.

  2. In some rare cases, there may be a field in your "foreign data" that is not being imported or utilized in the sections of Fuse described above, but that you'd like to merge into a message.  If you encounter this scenario, please let us know.  In some cases, we may be able to put your enhancement request into our development queue for the next system release.