Did it work? I’m scared to send this email because of the FIRST NAME appearing in the test email. Can you confirm if it worked for you? I also used the personalised sparkle icon to set this up
Topic summary
Users are experiencing confusion when test emails display placeholder text like “{first name}” instead of actual names. The core issue is resolved: This placeholder appearance is normal behavior for test emails only.
Key clarifications:
- When using Shopify’s personalization tool (sparkle icon), the correct variable is
{{ data.customer.first_name }} - Test emails will always show the placeholder format, but live emails sent to actual customers will properly display their names
- This behavior is consistent across email marketing platforms (Mailchimp, Klaviyo, etc.)
Recommended testing approach:
Create a customer segment with your own email address and send the actual marketing email to that segment—this shows how live emails will appear, unlike the test email function.
Confirmed resolution: Multiple users verified that despite the placeholder appearing in tests, live emails correctly populated customer names. One user requested information about finding a complete list of available Shopify email variables/tags for other personalization needs like displaying login emails.