Personalize messages with custom objects

Make every message feel personal

Imagine receiving a restaurant reminder that says, "We look forward to seeing you soon." Helpful? Not really. But add the reservation date, time, and party size, and suddenly that message becomes much more useful.

Personalization tags in Klaviyo act as placeholders, automatically pulling customer information into your messages.

Explore the tabbed gallery below to see how a restaurant could use custom object data to personalize reservation reminders.

EmailText

Email

Reservation reminder

Hi {{ first_name }},

We're looking forward to seeing you!

Your reservation for {{ object.PartySize }} guests is confirmed for {{ object.ReservationDate }} at {{ object.ReservationTime }}.

See you soon!

Text

Hi {{ first_name }}! Your reservation for {{ object.PartySize }} is confirmed for {{ object.ReservationDate }} at {{ object.ReservationTime }}. We look forward to seeing you!

Need to make a change? Call us at (617) XXX-XXXX.

Visit us: https://klaviyo.com

Ready to give it a try? Open up the Templates page in Klaviyo, create or edit an existing template, and start building. If you need additional step by step guidance, check out insert custom object data into your templates in the Klaviyo Help Center.

Display the right object records

What happens when a customer has more than one reservation?

Let’s say Jenny has two bookings at the same restaurant: a confirmed birthday dinner for her cousin on November 6, and a canceled dinner with her friends from work on November 16, which she needs to reschedule. We wouldn't want her reminder to include the canceled reservation.

That's where object filters come in. They let you choose which records appear in a message based on conditions you set.

You can use object filters to display:

• A single record, like Jenny's next confirmed reservation
• Multiple records, like a list of upcoming reservations
• A count, like the number of active reservations a customer has

For Jenny, you could filter for confirmed, upcoming reservations and select the earliest date.

Remember: Unlike the flow filters from Lesson 3, object filters determine which records appear in a message, not who receives it.

For instructions, see How to use custom objects in templates.

Preview and validate your messages

Before sending a personalized message, make sure the right information appears for each recipient. Klaviyo's preview panel helps you catch missing or incorrect data before customers see it.

Click through the slideshow below to learn how to preview and validate your messages.

Open the preview panel

In the email or text message editor, select Preview to see how your message will appear to recipients.

Select a customer profile

Choose a profile with custom object data so you can check how its information appears in your message.

Check the personalized content

Confirm that personalization tags display the expected values and that the correct object records appear.

Test different profiles

Preview with additional profiles, especially those with multiple records or missing information, to catch potential issues.

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If something doesn't look right, review your personalization tags, object filters, and default values, and refer to How to use the preview panel for message personalization for additional guidance.

Choose the right personalization approach

You're creating personalized messages using custom object data. Sort each scenario based on the primary tool you'd use: a personalization tag to insert a specific value or an object filter to select which records appear.

Great job! In the next lesson, you'll learn best practices for using custom objects in Klaviyo.