---
title: "Personalization Basics"
slug: "personalization-basics"
description: "Personalize your messages with Mapp Engage using placeholders and rules to boost engagement and conversion based on user profiles and behaviors."
status: "update"
updated: 2026-02-26T16:41:08Z
published: 2026-02-26T16:52:52Z
canonical: "docs.mapp.com/personalization-basics"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.mapp.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Basics

Mapp Engage allows you to personalize your messages based on each contact’s profile, preferences, or behavior. Personalized messages increase the relevance of your communication and help improve engagement and conversion.

There are two personalization approaches in Mapp Engage:

- **Placeholders** – a simple way to insert individual values, such as a contact’s name
- **Rules** – a more advanced option to show or hide content based on conditions

> [!NOTE]
> Placeholders are a great starting point. However, rules offer more flexibility and can fully replace placeholders in most scenarios.

---

## 1 Use Case Comparison

| **Use Case** | **With Placeholders** | **With Rules (Extended)** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Personalized greeting** | Use the contact’s first name in the message. | Adapt the greeting based on gender and name, with fallback if data is missing. |
| **Location reference** | Insert the city or country from the profile. | Show content only to contacts from specific regions or cities. |
| **Loyalty status** | Mention the contact’s current loyalty level. | Show exclusive benefits only to contacts who meet a certain threshold (e.g. Gold tier). |

---

## 2 Personalization Placeholders

Placeholders are used to insert values from user, group, or member attributes directly into a message. They are enclosed in <%...%> and replaced with the actual value during message sendout.

**Common examples include:**

- First name, city, country
- Group name or membership level
- Loyalty points or preferences

**Tools to use:**

- [**Personalization Wizard**](/v1/docs/personalization-wizard) – Insert placeholders directly during message creation
- [**Code View**](/v1/docs/code-view) – Manually enter placeholders when working with custom layouts or external code

Learn more: [Personalization Placeholders](/v1/docs/personalization-placeholders)

---

## 3 Personalization Rules

Rules define whether content is shown or hidden based on logical conditions. This allows you to display or suppress specific parts of a message, depending on each contact’s data or behavior.

**Rules are useful when:**

- You want to create fallback options if certain data is missing
- You need to adjust content for different audience segments
- You want to combine multiple conditions in one message block

You can also include placeholders **inside** rules for full flexibility.

**Tools to use:**

- [**Personalization Builder**](/v1/docs/personalization-builder) – Visually create and structure rule logic
- [**Personalization Wizard**](/v1/docs/personalization-wizard) – Insert existing rules into your message
- [**Code View**](/v1/docs/code-view) – Build custom logic manually (for advanced scenarios)

Learn more: [Personalization Rules](/docs/personalization-basics#)

> [!TIP]
> ![](https://cdn.document360.io/554b9b98-6720-4d8b-9919-c7b203d72648/Images/Documentation/grafik(33).png)
> 
> Looking for a structured learning path?
> 
> Learn step by step in our Academy Course: [Mapp Engage - Advanced - Personalization Rules](https://academy.mapp.com/catalog/courses/4888795).