--- title: "Getting Started with Personalization in Mapp Engage" slug: "getting-started-with-personalization-in-mapp-engage" description: "Learn how to personalize email and SMS in Mapp Engage: placeholders, rules, functions, and where to find the right articles from setup to reporting." status: "update" updated: 2026-11-04T12:45:10Z published: 2026-11-04T12:45:10Z canonical: "docs.mapp.com/getting-started-with-personalization-in-mapp-engage" --- > ## 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. # Getting Started with Personalization in Mapp Engage Mapp Engage lets you personalize email and SMS messages to increase contact engagement. This page guides you through the steps in the order you work through them and links to the articles that describe each step. For an explanation of the concepts, see [Basics](/v1/docs/personalization-basics). ![](https://cdn.document360.io/554b9b98-6720-4d8b-9919-c7b203d72648/Images/Documentation/74f1eec2-e953-47c2-8e0b-a1dda65d4c0a.png) --- ## 1 Prerequisites - Your Engage system is configured to send email and/or SMS messages. - Customer data is available in your Engage system in the form of: - Attributes for basic and advanced personalization. See [Understanding Attributes](/v1/docs/attribute-basics). - Related Data for expert personalization. See [Getting Started with Related Data in Mapp Engage](/v1/docs/getting-started-with-related-data-in-mapp-engage). --- ## 2 Personalization Workflow ### 2.1 Learn the basics Get an overview of the message workflow and the personalization options. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [Send an Email: End-to-End Workflow](/v1/docs/email-workflow-in-mapp-engage) | Overview of the entire email workflow. Read this if you want the big picture. | | [Send an SMS: End-to-End Workflow](/v1/docs/sms-workflow-in-mapp-engage) | Overview of the entire SMS workflow: build your audience, create the SMS, send it, and review the delivery results. | | [Basics](/v1/docs/personalization-basics) | Overview of the two personalization methods, placeholders and rules, and the tools you use for them. | ### 2.2 Create the message You add personalization while you create an email or SMS message. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [Create Emails](/v1/docs/email-message-creation) | The different ways of creating an email message and its components. | | [Create and Customize SMS Messages](/v1/docs/create-sms-message) | How to create an SMS message in Mapp Engage. | ### 2.3 Prepare the personalization #### 2.3.1 Personalize with placeholders Placeholders insert simple values from your contact data into a message. > [!NOTE] > Note > > Member attributes are not available in the personalization expander. Personalizations based on custom attributes must be configured manually. In these cases, enter the placeholder code manually. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [Placeholders for Message, Group, and System Data](/v1/docs/placeholders-for-message-group-and-system-data) | Reference for placeholders that insert message, group, and system data. | | [Personalization Placeholders](/v1/docs/personalization-tags-for-placeholders) / [Attribute References](/v1/docs/attribute-references) | The building blocks of a placeholder: personalization tags and attribute references. | | [Code View for Personalization Rules](/v1/docs/code-view) | The code view, where you enter personalizations manually. | | [Placeholders for eCommerce Data](/v1/docs/placeholders-for-ecommerce-data) | Insert Product Catalog data and the products in the eCommerce tables of a contact. | #### 2.3.2 Personalize with rules Rules show content only if conditions are met, for example a different greeting for different contacts and a fallback for everyone else. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [Personalization Builder](/v1/docs/personalization-builder) | Build rules as a series of IF expressions that show different content depending on the criteria a contact meets. | | [Create a Personalization Rule](/v1/docs/create-a-personalization-rule) | How to create a rule in the Personalization Builder. | | [Personalization Rules](/v1/docs/personalization-rules-insertif-insertelse) | How InsertIf and InsertElse blocks work. | | [Code View for Personalization Rules](/v1/docs/code-view) | Create rules directly as code. Some rules can only be created this way. | | [Personalization with Related Data](/v1/docs/personalization-with-related-data) / [Use Related Data in a Message](/v1/docs/use-related-data-in-a-message) | Personalize messages with related data, for example product catalogs or order histories. | | [Mapp Engage Functions](/v1/docs/mapp-engage-functions) | Functions extend rules, for example to compare dates, verify values, or extract and format strings. | ### 2.4 Insert and preview the personalization Insert the personalization into your message and check that it displays correctly. Test personalization rules in two stages: first in the preview of the Personalization Builder, then in the message preview. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [Insert Personalizations into HTML Emails and SMS Messages](/v1/docs/insert-a-personalization) | Methods for inserting simple and complex personalizations into a message. | | [Message Creation: Personalization (HTML Email)](/v1/docs/personalization-wizard) | Reference for the personalization expander in HTML emails. | | [Personalization Builder: Preview](/v1/docs/preview-personalization) | Validate a rule in the Builder and test it with contacts whose data matches the different conditions. | | [Message Preview (Email)](/v1/docs/email-message-preview) | Preview the email with values from a contact, custom values, or a random group member. | | [SMS Message Preview (window)](/v1/docs/sms-message-preview-window) | Preview an SMS message with personalization applied. | ### 2.5 Test message variants To find out which version of a message works better, for example with and without personalized content, run an A/B test. See [Run an A/B Test for Email Campaigns](/v1/docs/test-multiple-email-message-variants-ab-test). A/B testing is not available for SMS. ### 2.6 Review message performance After sendout, track how your messages perform. The block names of your personalization rules appear in the email statistics, so give the blocks meaningful names to compare the variants. | **Documentation** | **Description** | | --- | --- | | [View Email Message Statistics](/v1/docs/message-statistics-window) / [Variation Analysis (tab)](/v1/docs/variation-analysis-tab) | Monitor performance, deliverability, and engagement of your emails. The Variation Analysis compares the success of different message versions. | | [KPIs - Group Messages](/v1/docs/kpis-group-messages) / [KPIs - Single Messages](/v1/docs/kpis-single-messages) | Overview of all email KPIs. | | [SMS Messages: Statistics](/v1/docs/view-sms-statistics) | Delivery statistics for your SMS messages. |