Using placeholders in a macro

Placeholders put the customer's name, the ticket number or a field value into a macro, so one macro fits every ticket.

Placeholders put the customer's name, the ticket number or a field value into a macro, so one macro fits every ticket.

Add a placeholder

1. Edit the macro and put your cursor in the comment.
2. Type the placeholder, or pick it from the list Zendesk offers.
3. Save, then apply the macro to a real ticket without submitting, and read what appeared.

That last step is not optional. A placeholder that resolves to nothing looks fine in the editor and produces "Hello ," for the customer.

The ones worth knowing

• The requester's first name. The most used, and the one most likely to be empty for customers who only ever gave an email address.
• The ticket number. For giving the customer a reference.
• The agent's name. For signing off in the voice of whoever sent it.
• Custom field values. Order number, contract, whatever your organisation records.

The empty-value problem

Placeholders resolve to nothing when there is no value, and the sentence around them still goes out. "Your order is on its way" is the classic result.

Two defences. Write sentences that survive an empty value, or use a Liquid conditional so the sentence only appears when the field has something in it. The second is more work and the right answer for anything customer facing.

See also

• What placeholders are
• Why there is a blank line where my placeholder should be
• Liquid markup: what it is and when you need it
• Can I add a hyperlink through a macro