(BETA) New guidelines for using field placeholders (previously known as variables) in Gong Engage

Sales rep, Sales manager

Gong Engage*

General guidelines for field placeholders (previously known as variables)

• All field placeholders must use double curly brackets: {{object.field_name}}

  • Examples:

    • {{opportunity.created_date}}

    • {{sender.first_name}}

• Manual placeholders should use single curly brackets: {Add your text here}

• You can insert field placeholders:

  • By typing {{ directly into the subject or body

  • Or by using the field placeholder button in the email editor

• Valid field placeholders are underlined in purple, invalid field placeholders are underlined in red and will block saving
  

Hyperlink field placeholders

You can hyperlink text with a field placeholder in templates, blocks, or flows in two ways.

Method 1

1. Highlight the text you want to hyperlink.

2. Click Insert link.

3. In the link box:

   1. Text: Confirm the text you want to display.

   2. Link: Enter the field placeholder (e.g., {{sender.primary_scheduling_link}}).

Method 2

1. Insert the field placeholder (e.g., {{sender.primary_scheduling_link}}) directly into the body of the template.

2. Highlight the field placeholder.

3. Click the Insert link.

4. In the link box:

   1. Text: Confirm the text you want to display.

   2. Link: Enter the field placeholder (e.g., {{sender.primary_scheduling_link}}).
      

Field placeholders in URLs

You can embed field placeholders inside URLs. For example:

https://www.google.com/search?name={{recipient.first_name}}

Formatting dates and numbers

You can use the format_date and format_number functions in field placeholders to control how values appear in your emails, without editing the original CRM field.

format_date function

Use format_date to change how a date field is displayed. The default output is typically ISO format (2025-07-08), but you can make it more readable or conversational.

Format: {{format_date object.field ‘format_string’}}

Supported date formats

Example usage:

{{format_date opportunity.close_date ‘MMMM d, YYYY’}}

→ July 8, 2025

Date format reference

When using format_date, make sure to match the correct uppercase and lowercase formatting strings. These formatting strings are case-sensitive. For example, writing mm instead of MM will return minutes instead of months.

format_number function

Use format_number to control how numeric fields appear. You can add commas, decimal points, or currency formatting.

Format: {{format_number object.field ‘format_string’}}

Supported number formats

Example usage:

{{format_number opportunity.amount ‘$0,0.00’}}

→ $1,234,567.89

Using custom field placeholders

For admins:

To make custom field placeholders available for your company:

1. Go to Admin Center > Custom variables (under Engage).

2. Click Add field placeholder to add a new custom field placeholder.

3. Give the field placeholder a name and set the description and type if needed.

4. Save.

Once you’ve created custom field placeholders, drag and drop field placeholders to set the order they’ll appear in the field placeholder menu when team members add them to emails, flows, templates, or blocks.

For team members:

To set up your custom field placeholders:

1. Go to My Settings > Custom Field Placeholders (under Email) to enter values.

2. Save.

Custom sender field placeholders are available under the {{sender.}} object.

Example: {{sender.primary_scheduling_link}}

Reviewing migrated content from Outreach or Salesloft

If your team migrated templates or flows into Gong Engage, review each item to ensure variables were converted correctly.

You can only review and update each user’s personal templates and flows if you’re a Gong technical admin. To do this, go to the Team members page and select Log in as for each user.

What Gong auto-converts:

• {{recipient.first_name}}

• {{recipient.last_name}}

• {{recipient.company_name}}

• {{recipient.job_title}}

• {{sender.first_name}}

• {{sender.last_name}}

• {{sender.job_title}}

• {{sender.phone_number}}

• if, if/else, and unless statements

What you need to fix manually:

Field placeholders that couldn't be converted will appear as placeholders ({...}).

Replace these with the correct field placeholder format:

• Contact first name → {{contact.first_name}}

• Sender company name → {{sender.company_name}}

• Nickname → {{account.nickname}}

• Account ID18 → {{account.account_ID18}}

• Lead 18 Digit ID → {{lead.lead_18_digit_id}}

Field placeholders in URLs

Before:

https://calendly.com/{sender.custom1}/english-optimization-call

After:

https://calendly.com/{{sender.calendly_username}}/english-optimization-call

Conditional URLs are supported too. For example:

https://calendly.com/{{sender.calendly_username}}/sync?sfid={{#if contact.Contact_18_Id__c}}{{contact.Contact_18_Id__c}}{{else}}{{lead.Lead_18_Digit_ID__c}}{{/if}}

Or outside the URL:

{{#if contact.Contact_18_Id__c}} <Insert link version 1> {{else}} <Insert link version 2> {{/if}}

Replace outdated field placeholder formats in the body:

• Recipient first name → {{recipient.first_name}}

• Sender company name → {{sender.company_name}}

• Nickname → {{account.nickname}}

• Account ID18 → {{account.account_ID18}}

• Lead 18 Digit ID → {{lead.lead_18_digit_id}}

Replace outdated field placeholder formats in the subject line:

• {{RECIPIENT_FIRST_NAME}} → {{recipient.first_name}}

• {{SENDER_COMPANY_NAME}} → {{sender.company_name}}

• {{ACCOUNT_Nickname__c}} → {{account.nickname}}

• {{ACCOUNT_ID18__c}} → {{account.account_ID18}}

• {{LEAD_Lead_18_Digit_ID__c}} → {{lead.lead_18_digit_id}}

Update conditional logic

Old format:

If Recipient first name {{Hi}} Else {{Hi there}} Endif

New format:

{{#if recipient.first_name}} Hi {{recipient.first_name}}, {{else}} Hi there, {{/if}}

Other examples:

• {{#if recipient.first_name}} Hi {{recipient.first_name}} → “Hi” or “Hi John”

• {{#if recipient.first_name = Gal}} Hello Gal {{else}} Hello {{/if}} → “Hello Gal” or “Hello”

Update placeholder text

Old format:

{{Insert some research about the customer}}

New format:

{Insert some research about the customer}

Using day-of-week conditions with field placeholders

You can use {{#is_wednesday}} to conditionally show content when the current date is Wednesday.

Example:

{{#is_wednesday}}
Hope your Wednesday’s going well.
{{/is_wednesday}}

You can also apply this logic to any date field, like the deal close date or a custom event date. For example:

{{#is_wednesday opportunity.close_date}}
Since your deal is closing this Wednesday, here’s everything you need to know.
{{/is_wednesday}}

This is helpful when you want to tailor your messaging based on the day of week of a specific event.

More example use cases:

• Current date is Wednesday → {{#is_wednesday}}

• Close date is Wednesday → {{#is_wednesday opportunity.close_date}}

• Meeting date is Wednesday → {{#is_wednesday meeting.start_time}}

Preview field placeholders

Get a real-time preview of how your field placeholders will look once sent.

While working on a flow, template, or block, click . Select a contact or lead, account, and deal to populate a preview based on your selection. If you make any changes to the content while previewing, refresh the preview.

Note that manual placeholders (text between single curly brackets) appear in the preview but must be removed or replaced before sending.

If field placeholders aren’t being replaced with actual values, try adjusting your recipient, account, or deal selection.