Using field placeholders

Sales rep, Sales manager

Gong Engage*

Field placeholders (previously called variables) automatically pull in personalized data such as the recipient’s name or your job title, from Gong or your CRM. They help you personalize emails, flows, and templates faster and with less manual effort.

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

Examples:

{{opportunity.created_date}}

{{sender.first_name}}

Other types of placeholders include manual placeholders and custom or third-party field placeholders.

Manual placeholders are short text reminders for human input, not for system data. They use single curly brackets, like this: {Add your text here}

Manual placeholders appear in previews but must be replaced or deleted before sending.

Custom placeholders are fields you or your team define in Gong. Third-party placeholders come from integrations or other connected systems. They’re used when you want to pull in values from external tools or edit flow instances via APIs.

Where you can use field placeholders

You can use field placeholders in:

• Templates

• Blocks

• Flows

You can’t insert field placeholders directly in the email composer.

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

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}}

Error handling

When you add field placeholders in Engage, they’re validated automatically using different indications.

Underline colors indicate status:

• Purple underline = valid placeholder

• Red underline = invalid placeholder

Types of errors

• Missing or deleted fields: A field name is mistyped, or the field was removed from Gong or your CRM.

• Syntax errors: Missing a curly bracket or an error in a conditional statement such as if or else.

If you see an error and you’re not sure of its cause, check for variables inside URLs. There may be invalid field placeholders inside hyperlinks.

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.

*The features available to you depend on your company’s plan and your assigned seats.