Message Placeholders

A placeholder is a small piece of text you insert into a message or template that Kanri replaces with a real value for each recipient when it’s sent, so “Hi {{member.first_name}}” becomes “Hi Alex” for one recipient and “Hi Jordan” for another.

Inserting a placeholder

While composing a message, a broadcast, or a template, type {{ in the subject or content editor to open a dropdown of every available placeholder. Selecting one inserts it as a small, non-editable chip in the text, so you can’t accidentally leave it half-typed or misspelled.

Available placeholders

Placeholder	Resolves to
school.name	Your school’s name
member.first_name	The member’s first name
member.last_name	The member’s last name
member.full_name	The member’s full name
member.email	The member’s email address
member.phone	The member’s phone number
contact.first_name	The contact’s first name
contact.last_name	The contact’s last name
contact.full_name	The contact’s full name
contact.email	The contact’s email address
contact.phone	The contact’s phone number

The contact.* placeholders only make sense when you’re messaging one of a member’s contacts rather than the member directly, for example a parent or guardian.

What happens if a placeholder can’t be resolved

If you’re messaging a raw email address or phone number that isn’t linked to any member or contact (for example, one you typed in directly rather than searching for a member), Kanri has no name or details to fill a placeholder in with. Rather than sending a message with a broken, unresolved {{...}} left in it, Kanri blocks the send and asks you to remove the placeholder or add that person as a member first.

This can’t happen for a broadcast, since every broadcast recipient is always a real member.

Next steps

• Send a message
• Send a broadcast
• Create a template