☝️ Please note these variables only work on Automated Journeys and Campaigns. Transactional emails have a different set of custom fields as they function differently.
You can use variables to insert data specific to your recipients into emails. Things such as your patient's first name, last appointment date, last practitioner's name and so much more.
Method 1: Insert their first name
While in the email builder - click the Insert button.
To insert the first name - click on Personalisation → First Name
This will correctly insert the first name stored for the recipient, no matter which list you're sending an email to.
If you're emailing the Patient list
This method of inserting the first name will use the recipients actual first name stored on their Cliniko file.
If you want more control over which first name is used (for example, to use the preferred first name if one is set), keep reading below.
Method 2: Insert Cliniko or other custom field data
While in the email builder - click the Insert button.
To insert the first name - click on Custom fields > then select the custom field you'd like to insert from your chosen list.
⚠️ A note on first names (important for patient emails)
⚠️ A note on first names (important for patient emails)
If you are sending a campaign to your Patient list, you will see more first name fields under Custom Fields: see two first name fields:
Actual first name – the patient’s actual first name from Cliniko, even if a preferred name is set.
First name – the patient’s preferred first name (if one is set in Cliniko), else it will just be the regular first name.
It's better to use one of these options, over the Personalization > First Name method if emailing patients, and you have more granular control over which first name to use.
If using Personalization > First Name - this will pull the actual first name, not the preferred first name.
Can't see "Custom fields" in the insert dropdown?
Can't see "Custom fields" in the insert dropdown?
When editing a Campaign, the Custom Fields option will only appear in the “Insert” dropdown after you have selected your recipients.
This is because Custom Fields are list-specific. If no audience has been selected yet, Peptalkr does not know which list’s fields to display.
If you don’t see “Custom Fields”:
Scroll down to the “To” section
Click Select recipients
Choose your list or segment
Re-open the email editor
You will now see “Custom Fields” available under Insert.
🧪 How to test / preview variables before sending
On the Campaigns tab, open the campaign settings screen by clicking the name of your Campaign
Ensure you have selected a segment or list to send your email to, by selecting recipients in the "To" section:
Click 'Preview' in the top right corner:
Select a real recipient from the dropdown:
Scroll down to preview how your variables will look for that person:
💌 How to insert a variable into an email sender details / subject line
Both Campaigns and Automated Journeys can also use variables for the email sender name.
This is helpful if you want to customise the sender name, email or reply email based on the business or practitioner you'd like to present as the sender.
Sender name
For example, you can use any of the following variables, but you must include a fallback:
[LastBusinessVisited, fallback="My Clinic"]- useful when sending an email to patients with a past appointment history.[NextAppointmentBusiness fallback="My Clinic"]- useful when sending an email to patients who have not yet attended an appointment.[PrimaryPractitioner, fallback="My Clinic"]- useful when sending an email from the practitioner a patient has most often seen.
You MUST replace "My Clinic" with whatever fallback you wish to use if we cannot dynamically insert data for some reason (i.e. we don't have that data for a particular recipient). Keep the quotation marks, just replace what's between them.
Sender email
It's not possible to use a variable for the sender or reply email - use a verified, generic email of your business.
List of variables
Every Cliniko account will have it's own unique set of variables, all of which are directly accessible from within the email builder by using Insert > Custom Fields.
But you can also refer to this list for a quick reference of the variables you have available.
We strongly recommend you do not copy-paste from the list below - use the Insert tool shown above. This list is an example only.
Example of variables for Campaigns & Automations:
[firstname1][patientactualfirstname]*Uses actual first name (even if a preferred name is set)[email][DateofBirth][AttendedTypes]*A list of all appointment types a patient has attended[AttendedCategories]*A list of all appointment categories a patient has attended[PractitionersSeen]*A list of all practitioners a patient has seen[BookingLink]*The URL of your online booking page as entered on the Settings screen of your Peptalkr account.[BusinessesAttended]*A list of all businesses a patient has been to in your Cliniko account (if you have more than one)[MedicalAlerts]*A list of all medical alerts in that patient's Cliniko file[NextAppointment]*this is a date[NextAppointmentBusiness]*if you have multiple clinic locations, this will be the name of the clinic that was visited per your Cliniko settings.[LastAppointment]*this is a date[LastAppointment][LastPractitionerSeen][LastBusinessVisited]*if you have multiple clinic locations, this will be the name of the clinic that was visited per your Cliniko settings.[LastAppointmentType]*The actual name of the appointment booked per your Cliniko settings.[LastAppointmentCategory]*Such as Chiropractic or Physiotherapy - categories must be set up in Cliniko and assigned to each treatment type.[PostCode][MonthofBirth][Gender][TotalVisits][PrimaryPractitioner]*Practitioner this patient has seen the most over the last 10 visits.[
PrimaryTreatmentType] *Treatment category this patient has had the most over the last 10 visits.[NextAppointmentType][NextAppointmentCategory][NextAppointmentPractitioner][NextAppointmentLocation]
We also create a few more custom fields depending on which treatment categories you have loaded into Cliniko (e.g Chiropractic, Physiotherapy, Nutrition etc). Replace 'Chiropractic' in the below examples with the categories you have set up in Cliniko.
[Lastchiropracticpractitioner][Primarycategorypractitioner][Totalchiropracticvisits][Lastchiropracticappointment]
Creating segments inside your patient list
You can use custom fields to create segments too! If you have not created segments for each treatment category you offer, we recommend you do so for maximum potential when it comes to personalising your emails.