What’s the risk of broken personalization in automations?

Personalization failures have outsized negative impact:

Failure types: Broken merge tags: Merge tag code displayed literally. Missing data: Empty spaces where content should be. Wrong data: Incorrect values from data errors. Logic failures: Wrong dynamic content shown.

Consequences: Immediately destroys credibility. Makes email look like spam or scam. Erodes trust in brand competence. May generate complaints.

Causes: Missing fallback values for empty fields. Data sync failures leaving fields unpopulated. Incorrect field mapping in integration. Untested edge cases.

Prevention: Mandatory fallbacks for all merge fields. Testing with varied data states. Preview with actual recipient data. Monitoring for personalization errors post-send.

One broken personalization undoes the value of all correct ones. The error is what recipients remember.