How to

How to write a message template with merge fields

"Hi Margaret" reads better than "Dear member", and nobody is typing 300 names. A message template is the text of an email, text message or voice call, written once. Merge fields are the parts that change per person, like {{Contact.FirstName}}, and BasicBMS fills them in for each recipient as the message goes out. Templates are what blasts send.

Steps

1. Open Communication → Message Templates and click New Template.

2. Enter a Name: your office will recognize ("Overdue Reminder") and pick the Channel:: Email, SMS or Voice.

3. For email, fill in Subject:.

4. Write the Body:. Email gets a real editor with two tabs: Rendered (bold, italic, underline, lists, links) and Source (the HTML itself). Write in whichever you like; HTML you write by hand isn't rewritten by switching tabs.

5. Put the cursor where a name should go and click a badge under Merge fields — click to insert, filled per recipient at send:. The field drops in at the cursor.

6. Tick Active: and click Save.

7. On a blast, pick this template and check the Message Preview. Known fields show as blue badges; a misspelled one shows amber.

The fields.

Field	Fills in
{{Contact.FirstName}}	The contact's first name
{{Contact.LastName}}	The contact's last name
{{Contact.FullName}}	First and last name
{{Customer.Name}}	The customer's name
{{DistributionGroup.Salutation}}	The salutation on the group member, such as "Margaret" or "Smith Family"
{{Date.Today}}	The send date, written out ("October 14, 2026")
{{Recipient.Email}}	The address it's going to (email; {{Recipient.Phone}} for text and voice)

{{Date.Today}} is the day the message actually goes out, in your company's time zone. A blast scheduled tonight for tomorrow morning says tomorrow.

An example. A meeting notice, written once:

Subject: Board meeting moved, {{Customer.Name}}

Body: Hi {{DistributionGroup.Salutation}}, as of {{Date.Today}} the October board meeting has moved to Thursday at 6 pm in the district office.

Margaret Smith's copy opens "Hi Margaret, as of October 14, 2026 the October board meeting has moved…", and every other member gets their own name.

Empty is blank, never raw. A field with no value, or one the app doesn't know, comes out blank. Recipients never see {{...}}. {{DistributionGroup.Salutation}} is the safe greeting: every group member has one.

Names with symbols are safe. A customer named "Smith & Sons" or anything with a < in it is inserted as text, so it can't break the email's formatting.

What posts behind it

Nothing. Templates are text; nothing reaches the ledger.

When it won’t let you

The template screen refuses very little. The things to watch:

Email isn't in the Channel list. Email isn't set up for your company yet.

An amber badge in the preview. The field name is misspelled or isn't one of the seven above. It will send blank. Fix it from the badges rather than typing.

Stuck on this one? Call (509) 955-0770 and we'll walk through it with you.