<b>Merge tags aren't personalization</b>

<b>Merge tags aren't personalization</b>

Popular advice: drop {{first_name}} and {{company}} in to personalize at scale.

Myth. A name token doesn't make a message personal — it makes it <i>obviously</i> automated, especially when it misfires into "Hi {{first_name}}," or capitalizes a brand wrong. The reader knows a machine filled that blank.

It's not personalization, it's mail-merge cosplay. Real relevance is structural: the offer itself changes per segment, not just the greeting. If swapping one variable is your whole strategy, you built a smarter form letter, not a smarter pitch.