Quick tipFix itMarketing Hub

HubSpot personalization token defaults: stop 'Hi ,' in your emails

A contact with no first name gets 'Hi ,' unless a default is set. HubSpot keeps the defaults in one tab.

Subscription
All tiers with marketing email; tokens on pages need Content Hub Professional or Enterprise
Permissions
Account settings access
Time
4 min · Beginner
Last verified

Short answer

In Settings, Marketing, Email, the Personalization tab sets default values for contact, company, and owner property tokens across all email types. HubSpot says if no default is set, the token appears blank. Each token in an email can also have its own fallback, which overrides the global default. Pages have separate defaults under Content settings.

1. The Personalization tab

Open email personalization settings. The page says these apply to all email types.

Email Personalization tab with Contact, Company, and Owner property defaults highlighted
The Personalization tab (1) and the three default groups (2).

2. How defaults and fallbacks work

  • Global defaults: one value per property, used whenever a contact has no value.
  • Fallbacks per token: set when inserting a token in an email. They override the global default for that email, which helps with other languages.
  • HubSpot notes that tokens in marketing emails must have a fallback value.
  • Company tokens use the contact's primary company only.

For tokens in sales templates, see sales email templates.

Sources

New field notes by email

One email when a new article publishes.

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