Personalize your SMS messages with real-time data (data feeds)

Use dynamic data from external sources or API stored in your Brevo data feeds to personalize your SMS messages. You can include information like appointment dates, event details, account updates, service reminders, and more—any data provided in the feed to make your messages personalized and useful.

❗️ Important
The Data feed feature is only available from our Starter plan.

How does SMS personalization work?

SMS personalization works by adding variables to your SMS content. When the SMS is sent, these variables are automatically replaced with information relevant to each recipient.

SMS sent from Brevo SMS received by a recipient named John
datafeed_sms-variable-manual_en-us.png datafeed_sms-variable-picker-replaced_en-us.png

You can include different types of variables in your SMS messages:

Before you start

  • Make sure you’ve learned all about data feeds in our dedicated article About data feeds in Brevo.
  • Create the data feed that you will be using to personalize your SMS message. To learn more, check our dedicated article Create a data feed
  • Ensure your data feed contains concise data that fits within the SMS character limit. Indeed, when using personalization in SMS messages, since variables are replaced with actual values at the time of sending, the final character count may vary from the one displayed in the SMS editor. For example, "Hi, FIRSTNAME." might be estimated as 33 characters but it becomes 10 characters with "Hi, Paul." and 15 characters with "Hi, Alexander.".
  • You can insert data feed variables:
    • Using the { } Add Variable menu, or
    • [Advanced] Manually, using double curly brackets.

In what type of SMS messages can I use data feed variables?

Data feed variables can be used in: 

  • SMS campaigns sent from the Campaigns page
  • Promotional SMS and transactional SMS sent from an automation created in the new editor.

About data feed types and formatting in SMS messages

The type of data you can include in your SMS messages and their syntax depends on how you choose to insert your data feed:

Insert data feeds with {} Add variable menu [Advanced] Manually insert data feeds

The {} Add variable menu can be used to insert data feed with a flat, directly accessible structure with minimal nesting.

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By using the {} Add variable menu, you can fetch only data contained in the first-level items.
For example, in the data feed on the right, you can fetch only the data from the first Object, next_yoga_class. ➡️

datafeed_valid-picker_en-us.png

➡️ To insert more complex data, check the dedicated tab [Advanced] Manually insert data feeds.

Insert data feeds into your SMS messages

To help you understand how to insert data feeds into your SMS messages, we created a use case for illustration purposes that you can easily adapt to your needs: Send an upcoming yoga class alert to your recipients.

Open the tab corresponding to how you want to insert your data feed:

With Add variable menu [Advanced] Manually

In this use case, we want to send an SMS containing the next yoga class information such as name, location, date, and time. We will insert our data feed using the Add variable menu because this data is flat and directly accessible.

To insert data feed variables using the {} Add variable menu:

  1. Create an SMS campaign or an automation that contains the Send an SMS step. 
  2. In the Message or Content field, enter your SMS content and place your cursor where you want to insert your data feed variable.
  3. Click the { } Add variable icon and click Data feeds from the list.
  4. Select the data feed that contains the data you need for this SMS message. In our example, next_yoga_classes
    email_insert-variable-picker-sms_en-us.gif
  5. Select the variables you want to insert in your SMS message, and that will be replaced with their values at the time of sending. When the data feed variable is correctly inserted, an orange placeholder with its name will appear. In our example:
    • class_name which is the name of the next yoga class.
    • date and time which is the date and time at which the next yoga class will take place.
    • studio_location which is the place where the next yoga class will take place.
  6. (Optional) Apply filters to use a default value if the data feed is empty, or apply uppercase to your text, for example. To learn more, check our dedicated article Modify the formatting of your placeholders with filters.
  7. Finish the content of your SMS campaign and click Save
SMS sent from Brevo SMS received by a recipient named John
datafeed_sms-variable-manual_en-us.png datafeed_sms-variable-picker-replaced_en-us.png

⏭️ What's next? 

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo Agency partner.

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