How to Use Reply Variables

Converge provides several built-in variables that automatically populate with data from the current conversation, customer, or agent. You don't need to configure these — they just work.

Available built-in variables:

• {{customer.first_name}} — The customer's first name (e.g., "John")
• {{customer.full_name}} — The customer's full name (e.g., "John Doe")
• {{customer.display_name}} — The customer's display name from their profile
• {{customer.email}} — Customer's email address
• {{customer.platform}} — Which platform they're messaging from (e.g., "telegram")
• {{employee.first_name}} — The agent's first name
• {{employee.full_name}} — The agent's full name
• {{company.name}} — Your company name from workspace settings

Why use variables: Variables make templates feel personal without manual effort. Instead of "Hello, thanks for contacting us", you get "Hi Sarah, thanks for contacting Acme Corp!" — much warmer and more professional.

Built-in variables cover common cases, but you can create your own for business-specific data. Go to Settings → Reply Variables to manage custom variables.

How to create a custom variable:

1. Click New Variable
2. Enter a Key — this is the variable name you'll use in templates (e.g., support_hours)
3. Enter a Value — this is what the variable resolves to (e.g., "Mon-Fri 9am-6pm EST")
4. Click Save

Examples of useful custom variables:

• {{support_phone}} — Your support phone number
• {{return_address}} — Address for returns
• {{pricing_url}} — Link to your pricing page
• {{response_time}} — Expected response time (e.g., "within 2 hours")

Variable scope: Custom variables are workspace-wide, meaning they work in any quick reply or auto-reply. They're shared across your team so everyone uses the same values.

Updating variables: If you change a variable's value, it immediately affects all templates that use it. This is great for keeping info up-to-date — update the phone number in one place, and all templates automatically use the new number.

When editing a quick reply or auto-reply, adding variables is simple. Type {{ (two curly braces) and a dropdown will appear showing all available variables.

Variable types in the dropdown:

• Built-in: Customer, agent, and company variables provided by Converge
• Custom: Variables your team created in Settings

Select a variable to insert it. The editor highlights variables in a different color so you can easily spot them in your message.

Example usage:

Hi {{customer.first_name}},

Thanks for reaching out to {{company.name}}!
Our support hours are {{support_hours}}.
You can expect a response within {{response_time}}.

Best,
{{employee.first_name}}

Resolves to:

Hi Sarah,

Thanks for reaching out to Acme Corp!
Our support hours are Mon-Fri 9am-6pm EST.
You can expect a response within 2 hours.

Best,
John

Nesting variables: Variables are simple text replacements — you can't nest them or use them in conditional logic. Each variable just resolves to its value.

Variables are resolved at send time — when you use a quick reply or auto-reply, Converge replaces all variable placeholders with actual values before the message is delivered to the customer.

How resolution works:

• Customer variables pull from the customer's profile data
• Company variables pull from your workspace settings
• Agent variables pull from the sending agent's profile
• Custom variables use the values you configured in Settings

Empty value handling: If a variable has no value (e.g., customer has no name on file), it resolves to an empty string. Make sure your message still reads well if a variable is empty — avoid templates that depend entirely on a variable having a value.

Common gotchas:

• Misspelled variables: If you type {{cutomer.first_name}} instead of {{customer.first_name}}, it won't resolve. The dropdown helps avoid this.
• Case sensitivity: Variables are case-sensitive. {{Customer.First_Name}} is different from {{customer.first_name}}.
• Braces must match: Always use two opening braces {{ and two closing braces }}. A single brace won't work.

Success indicator: When you insert a quick reply with variables and the preview shows a perfectly personalized message ready to send — with correct names, company info, and custom values — you've mastered reply variables.