The 60-second version
Create a value with a name and the text it stands for. Exabloom makes a key from the name, like booking_link. When you write a message, pick the value from the variable menu (it inserts {{custom_value.booking_link}}) and it is replaced with your text on send.
Values vs fields
This is the one thing to get straight, because the names are similar but they do opposite jobs.
One fixed snippet for the whole workspace: a link, an address, opening hours. Change it once and every message that uses it updates.
A piece of data stored on each contact: their name, their child’s name, their plan. Resolves to that person’s own value.
Create a custom value
Open Settings, then Custom Values
Click New Custom Value
Fill in the two boxes and save
This value will be substituted exactly as written wherever the key is used.
- Name is required. It is also what people see in the variable menu when they insert the value later.
- Value is inserted exactly as written, with no extra formatting.
Copy its key when you need it
Saving adds a row. The key is built from the name: lower-cased, spaces turned into underscores, anything else dropped. “Booking link” becomes booking_link. If that key is already taken, the new one gets _1, then _2, and so on.
Drop it into a message
The easiest place is a workflow’s message. Open the action, click the tag icon above the message, and choose the value. It lands as a chip, so you can’t mistype the key. (You can also type / in the message and search for it.) The workflow editor takes over the whole window, so the sidebar is gone; that’s deliberate.
Click the tag icon above the message
Pick Custom Value, then the value
The chip is filled in when the message goes out, not when you save the workflow:
Hi First Name, book your free trial here: Booking link
Edit, delete, or let a workflow update one
Hover a row and two icons appear on the right. The pencil opens the same dialog as before, titled Edit Custom Value; you can change the name and the text, but not the key. The bin asks you to confirm.
Are you sure you want to delete Booking link?
All workflows utilizing this key will stop functioning correctly. This action cannot be undone.
Custom values can also be changed by a workflow. The Update Custom Value action (under Data manipulation) lets a workflow overwrite the text of one or more values, using text you type or variables from earlier steps. Use it for things that change over time, like today’s promo, and remember the new text is what every later message will send.
Setups to copy
Store your scheduling URL as Booking link. Insert it from the variable menu in every workflow message and broadcast. Change the link once and every message that has not gone out yet uses the new one.
Keep your address, opening hours, or hotline as custom values so every message says the exact same thing, with zero typos.
Park a campaign line in one value and reference it from several workflows. When the promo ends, edit the value once instead of hunting down every message.
Good to know & pitfalls
- Values are global, not personal. Every contact who gets a message with the same custom value sees the identical text. For per-person details, use a contact field instead.
- The key is made from the name, once. Renaming a value later does not change its key, so messages that already use it keep working. To get a different key, create a new value.
- Edit once, everywhere updates. Changing a value’s text changes what every message sends from then on, including scheduled and workflow messages that have not gone out yet. That is the point, but check before you edit.
- Substituted exactly as written. No formatting is added: what you type in the Value box is what lands in the message, character for character. Multi-line text is fine.
- A workflow can change a value too. If a workflow has an Update Custom Value action, the text you saved may not be the text that is there now. Check your workflows before you trust it.
- Deleting a value leaves its placeholder behind. A message that still contains
{{custom_value.<key>}}for a deleted key is not filled in, and the raw placeholder text can reach the customer. Remove or replace it first.
Need a hand?
Our Singapore-based team is one message away - happy to help you get set up.