When (First Name) is missing from a contact, a fallback field should be included so variable personalization can work effectively.

So:

Hi Mike! << when contact name included

or

Hi friend! << when contact name is missing

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Without Fallback: “Hi {{first_name}}, check your account.” → becomes “Hi , check your account.”

With Fallback Coding: “Hi {{first_name | fallback: 'there'}}, check your account.” → becomes “Hi there, check your account.”

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(I've spent hours trying to get a smooth, natural, easy workflow to gather a simple name associated with an opt-in. Beyond frustrating. It should not have been as hard as it was, but I finally found something that works.

Still, collecting (First/Last name) – as easy as I've made it post opt-in – is not 100%. I still have a few outlier phone numbers without contact information.

So if I ever want to send a group text using personalization, it becomes awkward - without a fallback variable - which literally every other platform I've ever used that has variable personalization includes as an option.

Thank you for considering this.)