Field merges
Overview
Use field merges to personalize your emails, forms, and landing pages using information from contact records, events, custom objects, or query string values. For example, use a field merge to add a contact's name to an email, pre-populate form fields with information you already have, or pass actionable data via hidden form fields to route contacts to appropriate sales representatives.
When editing your emails, forms, and landing pages, field merges are highlighted in yellow to distinguish them from normal text.
Please note that while there are multiple types of field merges in Eloqua, only contact filed merges function in Engage.
Keeping your field merge secure
Using URLs in a field merge can be a security risk. By default, when Oracle Eloqua attempts to insert the field merge, it removes any URLs while still inserting the remaining data. However, you can override this security feature when setting up the field merge.
Note: Contact My Oracle Support if you have concerns about the security of your data.
You also cannot use field merges to redirect URLs. For example:http://www.example.com/<field merge>/firstexample.com?param=moreparams&elqTrack=true
Where <field merge> is part of the redirect URL path. In this case, the link will not work.
Alternatively, field merges can be added to the query string. For example:http://www.example.com/secondexample.com?param=moreparams&myParam=<field merge>&elqtrack=true
Where <field merge> is part of the query string. In this case, the link will work.
Note: All field merges are HTML encoded by default. This may impact how data from contact records is displayed within your assets. For more information, see Query string validation or contact My Oracle Support for instructions on how to work with encoding on field merge values.
Types of field merges
Oracle Eloqua supports six types of field merges:
| Field merge type | Type of data merged | Example use case |
|---|---|---|
| Contact Fields | Standard data from a field in your contact record. | Populate a field with values from standard fields, such as First Name, Email Address, etc. |
| Account Fields | Account or company-specific data that can be applied across multiple contacts, all associated with that account. | Populate a field with information about a specific company such as Company Name, Company Address, etc. |
| Event Session Fields | Specifically pertains to Event session information; for example, specific session dates. | Populate a field with a specific session date. |
| Event Fields | Specifically pertains to Event fields, such as Event Title. | Populate a field with a webinar's URL. |
| Custom Object Fields | Data from a selected custom object field, based on precise criteria. | Populate a field with an individual's most recent purchase information. |
| Query String | A specific value pulled from the host landing page's URL, as configured using the Query String key you use. | Populate a field with a value derived from a query string key, such as the contact's originating source (i.e. did they arrive at the form/page from an email or via an ad?). |
Next steps
Creating field merges with contact or account fields
Creating field merges with custom objects
Creating field merges with event or event session fields
Creating field merges with query strings