Zendesk Placeholders, In Practice

The difference between a macro that reads as personal and one that reads as a form letter is usually four Zendesk placeholders and one conditional.

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How Zendesk placeholders work

Placeholders are references to ticket, user or organization data, written in double curly braces and replaced when the message is sent. Zendesk supports Liquid markup on top, so you can add conditionals and loops rather than just substituting values.

They work in macros, triggers, automations, email templates and dynamic content, which is what makes them worth learning once properly.

The ones you will use constantly

{{ticket.requester.first_name}} for a greeting that doesn't say "Dear Customer".

{{ticket.id}} and {{ticket.title}} for references the customer can quote back.

{{ticket.assignee.name}} so a reply is signed by a person.

{{ticket.organization.name}} for B2B support where the account matters.

{{ticket.ticket_field_<id>}} to pull a custom field value into a reply.

Guarding against blanks

The classic failure is a customer with no first name receiving "Hi ," at the top of your reply. Liquid conditionals fix it:

{% if ticket.requester.first_name %}Hi {{ticket.requester.first_name}},{% else %}Hi there,{% endif %}

Do the same for organization and any custom field that isn't mandatory. Test with a ticket that has none of them populated, because that's the ticket your worst-case customer will send.

FAQ

Frequently asked questions

When should a placeholder be Zendesk dynamic content instead?

When the text changes by language or brand. A placeholder inserts a value from the ticket; Zendesk dynamic content inserts a phrase you've written, translated per language, which is what stops you maintaining one macro per market.

Can I use conditionals in Zendesk placeholders?

Yes, through Liquid markup, which is how you avoid empty greetings and blank references.

Do placeholders work in automations as well as macros?

Yes, in macros, triggers, automations, email templates and dynamic content.