A placeholder, also called a merge field or variable, is text in a survey's rating links that your sending tool replaces when it sends the email. It can fill in a customer's email address, a ticket ID or a team member's name. When a customer clicks a rating, Simplesat uses those details to attach the response to the right customer, ticket and team member.

How placeholders work

Placeholders belong to external email embed, where you paste Simplesat's code into an email that another tool sends, such as a helpdesk, CRM, marketing or signature tool. Web embed surveys don't use them. Those are covered in Web embed surveys.

Each rating choice in the email is its own link, called a rating link. Simplesat writes the parameter names into it, such as customer_email=, and after each = goes a placeholder in your sending tool's own syntax, since the tool only replaces placeholders it recognizes.

Here's how a few tools write the customer's email address:

Tool	Placeholder for the customer's email
Zendesk	`{{ticket.requester.email}}`
ConnectWise Tickets	`[contactemail]`
Halo PSA	`$USEREMAILADDRESS`
ServiceNow	`${caller_id.email}`
Squarespace Scheduling	`%email%`

A Zendesk rating link, first in the code and then in the email the customer receives:

…/{{ticket.id}}/?source=zendesk&customer_email={{ticket.requester.email}}&customer_first_name={{ticket.requester.first_name}}&…
…/48213/?source=zendesk&[email protected]&customer_first_name=Jane&…

In the sent link, 48213 is the ticket ID, and it decides whether a click counts as new. When someone submits again for the same survey and ticket ID, Simplesat updates the existing response instead of adding another. Without a ticket ID, each click creates a separate response.

Supported parameters

Simplesat reads these parameters from a rating link:

Parameter	What it carries	Field on Generic Embed
Ticket ID (in the path, not a parameter)	The ticket ID	Ticket details → Ticket ID
`source`	The destination you chose on the Publish tab, such as `zendesk` or `generic_embed`. Added to every link	None
`customer_email`	The customer's email address	Customer details → Email address
`customer_id`	The customer's ID in your tool	Customer details → Customer ID
`customer_first_name`	The customer's first name	Customer details → First name
`customer_last_name`	The customer's last name	Customer details → Last name
`company_name`	The customer's company	Customer details → Company name
`team_member_email`	The team member's email address	Team member details → Email address
`team_member_id`	The team member's ID in your tool	Team member details → Team member ID
`team_member_first_name`	The team member's first name	Team member details → First name
`team_member_last_name`	The team member's last name	Team member details → Last name
`ticket_subject`	The ticket's subject	Ticket details → Ticket subject
`t_`name	A ticket field you name	Ticket details → Group sends `t_group`
`tm_`name	A team member field you name	None

Keep source as generated. If Simplesat doesn't recognize its value, the click records no rating.
A ticket_id parameter after the ? is ignored.
language is read too, for multilingual surveys.
Every other parameter is dropped: it isn't saved, and it doesn't show anywhere in Simplesat. To send a value of your own, use a t_ or tm_ field (see Custom ticket and team member fields).

Placeholders by tool

If your tool has its own row, choose it as the survey's destination on the Publish tab, and Simplesat puts that tool's placeholders into the code for you. For a tool that isn't listed, use the Generic Embed destination and type the placeholders in yourself (see Fill in Rating placeholders on Generic Embed).

Each row shows the values that tool's code includes. Some tools also add ticket fields of their own, which the table leaves out. The Intercom row describes the code for Intercom's Send as text option. Its Send as an app option has no rating-link placeholders.

To change one of a named tool's placeholders, edit it in the copied code and leave the parameter names alone. Each rating choice has its own link, so edit every one.

Tool	Customer details	Team member details	Ticket details
Generic Embed	What you fill in	What you fill in	What you fill in
Accelo Projects	Email, first and last name, company	ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Accelo Tickets	Email, first and last name, company	ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Active Campaign	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	None
Aircall	None	None	None
Atera	Email, first and last name	Email	ID, subject
Autotask Projects	Email, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Autotask Tickets	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
AWeber	Email, first and last name	None	None
Briskine	Email, first name, company	Email, ID	Subject
Bullhorn ATS	Email, first and last name, company	None	None
Bullhorn Automation (herefish)	Email, first and last name	Email, first name	None
Calendly Managed Events	Email, first name	ID	Subject
Calendly Workflow	Email, first name, company	ID	Subject
CodeTwo	Email	Email, first and last name	None
ConnectWise Projects	Email, ID, first and last name, company	ID, first and last name	ID, subject
ConnectWise Tickets	Email, ID, first and last name, company	ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Constant Contact	Email, first and last name, company	None	None
Crisp	None	None	ID
Drip	Email, first and last name	Email, first name	Subject
Easy Redmine	Email, first and last name	Email	ID, subject
eDesk	Email, ID, first and last name	First and last name	ID
Exclaimer for G Suite	Email	Email, first and last name	Subject
Exclaimer for Office 365	Email	Email, first and last name	Subject
Freshdesk	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Freshsales	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, first name	ID
Freshservice	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Front	Email, first and last name	Email, ID, first and last name	ID
Gladly	None	None	ID
Gorgias	Email, ID, first and last name	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Halo PSA	Email, first and last name	ID, first name	ID, subject
Halo Service Desk	Email, first and last name, company	ID, first name	ID, subject
Help Scout	Email, first and last name	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
HelpDesk	Email, first name	ID, first name	ID, subject
HubSpot Email and Marketing Hub	Email, ID, first and last name, company	None	None
HubSpot Service Hub	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Inserve	Email, first and last name, company	First and last name	ID, subject
Intercom	Email, ID, first and last name, company	None	None
Jira Service Desk	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first name	ID, subject
Kaseya BMS	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Kayako	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Keap	Email, first and last name	Email, first and last name	Subject
Klaviyo	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, first name	Subject
Kustomer	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first name	ID, subject
LiveAgent	Email, first and last name	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
LogMeIn Rescue	None	None	None
Mailchimp	Email, ID, first and last name	ID	Subject
Maileon	Email, ID, first and last name, company	None	Subject
Mailmodo	Email, first and last name, company	None	None
ManageEngine ServiceDesk Plus MSP	Email, ID, company	ID	ID, subject
Microsoft Dynamics 365	Email, ID, first and last name	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Missive	Email, first and last name	Email, first and last name	ID
Monday.com	Email	None	ID
Naverisk	Email, first and last name, company	Email, ID	ID, subject
NinjaOne	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Odoo Helpdesk	None	None	ID
Odoo Sales	None	None	ID
osTicket	Email, first and last name	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Outreach	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	None
Q360	Email, ID, first name, company	Email, ID	ID, subject
RangerMSP	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
RedmineUP	None	None	ID
RepairShopr	Email, first name, company	ID	ID, subject
Salesforce Cases	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Salesforce Chat	Email, ID, first and last name	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Salesforce Classic (Opportunities)	Company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Salesforce Marketing Cloud	Email, first and last name	Email, ID, first name	None
ServiceNow	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Shopify	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, first name	ID, subject
Solarwinds	Email, first and last name	First name	Subject
Spiceworks	Email, ID, first and last name	Email, ID, first name	ID, subject
Sprout Social	None	None	None
Squarespace Scheduling	Email, first and last name	None	ID, subject
Sugar CRM	Email, ID, first and last name, company	None	ID, subject
SuiteCRM	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
Symprex	None	Email, first and last name	None
Syncro	Email, first name, company	ID, first name	ID, subject
Tigerpaw	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
TOPdesk Changes	Email, first and last name, company	First and last name	ID, subject
TOPdesk Incidents	Email, first and last name, company	First and last name	ID, subject
Totara Learn	Email, ID, first and last name, company	First name	Subject
Trengo	Email, company	ID, first and last name	ID
Vorex	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject
WHMCS	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
WiseStamp	None	Email, first name	None
Xink	None	Email, first and last name	None
Xurrent	Email, first name, company	None	ID, subject
Zendesk	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
Zendesk Chat	Email, ID, first and last name, company	Email, ID, first and last name	ID, subject
ZenMaid	Email, first and last name, company	Email	None
Zoho Desk	Email, first and last name, company	Email, first and last name	ID, subject

Fill in Rating placeholders on Generic Embed

Your tool's own documentation lists its placeholders. Supported parameters shows which parameter each field fills.

On the survey's Publish tab, choose External email embed as the delivery method, then Generic Embed in the Choose where to add your survey list. If the survey is already set to another tool, the tab shows that tool's panel instead. To switch it, change the delivery method first: remove it, then choose External email embed and Generic Embed.
In the Rating placeholders section, type your tool's placeholder into each field you want filled, exactly as your tool writes it. Every field starts empty, and empty fields are left out of the link without a warning.
Click the Generate embed code button. In the Copy your embed code window, click the Copy survey button and paste the code into your tool.

Generating the code saves the fields. Text you type that isn't a placeholder goes into every link as written, the same for every customer.

Heads up: Changing a field doesn't update code you've already pasted. Generate the code again and replace it in your tool.

Custom ticket and team member fields

You can also send fields you name yourself, as long as the parameter starts with t_ or tm_.

t_name=value becomes a ticket field called name on that response's ticket, shown in the response's details with the rest of the ticket details. Simplesat creates the field the first time it arrives.
tm_name=value is saved on the team member, not the response, and each new value replaces the last one across all of that team member's responses. It's saved only when the same link also includes the team member's email or ID.

Any name works after the prefix, such as t_jobtitle or tm_role. Simplesat uses the name exactly as sent, so t_group and t_ticketGroup are two different fields.

To add one, put &t_name=value or &tm_name=value at the end of every rating link in the copied code. The value can be one of your tool's placeholders or fixed text. With &t_region=EMEA, for example, every response's ticket gets a region field set to EMEA.

Heads up: Simplesat doesn't encode the values in the link. If your tool doesn't encode a value it fills in, an & or # in that value cuts off the rest of the link. Long free text and web addresses can contain both.

When a placeholder isn't filled in

Send the code from anything other than the tool its placeholders belong to, and the placeholders arrive as their own text. This is what Simplesat does with a value that arrives unfilled:

Value the tool didn't fill in	What happens
Customer email	Anything that isn't a valid email address is discarded, whether that's the placeholder's own text, an encoded placeholder or nothing at all. The response has no customer.
Ticket ID	If your tool's ticket ID placeholder has no `#` in it, the rating link opens a page that says "There's no rating to provide at this URL." A link from the Link output fails with a not-found error instead.
Names, company, ticket subject, `t_` fields	Saved as whatever text arrived. With a valid customer email in the link, an unfilled first-name placeholder is saved as the customer's first name, such as `{{ticket.requester.first_name}}`.

On Generic Embed, an unfilled email placeholder also stops the customer information question from showing.

Tip: Your tool's template shows the placeholders, not what replaces them. To see what a customer gets, check the link in a sent email.

Troubleshooting

My placeholders come through empty, or as their own text

Check the link in a sent email, not the template. Then look for the cause:

On Generic Embed, the field was empty when you generated the code. Fill it in, generate the code again and replace it in your tool.
Your tool didn't fill in the placeholder. See When a placeholder isn't filled in.
Your tool's code doesn't include that value. Check its row in Placeholders by tool.
An & or # in an earlier value cut off the rest of the link.

If a response has a random-looking 11-character ticket ID, the link had no ticket ID in it.

My responses come in as Anonymous

Simplesat attaches a response to a customer by their email address. A name alone isn't enough. Look for these:

On Generic Embed, the Customer details → Email address field was empty.
Your tool didn't fill in its email placeholder, or filled in something that isn't an email address.
Your destination doesn't send a customer email at all. That's Aircall, Crisp, Gladly, LogMeIn Rescue, Odoo Helpdesk, Odoo Sales, RedmineUP, Salesforce Classic (Opportunities), Sprout Social, Symprex, WiseStamp and Xink.

For how Simplesat matches each response to people and tickets, see Attribution: linking feedback to tickets, customers and agents.

My rating links show as plain text or code

The HTML output went into a field that doesn't display HTML. Paste it somewhere your tool accepts HTML, or use the Visual output. Only some destinations offer Visual. For the rest, the Copy your embed code window offers HTML and Link.

My link opens a page that says "There's no rating to provide at this URL"

One cause is a ticket ID placeholder your tool didn't fill in, which leaves text such as {{ticket.id}} where the ticket ID should be. It happens when the code is sent by something other than the tool its placeholders belong to. Check the link in a sent email.

I passed a custom parameter and nothing appears in the response

Simplesat drops any parameter that isn't in Supported parameters and doesn't start with t_ or tm_. The prefix has to be exactly t_, so ticket_priority isn't saved.
A tm_ field goes on the team member, not the response, and only when the link also includes the team member's email or ID.
Empty values are skipped.
An integration that pulls ticket details from your tool into Simplesat replaces the response's ticket fields with the ones it reads, every time it runs, so the t_ fields that came in on the link are removed.

FAQ

What is a placeholder, and which ones do I use for my tool?

A placeholder is text in a rating link that your sending tool replaces with a real value. If your tool is in Placeholders by tool, choose it as the destination and its placeholders go into the code for you. If it isn't, find its placeholders in the tool's own documentation and type them into the Rating placeholders section on Generic Embed. In the link itself, the ticket ID placeholder sits in the path, before the ?, and every other placeholder comes right after its parameter's =.

What is the Rating placeholders section for?

It holds the values Generic Embed writes into every rating link. With your tool's placeholders in it, each email's link identifies who it went to and which ticket it's about. Left empty, responses arrive with no customer or team member, and each click is a new response.

Which URL parameters does Simplesat support, and what happens to the rest?

Everything in Supported parameters, plus language. Any other parameter isn't saved.

How do I add a field to the link, including a custom ticket or team member field?

For one of the supported values, fill in its field on Generic Embed. With a named tool, add the parameter and your tool's placeholder to every rating link in the copied code. For anything else, add a t_ or tm_ field to every link, as described in Custom ticket and team member fields. A tm_ field is saved on the team member, and only when the link includes the team member's email or ID.

Can I pass a field that isn't on the list, such as a job title or role?

Yes, as t_jobtitle or tm_role. Customer fields are the exception. The link sets only the customer's email, ID, first and last name, and company, so put any other customer detail you need in a t_ field on the ticket. And don't use company_name for team member data, since Simplesat saves it as the customer's company.

Can I get a unique survey link per customer without creating a survey per customer?

Yes. One survey serves everyone, and the placeholders give each email's link its own customer and ticket. With a ticket ID in the link, a customer who submits again through the same link updates their response.

Can I prefill customer or ticket details in the survey?

Yes. On Generic Embed, fill in the Rating placeholders section and the details arrive with each rating. If you choose a named tool instead, Simplesat puts that tool's placeholders into the code for you.

How do I prefill the placeholders so my customers aren't asked for their details?

On Generic Embed, the survey skips the customer information question when the link includes a customer email. Put your tool's placeholder for the recipient's address in Customer details → Email address. The question asks for name and email together, so skipping it skips both.

A made-up fixed address won't make responses anonymous. Every response would be saved under one customer with that address. To never ask, turn off the Show question if customer info isn't already associated with the answer setting on the Configure tab. Named tools never show the question.

Can I keep customers' personal details out of Simplesat?

Leave the Customer details and Team member details groups empty on Generic Embed, and fill in only the Ticket ID field with your tool's placeholder. The links then send the ticket ID and no personal details. To stop the survey page asking customers for them, also turn off Show question if customer info isn't already associated with the answer on the Configure tab.

A named tool's links send the values listed for it in Placeholders by tool. If you also have an integration that pulls ticket details from your tool, it writes the requester's and the assignee's name and email onto each response, whatever the links carry, along with the ticket's ID, subject, priority, type, group and custom fields. Using Generic Embed instead keeps those details out, but it has a cost: integrations set to the Every response from Zendesk surveys option, or your tool's equivalent, don't run on a Generic Embed survey, so they stop for it.

How do I know who filled it out if I send a generic link?

A Generic Embed link with empty fields tells Simplesat nothing about who clicked. Put your tool's email placeholder in Customer details → Email address, or leave Show question if customer info isn't already associated with the answer on so the survey page asks for a name and email.

Can I use my helpdesk's placeholders in Simplesat's intro, outro or subject?

No. Your helpdesk fills in its placeholders only in emails it sends. Simplesat's own survey emails have placeholders of their own, in a menu on the Intro text and Outro text fields. The subject takes none. Which ones you get depends on the survey type:

One-off and ongoing surveys: First name and Company.
Event-based surveys: Customer first name, Company, Team member first name, Ticket ID and Ticket subject.

They're covered in Direct email surveys.

Can I add a field to a response after the customer has rated, without changing the embed code?

Yes, through the API. It can update an existing response's customer, ticket fields and team members. Ticket fields sent this way replace all of the response's existing ones. See API & webhooks.

Can I attach extra data to a response without putting it in the link?

Three routes skip the link:

A web embed survey's script takes customer.custom_attributes and ticket.custom_attributes.
An event-based survey's send request can include team member and ticket custom attributes, which arrive as tm_ and t_ fields.
The API can update a response after it arrives.

Can I capture the customer's details in a Gmail signature survey?

Not with a plain Gmail signature. It uses Generic Embed, and its link is the same in every email, so the customer information question on the survey page is what asks customers for their name and email. To capture the recipient's email address, manage the signature with Exclaimer for G Suite and choose it as the destination. Its code includes a placeholder for the recipient's email. The same goes for CodeTwo and Exclaimer for Office 365. Signatures are covered in External email embed.

Placeholders and merge fields