I've searched MailChimp's help section and can't figure out how to do something ... hoping someone can give me simple instructions since I'm brand new to email blasting:

I want each email to include the recipient's first name in the subject and in the body of the email. I'm researching merge tags. In my Campaign Info, I have selected the checkbox to personalize the To field with *|FNAME|* so their personal email address will show up as the recipient, but I can't find anything about personalizing subject and body.

Does anyone have experience with this who could lend a hand?

Hello,

It looks like you can place something like, "*|TITLE:FNAME|*" (remove quotes) in the body of your email for this to wrok. Generally speaking, the same should work for the subject too. At least that is my experience with other mail programs, the personalization tags should work the same in both the body, as in the subject. You can always send yourself a test message to ensure it works as you want it.

Keep in mind, that if you don't have the first name of all of your subscribers on your list, there will be a blank then where the First Name should be. So, you would also want to be sure there is a pre-defined value for cases where first name is not available, like "XYZ Newsletter Reader"

You should download the "How to use Merge Tags" PDF by Mail Chimp, if you haven't already. It goes into the above in detail (except for the subject line, but I would just use the same tag in the subject and see if it works, like I said I suspect it will). I found the guide by logging into my account and searching for "personalization" in the help section.

__________________
Darlene Victoria Gonzalez
The Voice & Vision Behind Your Business

Simply use that same merge tag within your subject line and anywhere in the body of the e-mail where you want their first name to appear. MailChimp has a listing of their merge tags and usually they have a link right on the page where you are creating the subject line and body content, etc.

...and now that I notice Darlene's response, she gives excellent advice too, the Mailchimp pdf on how to use merge tags is great!

__________________
~Tina Marie Hilton of Clerical Advantage
& founder of VA Survival School