Write message templates
Write the invitations, reminders and other messages Polzy sends, in your own words: create a template, insert people's names and the survey link with placeholders, preview it, and let Polzy draft or rewrite it.
On this page
A message template is the wording Polzy sends: the invitation a campaign sends, a workflow's thank-you, a reminder. Polzy ships built-in templates that work as they are; write your own when you want your voice, your subject line or a message for a particular campaign. This page covers the Templates page, every field of a template, the placeholders that fill in each person's details, and how a campaign or a workflow uses a template.
Templates are on Solo and up. Admins write and change them; Editors can open the page and read them. Each plan allows a number of your own templates, counted across all the organization's workspaces: 10 on Solo, 15 on Team, 50 on Business, unlimited on Enterprise. The built-in templates never count.
Before you start
- Know where it will be used. A template is written for one channel: Email, SMS or WhatsApp. SMS and WhatsApp templates need a plan that includes them (Business and up). See Channels.
- Know your fields. Besides name and survey link, a template can use any field your workspace keeps on people, such as department or plan. See People and contacts.
The Templates page
In the sidebar, open Surveys → Templates. Each row is one template:
| Column | What it shows |
|---|---|
| Template | Its name, with a Default tag on a built-in one, and its subject line underneath. |
| Trigger | When it is sent, in your own words — the When it is sent line of the template. |
| Channels | The channel it is written for. |
| Updated | When it last changed. |
| Status | Active or Inactive. |
Search by name with Search templates…, and narrow the list by Channels and Status. Click a row to open the template.
Write a template
- Click New message template. The panel opens on New template.
- Under Name, name it so you can find it in a campaign, such as "Quarterly pulse invitation".
- Under Channel, pick Email, SMS or WhatsApp.
- Under When it is sent, say in a few words when it goes out, such as "Invites the whole company to the quarterly pulse". This is the Trigger column on the list; it does not schedule anything.
- For email, write the Subject line — what the inbox shows first. SMS and WhatsApp have no subject.
- Write the Message. For email, choose Plain or HTML above it: HTML gives you a text editor with formatting, links and images.
- Click the placeholders under the message to insert people's details where the cursor is (see Placeholders). Always include
{{surveyLink}}in an invitation, or people have nothing to click. - Check Preview under the message, then click Create template.
The preview fills the placeholders with your own details ("· as Amira"), so you see exactly what a person receives.
Describe it instead. Click Describe one to Polzy at the top of the page, or Draft at the bottom of the panel, and say what the message is for — "Invite the engineering team to the quarterly survey". Polzy writes the subject and the message for the channel you picked, using your workspace's placeholders. Once there is text, the button reads Rewrite: say how it should change — shorter, warmer, more direct. Drafting uses AI credits.
Placeholders
A placeholder is a name in double braces that Polzy replaces with each person's own value when the message is sent. The chips under the message offer the ones your workspace has; hover one to see what it holds.
| Placeholder | Replaced with |
|---|---|
{{firstName}}, {{lastName}}, {{fullName}} | The person's name. |
{{email}} | Their email address. |
{{role}} | Their role in the workspace. |
{{workspaceName}} | The workspace's name. |
{{surveyTitle}} | The survey's title. |
{{surveyLink}} | The person's own link to the survey. |
{{campaignName}} | The campaign's name. |
{{estimatedMinutes}} | How many minutes the survey takes. |
{{expiryDate}} | When their link stops working, with the time zone. |
{{closingDate}} | When the survey stops taking answers. |
{{managerName}} | Their manager's name — only where the workspace keeps a reporting line. |
| Your own fields | Each field your workspace keeps on people, by its id, such as {{department}}. A list field gives the option's label. |
Write placeholders exactly as the chips show them, with two braces on each side. A placeholder with no value for someone — a field they have not filled in — is left empty.
Open, change and manage a template
Click a template to open it. At the top, Channels, Status (with a switch to make it active or inactive) and Updated (when, and by whom). Change the subject or the message and click Save template. The name, the channel and When it is sent are set when a template is created: to change them, duplicate it.
The ⋯ menu at the end of each row has:
- Edit. Opens the template.
- Duplicate. Makes a copy named "… (Copy)", inactive, to work from. A copy counts towards your plan's templates.
- Deactivate or Activate. An inactive template is no longer offered in a workflow's Send message step. A campaign or workflow that already uses it keeps sending it.
- Delete. Removes the template after you confirm.
Built-in templates
The templates marked Default come with Polzy and are used whenever nothing else is chosen: the survey invitation and reminder (email and SMS), the conversation messages, anonymous follow-ups, action assigned and overdue, and survey closing soon. They cannot be edited, switched off or deleted: open one and click Duplicate to start your own from it.
Where templates are used
- Campaigns. On a campaign's Delivery tab, pick a Template for the chosen channel. Without one, the built-in invitation is used. Each reminder can carry its own short message; without one, it reuses the invitation's wording. See Run a campaign.
- Workflows. The Send message step can use an active template, or the words written on the step. See Workflows.
Templates for Push can still be written, but Polzy does not send push notifications, so no campaign or workflow uses them. Slack has no templates: a Slack campaign sends the built-in wording.
Troubleshooting
| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| New message template carries a lock | The organization has as many templates as its plan allows. | Delete a template you no longer use, or upgrade. See Usage and limits. |
| SMS and WhatsApp are greyed under Channel | Your plan does not include text messages. | Upgrade to Business, or write an email template. |
| Could not save the template. | The name or the message is empty, or you are not an admin. | Fill in both; ask an admin to save it. |
| A campaign's Template list says no template has been written for this channel | There is no template for the campaign's channel. | Write one for that channel, or let the built-in wording go. |
A placeholder arrives as text, such as {firstName} | It has one brace instead of two, or a misspelt name. | Click the chip to insert it, rather than typing it. |
| A built-in template cannot be changed | Built-in templates are fixed. | Duplicate it and change the copy. |
Good to know
- Language. A template is sent as written, in the language you wrote it in. For people in several languages, write a template per language and run a campaign per audience.
- Unsubscribing. Polzy adds a line to stop campaign messages under each campaign email and text, in the person's language, so you do not write it into the template.
- What was sent. Messages shows each message as it went out, and Open template takes you to the template it came from.
Related articles
Signed-in members can ask Polzy or message the team from Support. How fast we reply depends on your plan.