Placeholders are the variables in a message. A campaign or automation is written once, with tokens like {{firstName}} or {{points}} where member-specific values belong, and at send time each member's own data fills them in. "You have {{points}} points waiting" becomes a different, true sentence for every recipient.
The values come from the program's member state, the same data the pass itself displays: name, points, stamps, tier, and custom attributes synced from the CRM. That shared source matters, because a personalized message and the pass it arrives on should never disagree; a message announcing 1,200 points above a pass showing 1,200 points reads as one system telling the truth.
In a message editor, placeholders typically appear as chips rather than raw braces, which keeps them from being mangled mid-token while editing. Two practices keep them trustworthy. First, mind the fallback: a message that renders "Hi {{firstName}}" or "Hi ," to members with missing data has leaked its plumbing, so define what happens when a value is absent. Second, personalize with data the member gave the program knowingly; a message that reveals surprising knowledge reads as surveillance, not service.
Used well, placeholders are what separate messaging from broadcasting: combined with segments, they let one composed message arrive as thousands of individually accurate ones.