# Global Default value first name **URL:** \ **Category:** Email Marketing Tool\ **Tags:** starter\ **Created:** [March 11, 2023, 10:52am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982 "2023-03-11T10:52:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 10:52am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/1 "2023-03-11T10:52:57Z")
Hi Everyone, I want to set my global default value to pick out the first name of every contact in my mailing list. This is because every mail i send, be it in workflow or personal i want it to always pick the first name in the list of contacts. Is there a code i need to insert to make this universal? Thanks A ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 11:01am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/2 "2023-03-11T11:01:57Z")
Hi @AMbeboh, Could you provide a bit more context, how would you like to use this first name? Do you want to personalize your salutation, e.g. “Hi FIRSTNAME”? If so, you can follow these steps to include a personalization token for the first name in your emails: [Use personalization tokens](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/website-pages/personalize-your-content) Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 11:58am UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/3 "2023-03-11T11:58:54Z")
Hi Karsten - yes i do want to personalise my salutation for every contact that gets the email. THe problem at the moment is, the personalisation token for first name only ask that you insert a value which for instance is the name for a recipient. What that means is when i nsert Dave as the value, Paul ltom and john (who are part of the mailing list) will all receive ‘Hi Dave’ as the salutation. Which isn’t ideal. This is the same for workflows and individual emails. I would like to create a global default token that when applied will automatically know that it has to pick up the first name of every contact in the mailing list. I hope this is possible. A ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:13pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/4 "2023-03-11T12:13:18Z")
Hi @AMbeboh, I think there may be a misunderstanding. First off, yes, you can specify a first name default value: [Create default values for personalization tokens](https://knowledge.hubspot.com/email/how-do-i-create-default-values-for-my-personalization-tokens) **However** , you can not specify that HubSpot should automatically add the contact’s first name here. The reason why the default value is displayed to begin with is because HubSpot does not know the first name of the contact. The default value is only shown when _First name_ is unknown. When you add a _First name_ personalization token to your email, e.g. “Hi FIRSTNAME”, HubSpot will look up and display whatever it finds in the _First name_ field. If that field is however empty, HubSpot will display a default. You could set that default to be “customer”, “recipient”, “reader”, for example. But you can’t say that it should be the first name because that is apparently not available. If you have the first name stored in another field, you would have to make sure that you move that information into the actual _First name_ field. Let me know if you have any follow-up questions! ---
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 2:35pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/5 "2023-03-11T14:35:34Z")
Hi Karsten If I understand correctly the problem here is the howo the emails have been uploaded? What i do not understand is that when testing the emails I can test with multiple email addresses at the same time and each test email getting a personalised salutation. Is there a way round that? A ---
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:07pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/6 "2023-03-13T17:07:28Z")
Hi Karsten - yes i do want to personalise my salutation for every contact that gets the email. THe problem at the moment is, the personalisation token for first name only ask that you insert a value which for instance is the name for a recipient. What that means is when i nsert Dave as the value, Paul ltom and john (who are part of the mailing list) will all receive ‘Hi Dave’ as the salutation. Which isn’t ideal. This is the same for workflows and individual emails. I would like to create a global default token that when applied will automatically know that it has to pick up the first name of every contact in the mailing list. I hope this is possible. A ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 13, 2023, 5:22pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/7 "2023-03-13T17:22:17Z")
Hi @AMbeboh, The default token is **not** displayed when the first name is available. If there is a contact with first name “Dave”, the default will not be used. It’s a fallback. If all of your contacts have a first name, HubSpot will not use the default/fallback even once. It’s a just a safeguard. The default is the replacement for nothing. It will never override an actual name. Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:32pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/8 "2023-03-11T12:32:33Z")
Not sure i understand - Let me paint a scenario to further explain. I am creating a workflow of emails - and now want to test that workflow to multiple contacts As for the personalised salutation (Contact - Firstname) in order to send the test email i need to insert a salutation value. This salutation value i insert here will be the default salutation value for every email that is sent to the test subjects. Applying this to a mailing list means that if when we imported the list we, if did not specify a first name for each contact, then the personalised token will always ask for a default value. If we did have a first name column when uploading then the personalisation token will automatically pick this up use that? The issue here for me is when sendng out an email workflow to a list of contacts (at once) how do i ensure that the salutations are personalised? Because the personalised token (FIRSTNAME) always request that i insert a value even when there is a first name field in the contact list. This means it cannot be personalised. I hope that makes sense - am i missing a step here? A ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 12:38pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/9 "2023-03-11T12:38:25Z")
Hi @AMbeboh, > * * * > > @AMbeboh wrote: > > Because the personalised token (FIRSTNAME) always request that i insert a value even when there is a first name field in the contact list. This means it cannot be personalised. > > * * * The default value will only be used if the first name is unknown. When using a personalization token for the first name… - If the first name is known, the first name will be displayed. - If the first name is unknown, the default will be displayed. Does that clarify the issue? Best regards! ---
**Author:** ![AMbeboh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a183cd/32.png) [@AMbeboh](https://community.hubspot.com/u/AMbeboh)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 2:42pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/10 "2023-03-11T14:42:46Z")
Ok that makes sense - so teh issue is how the emails have been uploaded or setting the personalsation when creating the email. For instance if i am creating an email for a workflow - i have not yet chosen the contacts that will recive this workflow. Yet i want to include the personalised salutation. It will require that an input a value. Once the email list is set to said workflow, how can i be sure that each recipient will get a personalised salutation? This is assuming that upon uploading the list - we included a first name field on the contact list. ---
**Author:** ![karstenkoehler](https://d10pqhm3lwygmk.cloudfront.net/user_avatar/community.hubspot.com/karstenkoehler/32/68554_2.png) [@karstenkoehler](https://community.hubspot.com/u/karstenkoehler)\ **Post date:** [March 11, 2023, 3:11pm UTC](https://community.hubspot.com/t/global-default-value-first-name/76982/11 "2023-03-11T15:11:29Z")
Hi @AMbeboh, HubSpot will always ask you for the default value. You can consider this a “just in case”. HubSpot will not use this default if you uploaded an actual first name. For contacts who have a first name, this default will never be displayed. Best regards