This topic has been raised for 8 years now. Not being able to use personalization tags in update contact step is a bummer. AC recently launched data formatting steps which allow to save a formatted field into another field (which is a good workaround for some purposes), but you can’t format hidden fields and that’s where most of my data lays. Have someone figured out how to make this data handling in an automated way?
Hi Eliot! You’re right - this is a long-standing limitation for advanced automation users! Here are some workarounds that people have found:
Option 1: Webhook + External Processing
- Use a webhook to send contact data to an external service (Zapier, custom script)
- Process the data with personalization logic outside AC
- Send it back to update the contact via API
- More complex but gives you full control
Option 2: Custom Field Copying
- Create visible custom fields as “staging” fields
- Use automations to copy hidden field data to visible fields first
- Then use the data formatting steps on the visible fields
- Copy the formatted result back to your target field
Option 3: API-Based Solutions
- Build a script that pulls contact data via API
- Process the personalization logic externally
- Push the formatted data back to AC
- Can be scheduled to run automatically
The webhook approach is probably your most practical automated solution, even though it requires external processing.
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