Python and Mailgun: How to customize email content dynamically?

Other Questions Mailgun
1

I’m trying to personalize emails using Python and Mailgun’s HTTP API. I’ve set up a basic script to send emails with custom variables, but I can’t get the template to display the dynamic content. Here’s a simplified version of my code:

import requests

def send_custom_email():
    response = requests.post(
        "https://api.mailgun.net/v3/my-domain.mailgun.org/messages",
        auth=("api", "my-secret-key"),
        data={
            "from": "[email protected]",
            "to": "[email protected]",
            "subject": "Personalized Email",
            "template": "my_template",
            "v:user_name": "John Doe",
            "v:custom_url": "https://example.com/special-offer"
        }
    )
    return response.text

send_custom_email()

My HTML template looks like this:

<h1>Hello, %recipient.user_name%!</h1>
<p>Check out your <a href="%recipient.custom_url%">special offer</a>.</p>

The email sends successfully, but the variables aren’t being replaced. I’ve tried different syntax like {{v:user_name}} and v:user_name, but nothing seems to work. What am I doing wrong? How can I get the dynamic content to show up in the email?

2

hey mate, i had similar probs before. try using handlebars syntax like {{user_name}} in ur template rather than %recipient.user_name%. also, double-check your template id in the API call and send a test email without a template to confirm ur API setup. good luck!

3

I’ve encountered a similar issue when working with Mailgun templates. The problem might be in how you’re defining the template variables. Instead of using the ‘v:’ prefix in your data dictionary, try removing it. Mailgun automatically recognizes custom variables without the prefix. Here’s how you could modify your code:

data={
    "from": "[email protected]",
    "to": "[email protected]",
    "subject": "Personalized Email",
    "template": "my_template",
    "user_name": "John Doe",
    "custom_url": "https://example.com/special-offer"
}

Also, ensure your template is properly set up in the Mailgun dashboard. Sometimes, the issue can be with the template configuration rather than the code. If this doesn’t solve the problem, you might want to double-check your Mailgun API settings and make sure you’re using the correct domain and API key.

4

I’ve been down this road before, and it can be frustrating when the variables don’t populate correctly. One thing that helped me was using the ‘h:X-Mailgun-Variables’ header instead of the ‘v:’ prefix. Try modifying your code like this:

import json

data = {
    "from": "[email protected]",
    "to": "[email protected]",
    "subject": "Personalized Email",
    "template": "my_template",
    "h:X-Mailgun-Variables": json.dumps({
        "user_name": "John Doe",
        "custom_url": "https://example.com/special-offer"
    })
}

This approach worked wonders for me. Also, make sure your template is using the correct variable syntax. In my experience, ‘%recipient.variable_name%’ should work, but you might want to try ‘{{variable_name}}’ as well. If you’re still having issues, it might be worth reaching out to Mailgun support - they’ve been quite helpful in the past when I’ve run into template troubles.