I see a 'Template syntax invalid' error — what do I do?
This error means your campaign's message template has a Liquid template syntax error — most commonly a typo in a merge tag like {{company} (one closing brace instead of two) or {{first_name} (same shape).
Why this happens:
Liquid is the merge-tag rendering engine that powers personalization. Every variable reference must be wrapped in EXACTLY two opening braces and two closing braces: {{firstName}}, {{company}}, {{custom.subject_line}}. If you accidentally type one closing brace instead of two, the template can't be rendered and the send fails.
Before Apr 30, 2026, this triggered an endless retry loop — we'd catch the error, mark the send as failed, the recovery sweep would recreate it, and the new attempt would hit the same typo. One customer's campaign had 28 message sends retrying continuously on the same '{{company}' typo until we shipped the fix.
After Apr 30, 2026:
- We recognise the typo on the very first attempt.
- The send is marked as failed for a template reason, so the dashboard banner can point you at the typo.
- The prospect is parked as 'waiting on a template fix' so the recovery sweep does NOT recreate the send.
- The error message is plain English: 'Template syntax invalid — please fix the template and resume'.
How to fix:
1) Open the affected campaign in the editor.
2) Find every merge-tag reference and verify each one has exactly TWO opening braces and TWO closing braces. Common typos:
• {{firstName} → fix to {{firstName}}
• {firstName}} → fix to {{firstName}}
• { {firstName}} → fix to {{firstName}} (no space between the braces)
• {{firstName | default: 'there'} → fix to {{firstName | default: 'there'}}
3) Click 'Save' on the campaign.
4) Click 'Resume' on the campaign card. Affected prospects retry on the next campaign tick.
5) The dashboard banner clears within 1-2 minutes.
No prospects are lost — they simply wait until you fix the template and resume. No LinkedIn action was attempted on the failed sends, because the typo is caught before we reach LinkedIn, so retrying costs you nothing against your limits.
If you're not sure where the typo is, click 'Preview' in the campaign editor — the preview will fail with the exact line number of the parse error.