Using Variables in Set Profile: $email vs email

Zeyad Y. · 2025-02-18T15:04:27.318Z

when using set profile to set the user's email, should I use $email or just email as the variable's name

When setting a user's email in their profile using Mixpanel, you should use $email as the variable name, not just "email". This is because $email is a reserved profile property in Mixpanel.According to the Reserved Properties documentation: > $email | Email | The user's / group's email address. You must set this property if you want to send emails to users via partners receiving cohorts from our Cohort Syncs.Using $email ensures that Mixpanel recognizes this property correctly for various features, including cohort syncs and displaying the email in the Mixpanel UI.Here are some examples of how to set the email property correctly in different SDKs: In Python: LBKSmp.people_set('sample_distinct_id', { '$email' : 'sam@[example.com](http://example.com)', }, meta = {'$ignore_time' : True,'$ip' : 0})LBKSMixpanel SDKs: PythonIn Swift: LBKSMixpanel.mainInstance().people.set(properties: ["$email":"joe.doe@[example.com](http://example.com)"])LBKSMixpanel SDKs: iOS (Swift)In Ruby: LBKStracker.people.set('sample_distinct_id', { '$email' => 'sam@[example.com](http://example.com)' }, ip = 0)LBKSMixpanel SDKs: RubyAlways use $email to ensure proper functionality and integration with Mixpanel's features.

kapa.ai is still learning and improving, please let me know how I did by reacting below.

ℹ️ Tip: Mention @kapa.ai in the thread for follow-ups or DM the app for 1-to-1 help.

2 comments