You can define any number of custom fields to store contact information that is not one of the standard fields. Custom fields can appear on subscription forms and custom information can also be added or edited in the arpReach admin system.
“Use custom fields to store contact information that is not covered by the standard fields such as email address, name, address etc”
Important Note: Custom fields must be defined before custom information can be assigned to contacts AND before you attempt to import any custom/unique contact data into arpReach.
Managing custom fields
To add a custom field go to Content / Custom Fields / Create New.
When creating or editing a custom field, the settings as the same:
- Name – the name for the custom field. Every custom field must have a unique name for easy management.
- Tag – the unique tag for the custom field. This is used to pull the information from contact records into messages. For example, the tag for a “hat size” custom field could be “hat_size” and this information would be included in messages with the tag {CUSTOM_hat_size}.
The tag can contain letters, numbers, and underscores, but no spaces. - Description – the description for the custom field. This is never displayed to contacts.
- Field label – the label to be used for this field on subscription forms.
- Field type – choose the type of input to be displayed on the subscription forms for this custom field. The field types are:
— Single line of text – the contact can enter one line of text in a text input field.
— Multiple lines of text – the contact can enter several lines of text on a textarea input field.
— Dropdown list – the contact can choose one item from a predefined list.
— Checkbox – the contact can check or uncheck a box.
To edit a custom field, go to Content / Custom Fields / Show List:
… and choose Edit from the Choose action… drop-down menu.
The custom fields can be sorted by name or description using the Order by drop-down menu.
The With selected… menu allows you to delete the selected custom fields. Deleting a custom field deletes that information in all contact records.
Using the I want to… drop-down menu, you can create a new custom field or delete all custom fields. Choosing to delete all custom fields here also deletes all custom field data in all contact records.
Under the Actions column, the Choose action… drop-down menu has the options to:
- Edit
- Copy
- Copy then edit
- Delete
“Use a dropdown list custom field to restrict the choices your contact can make when filling out a subscription form”