User-defined fields are custom fields that allow you to enter additional information into your contact’s profiles and customize your CRM data for your business needs. You can create as many user-defined fields as you want, and you can decide if you would like to share those new user fields with all your groups or keep them separated so specific groups have specific user-defined fields. You can also set whether you want your shared access users to be able to see and/or edit these custom user-defined fields.

This powerful tool helps you organize and segment your database and personalize all of your messaging. You can also use them to create tailored customer journeys, send specific emails, trigger automation, and much more.

Benefits of using User Defined Fields

By creating new custom user-defined data fields, your team can:

View and track additional information about your contacts
Import custom fields that are not in the system
Ask a contact to fill out information on a public-facing form (i.e. a signup form on your website or a public ticketing form).
Add personalization into email communications using user field information collected
Add automation when a user field is updated to a specific value
Use enhanced filtering options based on user field details to filter your list of contacts
Segment contacts through your marketing efforts such as journeys or drip campaigns

There are many benefits that are associated with collecting detailed information about Understanding the benefits of using custom user-defined fields.

Creating New User-Defined Fields

To create and manage your user fields, hover over the Contacts dropdown and select User Fields. This area stores all the user fields created within your CRM, you can easily upload a csv file to add multiple new fields into the system or individually create user fields from here.

Import User Fields

Using a CSV file format, use the following layout to add multiple fields into your CRM:

"Field Number","Field Name","Group Or All","Field Type","Possible Values","Editable By Contacts","Editable By Users","Show In List View","Available To Companies","Description"

You’ll see that each field is its own line, separated by commas. For the imported file, you do not need to include a header row. The Field Number is a unique key used, so make sure that your field numbers are unique. You can learn more details about the information required from this page.

Add New Custom Field

Click the “Add New Custom Field” option to quickly add a new field into your CRM. Here, you’ll want to fill out the following fields:

New User Field: Name of the custom user-defined data field
User Field Description: Enter something useful here if you would like to remind yourself what this user field is used for
Type: Field Type defines the type of data field it is. Available options are "Select", "Checkbox", "Text", "ShortText", "Integer", or "Date"
Sharing: Define if this field is available only to the group you currently have selected, or if it is available to all groups.
Available To: Specify if this user field is for Contacts only, Companies only, or for Both contacts and companies
Visibility: You can have this user field information shown on the main contact list page, or show the company data inside the contact’s record
Options: Enter the different types of values available for this user field. It primarily applies to user fields that have the “Select One” of “Checkbox” types associated.
Group Member Access: This field can be hidden, visible, or editable by members of your group
Shared Access Users: Customize if this field is hidden, viewable, or editable by shared access users in your CRM

Get guided assistance with building new custom User-Defined fields by clicking on the “Show Me How” feature on this page. Otherwise, watch this quick video to learn more about Creating User-Defined Fields.

Organizing the User-Defined Fields

Organizing your fields helps increase the usability of this information collected inside the contact’s CRM record. It creates a complete, 360-degree customer profile so your team can better understand your leads and clients, and offer more personalized customer experience.

To manage the layout of these user fields inside the contact’s record, hover over the “Contacts” drop down and select “Visibility.” This area controls how you display data when you view a contact's details. Contact information is shown in three columns. Drag and drop any field in this area and use Clusters to customize the layout for the contact’s record. Watch this short video to learn more about Managing your User-Defined fields!

Collecting and Updating Contact Information

User-Defined Fields are used throughout the CRM to seamlessly update and connect with the contact record. Depending on how your contacts are being added or updated in your CRM, your team can identify the best way to update their contact information.

Adding a New Contact

File Import: When adding a new contact into your CRM, you can structure your imported excel or csv file to include the user field information. Each user field will have a correlating column in the imported file, which updates the user field for the contact record (based on their email address). This is a great option to update a list of contacts and their user field information through a single import.

Manual Addition: When adding a contact through your CRM, you can customize the list of fields that show on this pop-up window. In the Account > Settings area, identify which fields to show on in the Add Contact Form Fields area. This is a quick way for your team to fill out all of the necessary fields quickly when adding a new contact into the CRM.

SignUp Forms: The Website > SignUp Forms are a quick way to add contacts into your CRM through a public form on your website or landing page. Customize your form to include any of your custom user-defined fields for your audience to complete. These fields can be optional or required for the user to fill out and will automatically populate inside the contact’s CRM record upon confirmation.

Ticketing: Creating a ticketing form on your public site is optimal for managing your incoming support and sales requests. Identify the types of user-defined fields you’re wanting the contacts to fill in and it will update the contact’s record upon submission. Ticketing is a single opt-in feature, which automatically adds the contact’s into your CRM and updates their user fields upon submission.

Managing User-Defined Fields through the CRM

There are many ways in which user fields can be used to filter contacts and create segmented lists for your automated efforts.

For example, a few ways you can manage your contacts using User-Defined Fields include:

Filter and Search: Through the Contact > View area, create detailed filtering to identify groups of contacts who meet your certain criteria. You’re able to create highly targeted contact segments based on criteria that your contacts meet or not. For example, if they have specific values outlined in their custom field such as a service offering or type of industry. Learn more about managing your contacts and filtering.

Surveys: Your Communicate > Surveys area is useful for finding out opinions and related information from your contacts. Connect your survey questions to the user fields you’ve created and update the contact’s CRM record using the information filled out through your survey. Learn more about creating and managing your surveys.

Journeys: Journeys allow you to create a custom path for your contacts to go through based on engagement or specific criteria they meet. In the “Decision” option, create filters for the contacts based on the values on their User-Defined field. For example, if their Industry user field includes Retail, they can move through one path. Otherwise, they will go through another Decision point to segment further. Journeys are a great way to systematically and automatically segment contacts based on available information in any User-Defined Field outlined in their CRM record. Learn more about creating and optimizing your customer journeys.

Adding Automation

To keep your information current, it’s often a good idea to add automation to update these fields when important events happen. When adding automation, these will primarily be through workflow triggers set up in your account.

When a user field changes from one value to another, you can have a workflow trigger. In the Contacts > User Fields area, locate the user field to “Add a Tigger” when the value changes from anything in the account to any other value. Learn more about managing your user fields and adding triggers.
Update a user field value when a workflow is triggered. In the Automation > Workflow Manager, go into the “Modify Contact” tab you can set the user field data to a specific value or append new information to the user field.

Personalize Content

User-Defined Fields are a great way to add personalization to your marketing efforts such as emails, documents, invoices, landing pages, and more. When building out your content, use the “Merge” option to pull the client specific information into your communications with them. The more detailed information that’s stored in your user fields, the more customized your email content can be. Learn more about the types of placeholders available by reviewing the help articles in your account.

User-Defined Fields are an intricate part of successfully implementing your CRM and storing the necessary information about your contacts. To learn more about how User-Defined Fields help elevate your business, watch our deep-dive video here.

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