Add custom fields

Custom fields let you store more than an email address: a first name, a birthday, a city, a plan type. You can then use them to personalise emails and build segments.

Add a field

1. Click Audience, open the Lists tab and open your list.
2. In the list menu, click Manage list fields.
3. Click Add field and choose a type:
   • Text, Text area, Number, Phone
   • Date, Date & time
   • Dropdown, Multi-select, Radio, Checkbox
4. Fill in the Label (what people see) and the Tag (the short name used in merge tags). Tags can only contain letters, numbers and underscores, and each one must be unique.
5. Optional: set a Default value, and tick Required or Visible.
6. For Dropdown, Multi-select, Radio and Checkbox fields, add the choices under Options (label — value) with Add option.
7. Click Save fields.

The EMAIL field is required and cannot be removed. Every list also starts with FIRST_NAME and LAST_NAME.

Use a field in an email

Each field becomes a merge tag in this format:

{{ SUBSCRIBER_FIRST_NAME }}

The part after SUBSCRIBER_ is the field’s tag. For example, a field with the tag CITY becomes {{ SUBSCRIBER_CITY }}. In the email editor you can also click Personalize to insert common tags without typing them.

Other useful tags include {{ UNSUBSCRIBE_URL }} (the unsubscribe link), {{ WEB_VIEW_URL }} (view the email in a browser), {{ LIST_NAME }} and {{ CURRENT_YEAR }}.

Delete a field

Click Delete field next to it. All data stored in that field is lost, so export the list first if you might need it.

Tips

• Fields on a list also decide what a sign-up form for that list can ask for. Required fields must appear on the form.
• You can create new fields while you import a file. See Import and export contacts.

Related

• Import and export contacts
• Create a segment
• Create a sign-up form