Contact Fields and Custom Attributes: Storing the Data That Matters

5 min read

A contact record is only as useful as the data stored on it. Default fields like first name and email address are a starting point - but the fields that enable precise targeting, personalization, and automation are usually custom ones that you define based on your specific business logic.

Default vs. Custom Fields

Default fields are built into the platform: first name, last name, email, phone, company name, address. These cover the basics but rarely capture the nuances of your specific customer. Custom fields let you store any additional data point: the industry the contact works in, their role in the buying process, the product they use, the date they last spoke with sales, or their preferred communication channel.

Field Types and When to Use Them

• Text: free-form data like notes or custom IDs
• Select (dropdown): controlled vocabulary fields like industry or lifecycle stage
• Multi-select: fields where more than one value can apply, like product interests
• Date: for tracking milestones like last contact date or contract expiry
• Number: for scores, revenue ranges, or headcount
• Boolean (yes/no): for opt-in flags, feature access, or qualification criteria

How to Populate Custom Fields

Custom fields can be populated in four ways: by the contact themselves through a form, by an automation when a condition is met, by a CRM sync when a field is updated in the CRM, or by a manual import. The most reliable approach is automation - remove as much human data entry from the process as possible.

Using Fields for Segmentation and Personalization

Every custom field can be used as a segment filter and as a merge field in emails. A contact with industry set to 'Financial services' can be targeted with a specific campaign. Their company name field can be pulled into an email subject line. The quality of your personalization and segmentation is a direct function of the quality and completeness of your contact data.

Field Governance

Without governance, custom fields proliferate. Teams create new fields without checking if one already exists, naming conventions get inconsistent, and the field list becomes unmanageable. Appoint one person as the database owner. Require approval for new custom field creation. Document every field in a shared reference sheet - what it means, how it is populated, and who uses it.