Custom fields capture and save your unique business data. They help you keep records of your contacts' preferences and things they wish you to know about themselves. You can use custom fields to store a subscriber’s name, IP address, birthday, number of pets he owns, favorite ice cream flavors, etc.
Things to know about custom fields in MailExpress:
- There are 3 types of custom fields: Text, Number, and Date.
- The system has the default custom fields of Email, First Name, Last Name, and Source.
- Once you have created a custom field, you can only edit its custom field name and merge tags; You can not change the custom field type.
- Format for Date type custom field: MM/DD/YYYY.
- Number custom field allows users to enter any integers; it can store things like customer IDs, tracking numbers, phone numbers, or zip codes.
- Users should be cautious when deleting any existing fields. Once a custom field is deleted, all contacts’ information and segment rules associated with that field will also be deleted.
How To Create New Custom Fields
1. Find the desired email list under -> Lists. We use Email List 1 as an example here.
2. In the list, click -> ... -> Custom Fields
3. Click -> Add Field to add new custom fields
4. Name the field and Select its Field Type from the drop-down menu; in this example, an IP address consists of numbers and dots; therefore, we use “Text” as its field type.
5. Click Save. IP Address is added as a custom field for Email List 1.
Merge Tags: Merge tags are variables that represent the data values of each contact. You can use them to personalize your emails and increase engagement with your subscribers. Merge tags can be customized for your custom fields. For example, if you add “Hi [MERGE_FRIST_NAME]” in an email template and your subscriber’s name is Alice, she will see “Hi Alice” in the email.