Overview
Contact fields store single pieces of data about a contact, such as a person's first name, last name, and email address. When you import a spreadsheet of contacts, Emma automatically creates contact fields for the data, which you can access or edit as needed.
This guide explains how to add new contact fields, edit existing contact fields, and archive contact fields you no longer need.
Adding a contact field
Default contact fields
Even before you import any contacts, Emma provides the following default contact fields:
- Email address
- First name
- Last name
- SMS (phone number)
Automatically added contact fields
When you import a spreadsheet of contacts, Emma will automatically create contact fields for the data. For example, if you have a "USC affiliation" or "USC department" column header in your spreadsheet, Emma will automatically add "USC affiliation" and "USC department" as custom contact fields, and they will appear in the individual contact records.
You do not need to manually add contact fields unless you need to create a new field that wasn't in your imported spreadsheet.
Manually adding a contact field
Quick guide
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Click Create contact field.
- Fill in the Field name and select a Field type. As you fill in a field, a preview appears on the right side. Some useful field types:
- Short answer: This is one of the most flexible fields, and answers can be up to 255 characters long.
- Radio button menu, drop down menu: These fields work well if you know there will be a limited number of potential options and want to reduce the chances that a new contact will misspell information (which can occur with the short answer field).
- Checkbox menu: This field allows people to select multiple options.
- If you selected a field type that allows you to provide option values, type each option as a separate line. Options are case-sensitive.
- Click Save.
- The new contact field now appears in individual contact records, and is blank until you fill it in.
- Be aware that, if you plan to use the new contact field to personalize a newsletter, it may take up to 24 hours for the new contact field to appear as an option.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Click Create contact field.
- Fill in the Field name and select a Field type. As you fill in a field, a preview appears on the right side. Some useful field types:
- Short answer: This is one of the most flexible fields, and answers can be up to 255 characters long.
- Radio button menu, drop down menu: These fields work well if you know there will be a limited number of potential options and want to reduce the chances that a new contact will misspell information (which can occur with the short answer field).
- Checkbox menu: This field allows people to select multiple options.
- If you selected a field type that allows you to provide option values, type each option as a separate line. Options are case-sensitive.
- Click Save.
- The new contact field now appears in individual contact records, and is blank until you fill it in.
- Be aware that, if you plan to use the new contact field to personalize a newsletter, it may take up to 24 hours for the new contact field to appear as an option.
Editing a contact field
Quick guide
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Click the contact field name.
- Make your edits and click Save.
- The "Field type" and "Shortcut name" have a lock
icon next them to indicate that they cannot be edited.
- If you are editing a field type such as radio menu or drop down menu, which allow you to type option values, remember that option values are case sensitive. For example, "Staff" and "staff" would be treated as two separate values.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Click the contact field name.
- Make your edits and click Save.
- The "Field type" and "Shortcut name" have a lock icon next them to indicate that they cannot be edited.
- If you are editing a field type such as radio menu or drop down menu, which allow you to type option values, remember that option values are case sensitive. For example, "Staff" and "staff" would be treated as two separate values.
Archiving a contact field
It is not possible to completely delete a contact field, but you can archive it to lower its visibility.
Archive a contact field
Quick guide
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Next to the contact field, click the Expand
icon and select Archive field.
- Click Archive to confirm.
- Once archived, the contact field is moved to the bottom of the contact field list, and it no longer appears in contact records. However, the archived content field name is reserved: you will not be able to create a new contact field with the same name.
Detailed guide (with screenshots)
- Click the Audience tab, and click Contact fields in the left menu.
- Next to the contact field, click the Expand icon and select Archive field.
- Click Archive to confirm.
- Once archived, the contact field is moved to the bottom of the contact field list, and it no longer appears in contact records. However, the archived content field name is reserved: you will not be able to create a new contact field with the same name.
Re-add an archived contact field
Click the Expand icon and select Restore field.
