NOTE: This article is for customers with the "classic" Admin interface (horizontal top-navigation bar).
If your interface is different, view the New Admin Experience version of this article.
Custom Fields are personalized keywords that allow you to insert keywords for each contact to personalize an email or fax message. For example, this functionality may be used for a personalized greeting, such as Hello, John.
Because these values are inserted at the time of send, it is especially important that you are mindful of your Custom Field usage, in particular, that the originating data source contains correct information.
Enabling and permissions
NOTE: By default, Custom Fields is enabled for all accounts.
NOTE: Custom Fields is visible to everyone in the account, regardless of your Enterprise Asset rules.
NOTE: Initially, all users have access to the feature. However, administrative users can limit access to it with the Custom Fields.
Configuration
This is an as-needed set-up process from the Contacts page in Higher Logic Thrive Marketing Enterprise (Thrive Marketing Enterprise). While Thrive Marketing Enterprise comes equipped with 12 default personalization fields, at times you may have your own set that you would like to use in segmentation with Marketing Automation, or even for personalization purposes. Custom Fields cannot begin with a number or be left blank.
Custom Fields should be reserved in the event you want to use date-specific segmentation, there is a limit of 30 fields available. Otherwise, consider using Enhanced Fields.
To configure additional Custom Fields:
- Select Contacts.
- Select Custom Fields.
- Enter a name for the Custom Field.
- If this is a Date field, check the date checkbox. (See Custom Date Fields)
- Select Submit.
Once the configuration is completed, you can upload values to use in Marketing Automation or Message Personalization.
Character limits
When uploading to Thrive Marketing Enterprise, each field that is mapped has a maximum-character limit. These character limits are listed below.
NOTE: Fields that exceed the character limit are considered non-compliant.
| Field | Character Limit |
|---|---|
| E-mail, Address 1, Address 2, All Custom Fields | 100 |
| First Name, Last Name, Phone, Fax, City, State, Zip | 50 |
| Company | 200 |
| Enhanced Custom Field | 250 |
NOTE: If your upload file was rejected, refer to the sections below to download the "reject file" and query it to determine which fields caused the rejection. Also, see Rejected Upload Files for possible causes and remedial information.
Download the reject file
- Select Tools.
- Select Reports.
- Select Upload & Export Job Status.
- Click the Download File icon.
Identify non-compliant fields
- Open the CSV file.
- Place your cursor on the line between columns A and B, and double-click to expand column A.
- Repeat this procedure for all of the columns that have data.
- Review the columns and identify those with widths that seem to exceed the character limits.
- Scroll down those columns to identify, and then either shorten or delete the non-compliant value.
If your upload file contains fields that exceed the character limits, it will be highlighted in your reject file. You can download the reject file from the Tools tab.
Troubleshooting
Below are some common problems encountered when working with Custom Fields.
- Why can't I delete my Custom Field? - Custom Fields once created will always require a value in that field, you can remove the details for your contacts by uploading a CSV file with NULL values, or rename the Custom Field but you cannot delete it once created.
- Why won't it create the Custom Field? - Does it start with a number? Custom Fields cannot begin with a number, continually there are also some words and phrases that are blocked by our application. Most likely you’ll just need to change the field name.
- I can't see my Custom Field choice when I am uploading. - At times, especially if you are uploading via an integration, your session will just need to be refreshed. Log out and log back in and you should be able to view this field. If this is an Enhanced Field then it is most likely either owned by another individual or Enterprise Team.
- Why did some of my uploaded records return an invalid date field in my Reject File? - Did your upload contain a date custom field? Date fields must be formatted properly in your CSV file. While Thrive Marketing Enterprise will convert many date field formats, it is recommended that your field follow the format, MM/DD/YYYY. (See Custom Date Fields)
- I'm using international characters, why is the information skewed when I Preview Personalization? - There are some character sets that Custom Fields cannot interpret. Use Enhanced Fields instead.