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Custom deal field overview

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Sarah N
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With ActiveCampaign, you can use custom fields to capture important information related to a deal.

Using deal custom fields helps you and your team better understand deals in your pipeline. In addition, you can include deal-specific information in your outgoing emails.

Take note

You'll need to be an admin or have permission to create and access deal custom fields.

How to create a field group

Field groups are created on the Fields page in your account. Each custom field you make needs to belong to a field group.

Your account comes with one default field group: General Details. All standard deal fields are housed here.

If you have custom fields that don't belong under "General Details," you can create custom field groups. Doing so lets you group similar custom fields together, making it easy to find relevant information.

With field groups, you can:

Select which group a custom field should belong to when creating a field from the Fields page or a deal record

  • Drag and drop a custom field from one group to another
  • Use the "Bulk Actions" dropdown on the Fields page to delete selected fields or create a new field group from chosen fields, or move the selected fields to a different field group

Note that standard deal fields cannot be moved to a custom field group. These will remain under "General Details."

Create a field group

There are two ways to get to the Manage Fields page. You can click Deals > Fields on the left menu, or you can click Contacts > Fields on the left menu, then click the "Deals" tab on the Fields page. 

Once you are on the Manage Fields page:

  1. Click "Add Group."

    Add group option.jpeg
  2. A modal window will appear. Type the name of the group into the field provided.
  3. Click the "Create" button.

The new field group will appear at the bottom of the Fields page.

Update field group name
  1. Hover your mouse over the field group name
  2. Click the edit (pencil) icon.
  3. A modal window will appear. Type the new name into the field provided.
  4. Click the "Save" button.
Delete field group
  1. Hover your mouse over the group you wish to remove.
  2. Click the trash icon.
  3. A delete confirmation modal window will appear. If you have fields in the group you are deleting, you'll be asked to move those fields to a different group.
  4. Click the "Delete" button.

How to create a custom deal field

You can create an unlimited number of custom fields and organize them by field group. These fields can be made from the "Fields" page and any deal record.

Once a custom deal field is created, it will be located:

  • On the Deals > Fields or Contacts > Fields > Deals tab page
  • On all deals on all pipelines

In addition, you can use custom deal fields in the following areas:

  • In the floating segment builder
  • On the "Add a Personalization" modal for campaigns and automation emails
  • Conditional content
  • Automation "Field changes" trigger
  • Automation CRM actions
View a list of custom deal field types

You can create a variety of different custom field types. They include:

  • Text input
    This traditional text input field stores a short piece of data that you or someone on your team would type—for example, phone number, service tracking number, or account ID.
  • Text area
    This field type allows you or someone on your team to type multiple lines of text so you can store more data—for example, needs/opportunities, pain points/challenges, or background information about the lead.
  • Number
    This field type can store a string of numbers written in decimal form. Note that the numbers in this field can contain two decimal places. You can use this to keep the number of times a contact visited your site, how many days until their membership expires, and more.
  • Money
    This field type can be used to store monetary values. In addition, you can select a default currency when creating a money field and choose a different currency. You may want to use this to store discounts or recurring revenue.
  • Date
    This is used to specify a date and includes month, day, and year. You can either type the date or select it from a calendar. This can be used to collect forecasted close dates, contract end dates, or subscription dates.
  • Dropdown menu
    This uses a predefined set of options you or your team can select when creating or updating a deal. Only one value can be selected. You may want to use this to determine how a lead heard about your services, a lead's geographic location/region, or won/loss reason.
  • List box
    This field type displays a list of predefined options that you can choose from. You will need to shift-click to select more than one answer option for this field. You can use this field to capture purchased products or what technologies they most often use.
  • Radio button
    This custom field type functions the same as the dropdown menu field type; you can only choose one answer from a list of predefined answers. However, the visual representation is different. You can use this to store demographic information such as age ranges or whether or not the lead is qualified.
  • Check box(es)
    This custom field type allows you to choose one or more answer options from a predefined list. For example, you can use this to capture other services that the lead is interested in.
  • Hidden field
    This custom field type is a text field and is not visible to contacts when used on a form. You can use this to assign information to contacts when they submit a form. 
Create a custom deal field from the Fields page

There are two ways to get to the Manage Fields page:

  1. Click Deals > Fields
    -OR-
  2. Click Contacts > Fields > Deals tab

Once you are on the Manage Fields page, then:

  1. Click the "Add Field" button.
  2. An "Add Field" modal will open. Type the field name into the field provided.
  3. Click the "Group" dropdown field and click the group you wish to add the new field to.
  4. Click the "Field Type" dropdown field and click the field type you wish to create. Note that you must provide answer options for the dropdown menu, list box, radio buttons, and check box(es) field types.
  5. Click the "Add" button.
Create a custom deal field directly from a deal page
  1. Click Deals on the left menu.
  2. Click any deal to open it.
  3. Click the "Manage Fields" option.
  4. You will be redirected to the "Fields" page for your Deal fields. Click the "Add Field" button.
  5. An "Add Field" modal will open. Type the field name into the field provided.
  6. Click the "Group" dropdown field and click the group you wish to add the new field to.
  7. Click the "Field Type" dropdown field and click the field type you wish to create. Note that you must provide answer options for the dropdown menu, list box, radio button, and check box(es) field types.
  8. Click the "Add" button.

Update a custom deal field value

Custom deal field values are updated manually from the deal record or with the "Update custom field" automation action.

Manually update a custom deal field from the deal record

Note that when updating field values, any changes you make will not "save" as you go. To save field updates, click the "Save Changes" button. If there are any errors, such as a required field left blank, we'll display a message letting you know that the changes cannot be saved.

  1. Click Deals on the left menu.
  2. Click the deal you'd like to work with.
  3. Hover your mouse over the field you wish to update.
  4. Click the edit (pencil) icon that appears.
  5. Type or select the value you want to add to the field.
  6. Repeat steps 3-5 above for each field you wish to update.
  7. Click the "Save Changes" button.
Update a custom deal field value with an automation
  1. Click Automations on the left menu. 
  2. Click "Edit" for the automation you wish to modify.
  3. Drag the CRM > Update Custom Field action to your automation.
  4. A modal window will appear. Click the field dropdown for the field you want to update.
  5. Click any option to enter a new value, copy data from an existing contact field, or clear a current value. You can only enter a new value or clear an existing one for money and number fields.
  6. If you're entering a new value, you can type it into the field provided. If copying data from an existing contact field, select the contact field to use from the dropdown.
  7. In the "Affects" dropdown, click the deal that should be updated.
  8. In the "Pipeline" dropdown, click the pipeline to which the deal belongs.
  9. Click "Save."

Learn more about automating fields with the "Update custom deal field" action.

Edit or delete a custom deal field

You can edit and delete a custom deal field at any time. These actions are completed on the Fields page.

Edit a custom field

Editing options available for custom fields include:

  • Field name
  • Personalization tag (used in outgoing emails to show field information specific to the contact)
  • Group
  • Answer options (list box, dropdown, checkbox, radio button field types)
  • Default value (will appear in outgoing emails if a contact does not have a value for the field)

  You cannot edit a field type once the field is created. To update a field type, you must create a new custom field with the correct type.

How to edit a custom field

There are two ways to get to the Manage Fields page:

  1. Click Deals > Fields
    -OR-
  2. Click Contacts > Fields > Deals tab

Once you are on the Manage Fields page, then:

  1. Hover your mouse over the field you wish to edit.
  2. Click the "Edit" option.
  3. A modal window will open. Here you can customize the field's options.
  4. When finished, click "Save."

Delete a custom field

You can delete custom deal fields from the Manage Fields page in your account. Default fields, such as Pipeline, Stage, Status, and Deal Title (any field without a checkbox to the left of the field name) cannot be deleted.

Note that deleting a field will delete any data contained in the fields for your deals. Also, it will be removed if the field is used within automations or campaigns. The fields and data will be permanently deleted and cannot be undone.

How to delete a custom field

There are two ways to get to the Manage Fields page:

  1. Click Deals > Fields
    -OR-
  2. Click Contacts > Fields > Deals tab

Once you are on the Manage Fields page, then:

  1. Hover your mouse over the field you wish to delete.
  2. Click the delete (trash) icon.
  3. A modal window will appear. Confirm your decision by clicking the checkboxes and then the "Delete" button.

Deal field personalization tags

Personalization tags insert contact-, account-, or deal-specific information into communications.

These tags are automatically generated for all standard and custom deal fields you create.

All deal field personalization tags will be prefixed with "Deal_" to differentiate them from contact and account field personalization tags.

deal field personalization tags.png

These tags can be found on the Manage Fields page. There are two ways to get to the Manage Fields page:

  1. Click Deals > Fields
    -OR-
  2. Click Contacts > Fields > Deals tab

Using custom deal fields

Custom deal fields can be used for more than just storing information about your deals. For example, you can:

  • Use custom deal fields in the segment builder
    All custom deal fields you create will be available in the segment builder. You can use this condition to create list segments for email campaigns, "If/Else" forks in automations, set up "Split test" automations, update a deal or contact score, create Goal actions in automations, and more.
  • Update custom deal field values in an automation
    You can use the "Update custom field" action in an automation to update the value of a custom deal field. With this action, you can select which custom deal field to update and either enter a new value, copy the data from an existing contact field, or clear the current value of the custom deal field.
  • Filter pipelines by custom deal fields
    You can filter deals in your pipeline by custom deal fields and deal details. Doing so will help you quickly find specific deals.
  • Trigger an automation to run when a deal field changes
    You can use the "Field Changes" trigger to start an automation whenever a custom deal field changes.
  • Personalize communications
    You can increase engagement with your campaigns and automation emails with personalization tags. When a personalization tag is used in a campaign or automation email, the value of that tag will automatically be inserted once the communication is sent to a contact. When the contact opens the communication, they will see the value of that tag and not the tag itself.
  • Use deal fields with conditional content
    Select which content block contacts should see in an automation email or email campaign with conditional content.

The following functionalities are not available with custom deal fields at this time:

  • Adding fields to forms
  • Bulk Editor

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