How to Add Custom Fields to a Contact Record

Custom fields in BIGContacts allow you to track and manage contact information beyond standard fields like name, email, and phone number. Adding custom fields allows you to tailor your CRM to match your business needs, ensuring contacts are categorized, searchable, and well-organized.

Why Custom Fields Matter

• Organizes Contacts Based on Business Needs – Categorize contacts by department, industry, lead source, customer type, or any other criteria relevant to your workflow.
• Captures the Right Information – Store business-specific details such as product interest, contract terms, preferred communication methods, or internal notes.
• Improves Search & Reporting – Quickly find contacts using custom field values and use this data for better filtering, segmentation, and follow-ups.

Use Case: When Should You Add Custom Fields?

Imagine a sales team that wants to track which department a contact belongs to or which city they operate from. By adding custom fields like Department or City, the team can segment contacts more effectively and personalize their outreach.

Ways to Add Custom Fields in BIGContacts

You can add custom fields in two ways, depending on your requirement:

• From an individual contact – When you want to add or customize fields while editing a specific contact.

• From All Contacts – When you want to add a custom field once and make it available across all contacts.

Method 1: Add Custom Fields While Editing a Contact

Custom fields are now added directly while editing a contact, making the process more intuitive and context-driven.

Step 1: Open a Contact for Editing

• Go to Contacts and open the contact you want to update.

• Click Edit on the contact record.

Step 2: Open Customize Form

• From the right sidebar, click Customize Form.

Step 3: Click Add Field

• On the Customize Form page, click Add Field.

• This opens the Add Field panel where you can choose and configure custom fields.

Step 4: Choose and Add a Field

• Select the type of field you want to add, such as:

  • Single Line Text – For short text entries like Department or City.

  • Multi-Line Text – For longer notes or descriptions.

  • Number – For numeric values.

  • Dropdown – For predefined selectable options.

  • Radio Button or Check Box – For single or multiple selections.

  • Date – For dates such as contract expiry or follow-up reminders.

• Select a ready-made field or customize it as needed.

• Click Add, then click Save to apply the changes.

Once added, the custom field becomes part of the contact form and is available while editing or viewing the contact record.

Method 2: Add Custom Fields for All Contacts at Once

This method adds the custom field as a column and makes it available across all contact records.

Step 1: Go to All Contacts

• Click Contacts from the left menu and open All Contacts.

Step 2: Click the “+” Icon

• In the contact list view, click the + icon on the right side of the table.

• Choose the type of field you want to add (Text, Number, Date, Checkbox, or Dropdown).

Step 3: Configure the Column

• Select the Column Type.

• Enter the Column Name.

• If applicable, define the field values (for dropdowns or checkboxes).

• Click Save.

How to Search for Contacts Using Custom Fields

Assume you’ve created a Customer Type custom field and set its value to Enterprise for one or more contacts. Simply search for Enterprise in the search bar.

BIGContacts automatically searches across all fields, including custom fields, and displays all contacts where the Customer Type field is set to Enterprise.