How do I create custom fields?

In this article, we will review how to create new custom fields and add them to your Sign Up Forms.

You can collect up to 25 custom fields of information in addition to the standard name and email address. These fields can be for collecting whatever information you want on your subscribers. You can either add these custom fields manually through the control panel, or they can be added through our sign up form generator.

When custom fields are added through the sign up form generator you can collect the custom data through drop down menus, radio buttons, check boxes, and larger text areas if you so desire.

Adding a field through the control panel

1. Click the "List Options" tab and select "Custom Fields."
   
   
2. You will then be taken to the Custom Fields page where you can click the "Add Custom Field" button to name the custom field that you would like to add.
   
   
   
   Note: You can only have one field with the word "name" in it because of how information is stored in our database. So for example if you want to capture subscribers' last name separate from our standard name field, enter that as "last" as opposed to "last name."
   
   
3. If you would like the subscriber to have the ability to update this custom field on their own from the unsubscribe page, check the slider for "Subscriber Can Update."
   
   
   
   
4. Once you are ready to add the custom field click "Add".
   
   

Adding a field through the sign up form generator

1. First, click "Pages & Forms" then the "Sign Up Forms" tab in your control panel.
   
   
2. Next, either open your existing form by clicking on its name, or click the "Create A Sign Up Form" button to build a new form.
   
   
   
   
3. To create a new field, click the "Create a New Custom Field" button under the "Add Fields" area to the left of the sign up form editor.
   
   
   
   If you are inserting a custom field that you already added through the Custom Fields tab, select the custom field and skip step 4.
   
   
   
   
4. Give the field a name (keep in mind, this is just the field name, so "Vegetarian" makes a better name than "Please send me only vegetarian recipes"), and click the "Next" button.
   
   
   
   
5. After naming the field, the popup will allow you to change how the field appears to visitors to your site. You can edit the label for the field here - notice how the name of the field remains the same (at the top of the window), but the label is what is actually displayed on the form.
   
   
   
   
6. Finally, choose the type of field you'd like this to be:
   
   
   
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     "Text Input" will create a normal text field, exactly like the name and email fields.
      
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     "Radio - Single Choice" is the counterpart to the drop-down menu, producing a radio button display from which subscribers can choose one of several options.
      
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     "Select Box - Multiple Choice" will create a drop-down menu which you can populate with a list of choices that visitors to your site can select.
      
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     "Check Box" will produce a check box next to the label of the field. If you plan to have a "Check all that apply" setup, you will need to create a new field for each check box.
      
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     "Text Area" creates an open space for text. This field is best used with more open ended questions which might require a full sentence as an answer.
      
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     "Date" will create between one and three select box style drop down menus for day, month, and year, allowing a date to be easily collected!
     
     
7. If you chose the "Radio - Single Choice" or "Select Box - Multiple Choice" input types, you will need to create the choices that you would like people to be able to make. You can either create your own list of choices by entering them one at a time and hitting the green plus button to the right of the entry to add it, or you can use an already-defined list from the drop down labeled pre-made choices. You can also add tags to these choices.
   
   
   
   
8. Once you are done creating new fields, you are ready to save your changes. Click the Save Your Form button, and your work will be saved.

Congratulations! You have now created custom fields.