Custom attributes

Every business has details it wants to keep with each customer or conversation: an order number, a city, the reason for contact, the date of the last purchase. Custom attributes are fields you add yourself. They appear beside the conversation for your team to fill in, and you can then use them in automation rules and filters.

Two kinds of attribute

• Conversation: belongs to this conversation only, such as "Reason for contact" or "Order number".
• Contact: stays with the customer across all their conversations, such as "City" or "VIP customer".

Create an attribute

1. In the inbox, open Settings, then Custom Attributes.
2. Select Add Custom Attribute (1). Existing attributes are listed under the Conversation and Contact tabs (2).

3. Under Applies to (1), choose Conversation or Contact.
4. Enter a Display Name (2), the name your team sees, such as "Order number".
5. Check the Key (3). It is suggested from the name and used internally, so keep it short and in Latin letters, such as order_number. It cannot be changed after creation.
6. Add a Description if you like, so your team knows when to fill it in.
7. Pick the Type (4): Text, Number, Link, Date, List or Checkbox.
8. For a List, type each value under List Values and press Enter after it.
9. Select Create (5).

Note: for text attributes you can turn on Enable regex validation so only a set format is accepted, such as a ten-digit number. Put the pattern in Regex Pattern and a hint for your team in Regex Cue.

Fill it in on a conversation

1. Open the conversation, then open the contact panel beside the messages.
2. Conversation attributes are in the Conversation Information section; contact attributes are in Contact Attributes.
3. Hover over the attribute and select the pencil icon, enter or pick the value, then select the tick to save it.

Where attributes help next

• In automation rules: a condition such as "Conversation Custom Attributes" equals a value can assign the conversation or add a label.
• In the conversation workflow: make an attribute required before a conversation is resolved. It then carries the Resolution badge in the list.
• In flows: save a customer's answer to a question into a contact attribute.

Edit or delete an attribute

In the list, select Edit to change the name, description or list values, or Delete to remove it. Deleting asks you to type the attribute's name to confirm. Check first whether any automation rule depends on it.