When adding subscribers to your organization's audience and when creating or updating segments, Organization Instances which have access to audience management have the option to include Custom fields in their Manual Import List uploads. Custom fields allow you to add temporary data that can be used to create and manage Dynamic Segments with attributes that fall outside of the normal information that is available throughout most organization systems.
Custom Fields can hold letters or numbers, and can be used for temporary data not held in your people data system. 255 characters max.
There are currently 5 Custom attribute fields available, respectfully called: Custom 1, Custom 2, Custom 3, Custom 4, and Custom 5. These can have Display Names attributed to them via the Attributes settings page.
As a part of implementation of Custom Fields, there are some important things to note:
When a Custom field has already been applied by a previous upload, you will be provided a warning message before continuing with your upload. You will still have the option to decide what you'll do with this data in the upload process, depending on your choice between Merge and Overwrite. (See Conflict Management in Importing Audience Lists)
If any subscriber has data in a custom field which is being updated, even if the specific subscribers included in this file upload do not have data in the field currently, the warning message will still appear.
If a subscriber in your audience has blank data for a custom field: When you upload a file that includes a custom field column with data listed for that subscriber, it will be entered for the user in your Audience, whether you select Merge or Overwrite during the upload process.
There is currently no method within Cerkl Broadcast to view what is included in Custom Fields - It is important to track the use of custom fields internally amongst team members. If it is crucial that that information be referenced at any point, a data request can be made by reaching out to the Cerkl Support team.
Deleting Temporary Custom Data
Option 1: You can clear all data for a specific Custom Field from the Attributes page. Find the Custom Field you wish to clear in your list of Attributes, then click the info icon to the right.
From here, a modal window will appear and you can select to Clear All Data. To verify, you will need to type in the text prompt requested.
Option 2: Another method to clear Custom Fields data is available. If you use a file that includes the custom field column, and the entry for a subscriber is left blank in your file, select 'Overwrite' during the upload process. This will overwrite the custom field for the subscribers in your list - essentially acting as a "deletion" of the previously stored information. This will also overwrite any other fields included, so please do keep that in mind.
Please note: Deleting Custom Fields data cannot be reversed - however, If the data has been deleted, you can manually re-upload the data.
If you have any questions at all, please don't hesitate to reach out to us at support@cerkl.com or use the support Chat toward the bottom right-hand corner of any cerkl.com page.