Using profile and custom fields

Fields store information about each contact: a birthday, a city, a subscription plan, a member status, and so on. Use them to build segments and to personalize newsletters with personalization tags.

There are two kinds:

• Built-in profile fields that Letterhead provides, listed in the table below.
• Custom fields that you create yourself for anything the built-in list doesn’t cover.

Which ones you can import depends on your audience. On the newer company-wide Contacts experience, the CSV importer only maps Email, First Name, Last Name, Tags, a status column per channel, and your own custom fields. The built-in profile fields aren’t mapping options there, so add a custom field and import into that instead. The field keys also differ: the company-wide importer uses firstName/lastName, not the name/surname keys in the table. On the classic per-channel audience, the importer maps the built-in profile fields too. You can also give a custom field the same name as a built-in field, such as Region or Birthday; see Fields named after built-in profile fields.

TEXT fields have a 191 character limit, except Notes, which accepts up to 2,500.

Add a custom field

1. On your Audience page, open the Settings tab and find Custom Fields.
2. Click Add field.
3. Name the field and choose its type, then save.

On the company-wide Contacts importer you can also create a custom field during an import, by keeping a column that matches no field. The classic per-channel importer can’t create new fields.

Fields named after built-in profile fields

You can name a custom field after one of the built-in profile fields, such as Region, Notes or Birthday, in Settings or by keeping an import column with that name. It works like any other custom field and shows under Custom Fields on each contact. Three things are different:

• The type is fixed to the built-in field’s: Birthday is a date, Latitude and Age are numbers, and most of the others are text.
• Older values carry over. Contacts who already had a value under that name keep it, now in your field.
• Deleting the field removes its values from every contact, the older ones included. A saved segment that used the built-in field will then match nobody.

How field values get filled

• Signup forms: answers readers give in extra fields when they subscribe save to their contact record.
• CSV import: columns matching existing field names are filled in automatically during an import.
• API and Zapier: update values programmatically through the Letterhead API or the Zapier integration.
• By hand: edit values on any contact from their profile.

Use fields in segments and content

Fields appear as conditions when you create or edit a segment, for example city equals New York, and can be combined with tags using Any/All logic. Date fields can use a rolling time window.

To use a field in a newsletter, add a personalization tag, optionally with a default value for contacts who don’t have one.

When a value looks like sensitive information

Some data doesn’t belong in a contact record. Letterhead replaces custom field values that look like payment card numbers, US social security numbers, or similar sensitive details with a clear placeholder, so a field that held a card number will read something like “[REDACTED: possible credit card number]” the next time you open that contact. That applies however the value arrived: a signup form, the API, Zapier, a CSV import, a connected tool, or typed by hand. Anything already stored is cleaned up overnight.

• The original value isn’t kept anywhere. It’s removed so it isn’t stored, not just hidden. Letterhead can tell you which field was cleared, when, and what kind of information it looked like, but not what it said.
• It can’t be undone. If you still need the value, re-enter it; it came from you, so you’ll have it already.
• Occasionally it catches something innocent. A long order or tracking number can look like a card number. If that keeps happening on a field, or a value was cleared and you’re not sure why, contact support and we can look up which of that contact’s fields were affected and when.

Reserved system fields

Letterhead maintains read-only system fields that start with __lh., such as a subscriber’s mailbox provider and engagement state. You can segment on them but can’t edit or delete them, and you can’t make a custom field under an __lh. name.

All built-in profile fields

Field Name (label)	Description	Accepted Data Type	Key	Example
First name	Your audience member’s first or given name	TEXT	name	John
Last name	Last name or family name	TEXT	surname	Doe
Email	Your contact’s email address	EMAIL	email	[email protected]
Subscription status	This person’s newsletter subscription status. People who previously unsubscribed through Letterhead cannot be force-resubscribed this way.	PICKLIST	status	Subscribed, Unsubscribed
Tags	Use tags to sort your audience members	TEXT	tags	Interests, Groups, Categories
Age	Your audience member’s age	NUMBER	age	30
Birthday	Audience member’s birthday	DATE_ISO	birthday	1990-01-01
Subscription started date/time	The date and time this person subscribed	DATETIME_ISO	subscribedTime	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
IP Address	The IP address from which the member subscribed	TEXT	subscribedIP	192.158.1.38
Opt-in date	If different from subscription date, the date the member opted in	DATETIME_ISO	optInTime	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
Opt-in IP address	The IP address from which the member opted in	TEXT	optInIP	192.158.1.37
Date unsubscribed	The date this person unsubscribed, if applicable	TEXT	unsubscribeTime	2023-08-01
Unsubscribed IP address	The IP address from which the member unsubscribed	TEXT	unsubscribeIP	192.158.1.39
Last contacted	Date you last contacted this person	DATETIME_ISO	lastContact	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
Member status	A value of your choice identifying membership in a program	TEXT	memberStatus	Training and Development
Member status last modified	When Member Status was last changed	DATETIME_ISO	memberStatusChangedDate	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
Subscriber Status	The member’s subscriber status	TEXT	subscriberStatus	Active
Subscriber Status last change date	When the Subscriber Status was last changed	DATETIME_ISO	subscriberStatusChangedDate	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
Delivery Preference	The member’s delivery preference	TEXT	deliveryPreference	email
Referral Status	The member’s referral status	TEXT	referralStatus	Referred
Referral Source	The source from which the member was referred	TEXT	referralSource	LinkedIn, Email
Referred By - Email	Email address of who referred this member	TEXT	referredByEmail	[email protected]
Referred By - First Name	First name of who referred this member	TEXT	referredByFirstName	Jane
Referred By - Last Name	Last name of who referred this member	TEXT	referredByLastName	Doe
Events	Events associated with this member	TEXT	events	Convention
Last Event Date	Date of last recorded event	TEXT	lastEventDate	2022-11-10
Purchases	Purchases associated with this member	TEXT	purchases
Last Purchase Date	Date of the member’s last recorded purchase	DATETIME_ISO	lastPurchaseDate	2022-10-31T01:30:00.000-05:00
Notes	Notes about the member (up to 2,500 characters)	TEXT	notes
Custom Behavior 1–4	Custom behavior fields you may set for the member	TEXT	customBehavior1 … customBehavior4
Content Topics	Content topics associated with this member	TEXT	contentTopics
Most Engaged Topics	Most engaged topics for this member	TEXT	mostEngagedTopics
Most Engaged Sources	Most engaged content sources for this member	TEXT	mostEngagedSources
Last Newsletter Delivered	Last newsletter campaign delivered to this member	TEXT	lastCampaignDelivered	2022-10-31
Last Campaign Opened	Title of last campaign opened	TEXT	lastCampaignOpened	2022-10-31
Last Link Clicked	URL of the last clicked link	URL	lastLinkClicked	www.tryletterhead.com
Gender	Member’s gender	TEXT	gender	Female, Male, Prefer not to specify
Race	Member’s race	TEXT	race	White, Hispanic, Asian, Prefer not to specify
Ethnicity	Member’s ethnicity	TEXT	ethnicity	Middle Eastern, Irish, Pacific Islander, etc.
Sexual Orientation	Member’s sexual orientation	TEXT	sexualOrientation	Heterosexual, bisexual, etc.
Marital Status	Member’s marital status	TEXT	maritalStatus	Single, married, widowed, divorced, separated
Income	Member’s income	NUMBER	income	$10,000
CRM ID	CRM identifier for the member	TEXT	CRMID	OPH14FRE
Custom ID 1–4	Custom ID fields for the member	TEXT	customID1 … customID4	OPH15FRE
Language	Language associated with this member	TEXT	language	English, Spanish, Mandarin, etc.
Address - Line 1	First line of the member’s street address	TEXT	addressLine1	1234 Letterhead Ln
Address - Line 2	Second line of the member’s street address	TEXT	addressLine2	Apt. 64
Address - City	City of the member’s address	TEXT	city	Miami
Address - State or Province	State/province of the member’s address	TEXT	stateProvince	FL
Address - Postal Code	Postal code of the member’s address	TEXT	postalCode	30535
Address - Country	Country of the member’s address	TEXT	country	United States
Latitude	Member’s latitude	NUMBER	latitude	25.7617° N
Longitude	Member’s longitude	NUMBER	longitude	80.1918° W
Region	Member’s region	TEXT	region
Time Zone	Member’s time zone code	TEXT	timeZone	EST
Last IP Address	The last IP address associated with the member	TEXT	lastIPAddress	192.168.123.132
Name - Honorific	Honorific for the member’s name	TEXT	honorific	Mr, Dr, Captain, etc.
Name - Suffix	Suffix of the member’s name	TEXT	suffix	Jr, II
Pronouns	Member’s pronouns	TEXT	pronouns	He/Him, She/Her, They/Them
Home Phone	Home phone, including country code	PHONE_NUMBER	homePhone	13055556666
Work Phone	Work phone, including country code	PHONE_NUMBER	workPhone	13055556666
Mobile Phone	Mobile phone, including country code	TEXT	mobilePhone	13055556666
Job Title	Member’s job title	TEXT	jobTitle	Marketing Manager
Job - Company or Organization Name	Company or organization associated with the member’s job	TEXT	jobCompanyOrOrganizationName	Letterhead
Education	Member’s education	TEXT	education	Undergrad, Master’s degree
Religion	Member’s religion	TEXT	religion	Catholic
Political Affiliation	Member’s political affiliation	TEXT	politicalAffiliation	Democratic Party
Interests	Member’s interests	TEXT	interests	Writing, Music, Gardening
Attitudes	Member’s attitudes	TEXT	attitudes
Beliefs	Member’s beliefs	TEXT	beliefs
Children	Member’s children	TEXT	children	Tommy, Gina
Pets	Member’s pets	TEXT	pets
Letterhead ID	Member’s Letterhead ID	NUMBER	letterheadID	a79564
Website	Member’s website URL	URL	website	https://www.tryletterhead.com/
Business Website	Member’s business website URL	URL	businessWebsite
Google	Member’s Google profile name	TEXT	googleProfileName
Twitter	Member’s Twitter profile	TEXT	twitterProfileName
Facebook	Member’s Facebook profile	TEXT	facebookProfileName
Instagram	Member’s Instagram profile	TEXT	instagramProfileName
TikTok	Member’s TikTok profile	TEXT	tikTokProfileName
LinkedIn	Member’s LinkedIn profile	TEXT	linkedInProfileName
GitHub	Member’s GitHub profile	TEXT	githubProfileName
Snapchat	Member’s Snapchat profile	TEXT	snapchatProfileName
Website profile	Member’s profile name on your website	TEXT	websiteProfileName
Custom Web Profile 1–4	Custom web profiles for this member	TEXT	customWebProfile1 … customWebProfile4

Last Delivery Date

Last Delivery Date isn’t a field you can set. It’s a merge tag Letterhead works out each time a newsletter goes out, with a built-in fallback. You can use it in your templates, but you can’t set or update it through fields, CSV upload, or the API, so it’s not in the table above.