Contact Fields Manager

What are Contact Fields?

This feature allows for Contact-specific custom fields. By default, all Mainstay Contacts will include a set of standard fields. Organizations can also create custom fields. These can be created, edited, and deleted within the Contact Fields Manager.

View your Custom Contact Fields

1. Log in to the Mainstay platform and navigate to the Contacts tool in the navigation bar.
2. Click on the Contact Settings option in the sidebar.
3. This shows the list of Contact Fields, including the Name, Type, and whether this information is available in Escalations and Generative AI features.
   • Note that you will not see any values here, as those are specific to the individual Contact.
4. Enter a term into the Search field to filter the displayed list to only Contact Fields whose Name includes the search text.
5. Sort the page by Field Name, Type, Escalations, or Generative AI (see below).

Add or Edit a Custom Contact Field

1. From this list, click on an existing Field to edit it. Or click the Add Contact Field button at the top to create a new one.
2. This slides out a drawer on the right.
3. Enter a display name in the Name field. This is what will appear in the list, when searching, and within the individual Contact panel.
4. Optionally enter a Description. This will appear in the list and will in a tooltip next to the field name on the contact panel.
5. Select a Type to ensure the value is properly validated. Note that if the Field already exists, you will not be able to change the Type, as contacts may already have a value set for this Field. Available types are:
   • URL
   • Email
   • Text
   • Date
   • Phone
   • Number
   • True / False
   • Multi-Choice
6. If you selected the Multi-Choice Type, you can then add 1+ options. This determines what is available in a drop-down menu on the Contact panel.
7. Below that is a preview of the field as it will appear within the individual Contact panel.
8. There are also checkboxes that control various settings:
   • Set whether this field should be included in Escalation messages. 
   • Determine if this field should be included in prompts for Generative AI features.
9. Click Save to submit your changes, or click the X in the top-right to cancel.

Add or Edit a Multi-Choice Contact Field

1. Once inside the editing panel, select Multi-Choice from the type dropdown.
2. Click Add Option to reveal a new option input. Options are stored as string values, and must be unique within a Field.
3. Click Save to update the options for this Field.
4. Click the X button to remove an existing option. Note that deleting an option will remove that option from all individual Contacts. Thus, if any Contacts have that option selected for this Contact Field, this value will be permanently lost.

Delete a Custom Contact Field

1. Select the field you wish to delete; this opens up the editing panel.
2. Click the 3 dots in the top-right corner of the editing panel.
3. Select Delete. A warning modal will appear. Confirm to permanently delete this Field.
4. Note that deleting a Contact Field will remove that field from all individual Contacts. Thus, if any Contacts have a value set for that field, this value will be permanently lost.
5. If the Contact Field is still in use for any Audiences or personalized Understandings, it will not be possible to delete it.

See Where a Contact Field is Used

When viewing an individual Contact Field in the editing panel, there will be a list of References to this field, including Understandings (personalized responses), Scripts (personalized script messages, Save Actions), and Audiences.

Download Contact Fields

Click the ... overflow menu, and then Download to export a CSV file containing information about your custom contact fields, with the following columns:

• ID
• Name
• Type
• Description
• Included in Escalations
• Included in Generative AI
• Multi-choice Options

Upload Contact Fields

Click the Import Contact Fields button to open an overlay modal, where you can select or drag-and-drop a CSV file containing Custom Contact Fields. This file must contain the same columns as the Download file. (See above.) You can use this feature to make non-destructive changes:

• Add a new field
• Change the name or description of an existing field
• Change a setting for an existing field:
  • "Included in Escalations"
  • "Included in Generative AI"
• Add multi-choice options to an existing field

The upload cannot be used to make destructive changes that could affect contact records:

• Delete a field
• Change the data-type of an existing field
• Remove multi-choice options from an existing field

After uploading, the modal will give an indication of the number of fields successfully created or updated, as well as a report containing any errors.

Converting the Type of a Custom Contact Field

Before Contact Fields with data-type validation, Mainstay partners could create custom fields via import, but these fields were always type Text. When these new Contact Fields were created, existing custom fields were migrated as type Text.

If you have 1 or more Text fields that you would like to convert into other data-types, follow the steps below. (Note: If you are using integrations, make sure to disable those during this process.)

1. Navigate to the Contacts tool and click "..." and then click Download to download a CSV of all contact data.
   • Make sure that all of your Custom fields appear. If any are missing from this report, please contact your Partner Success Manager.
      
2. Navigate to the Contact Fields manager and click on the field you would like to convert to a different data-type.
    
3. This will open the drawer. Delete the field. This will remove the data from all existing contacts.
   • Repeat this for all fields you wish to convert to a new data-type.
4. In the top-left corner, click Import Contacts. Drop-in your previously downloaded CSV of contact data.
5. In the importer, make sure First Name, Last Name, Phone, and other top-level fields used for matching are mapped correctly (this should not change).
6. For each field you wish to convert, select Choose or Create. This will open the Contact Field drawer, as above, where you can add the name and select the new data-type.
7. When you complete the import, all contacts will be updated with the new field and the data-type validated values from the CSV.
8. Please note: if you previously created audience segments (filters) using these fields, you may need to edit those rules to reference these new fields. Even if the fields have the same name, they are not technically the same entity.
9. Additionally, if you are using any integrations, you will need to remap your fields to the new ones you have created.

Comparing Contact Fields and Labels

When deciding whether to use a Custom Contact Field or a Label, use the table below to compare their functionality:

For Custom Contact Fields, a contact can have many fields, but each field can only hold one value.

For Labels, there is just one "Labels" field, but it can contain many values.

You can think of it like this:

• Custom Contact Fields are like a set of labeled jars on a shelf — each jar is for one specific type of information (like “Advisor Name” or “Student ID”), and you can only put one thing in each jar.

• Labels are like a bulletin board of sticky notes — you can add as many notes as you want, each note representing a label (like “Fall 2025 Cohort,” “Honors Program,” or “Interested in Events”).