In Switchboard, we make it easy to customize your texts for every audience! With our existing ability to insert custom fields into text, every text you write can use unique data specific to the recipient. This data is pulled from the list you attached to a broadcast, we call this a LIST FIELD. All phone lists in Switchboard have LIST FIELDS. Let’s say I uploaded the below CSV into Switchboard, every column header is a LIST FIELD I can use as a custom field to customize my texts!
| cell | first_name | last_name | zipcode | state |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1234567890 | John | Smith | 99000 | MD |
Every time you upload a list, the LIST FIELD might be called something different, making data for the same recipient a little complicated across lists, especially when you are combining lists in Switchboard.
Switchboard also has something called a REUSABLE FIELD. A REUSABLE FIELD looks like this: {{sb_first_name}} or {{sb_last_name}} and allows Switchboard to keep track of data for a recipient across multiple lists regardless of the title of the LIST FIELD! Essentially, Switchboard helps you keep track of data across all types of lists without you having to put in the work to standardize naming systems.
Keeping track of naming conventions for custom fields across different lists and list types can be tough. Depending on the integration you are using or the CSV you are uploading from, data might be named completely different things; for example, first name data for a recipient could be marked in your list with the header as {{firstname}} or {{FirstName}} or even {{first_Name}}.
When you are combining and suppressing lists, this makes adding customizations to texts complicated. You may end up needing to use a complicated custom field formula in order to capture all the available data for your recipients.
For example to add a first name to a text you may need to use a custom field that looks like this: {{firstname or first_name or FirstName or ‘Friend’}}
With REUSABLE FIELDS, every time you upload a list you will be prompted to set your fields and match your data from your list with our REUSABLE FIELDS in order to save the data for future use! So instead of having to type out {{firstname or First or FirstName or ‘Friend’}} and worry you are missing data for some recipients, you can just say {{sb_first_name}}.
Some list types automatically update reusable fields, others require you to set the fields that update. Check out the different ways you can update reusable fields based on the list you upload/import:
