Every contact group in iSend has the basic fields, phone, first name, last name, email, company, address, salutation, gender, date of birth and anniversary, and accepts custom fields of yours in four types: text, number, date, date with time. Custom fields are filled from a file import and by hand, go into the text of messages as tags, such as {PINAKIDA}, and feed the automations, such as the appointment reminder.
How to add a field
- Open the contact group and click Manage fields.
- Click New field and fill in:
| Setting | What it is | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Label | The name you see in forms and in the list | "Appointment", "License plate", "Store" |
| Tag | The technical name, in Latin uppercase letters and underscores, no spaces | RANTEVOU, PINAKIDA, KATASTIMA |
| Type | Text, number, date, date with time | Appointment: date with time. License plate: text |
| Default value | What the contact gets if no value is given | Store: "Downtown" |
| Required | Whether the contact cannot be saved without a value | Usually no |
| Visible | Whether it appears in the contact list and in the form | Yes |
- Save. The field appears on every contact in the group, empty, until you fill it in.
You can also create a date field from inside the automation form, with the quick-create button, when the group does not yet have the field the automation needs.
Fields belong to the group, not to the account. If you want the same field in two groups, you create it in both, with the same tag so that the file import maps it automatically. When you copy a group, the fields and their values are copied along with it.
How the fields are filled
- By hand, from the contact's record.
- In bulk, from Excel or CSV. This is the main way. You add one column per custom field to the file, with its tag as the header, e.g.
PINAKIDAorRANTEVOU, save it as CSV and upload it in the import. On the mapping screen your custom fields appear next to the basic ones, and a column whose header matches the tag is mapped on its own. For a file with other headers, you pick the field from the list. Dates are written as day/month/year, e.g. 21/10/2026, and with time as 21/10/2026 11:30. Contacts that already exist get the new value, so a file with a phone number and one column is enough to update a field in bulk. - From the API. The contact create and update calls accept every field of the group with its tag as the parameter name, next to PHONE, and reading returns them under the same name:
POST https://sms.isend.gr/api/http/contacts/{group_id}/store
{"PHONE":"306912345678","FIRST_NAME":"Μαρία","PINAKIDA":"ΙΚΤ-1234","RANTEVOU":"21/10/2026 11:30","consent_source":"existing_customer"}
The sample payload uses a Greek first name (Maria) and a Greek license plate, as a Greek customer would be stored. This way your appointment software or ERP writes the appointment or the license plate directly to the contact. The article about the API has the connection details.
The file import updates existing contacts, so a daily file with phone number and appointment is enough to keep the field up to date.
What they are used for
- Appointments. A date with time field and an appointment-type automation, which sends a reminder before each contact's time. The article about the appointment reminder has the steps.
- Expirations. A date field and an anniversary automation with the "once" option, for a message X days before an insurance policy, contract or warranty expires.
- Organization. A text field such as "Store" or "Salesperson", so you know which customer belongs where when you look at the list or export the contacts.
- Calendar sync. The Google Calendar sync writes the time of each event to the appointment field you specify.
The fields inside the message
Every field of the group, basic or custom, goes into the message with its tag in curly braces. If you created a field with the tag PINAKIDA, you write:
{FIRST_NAME_VOC}, the vehicle inspection for {PINAKIDA} expires on {KTEO_LIXI}. Book an appointment at 2310 000 000.
The replacement is done per recipient in campaigns, in automations and in quick send to numbers that exist as contacts. If the contact has no value in the field, the tag is removed. The article about personalization tags has the list of the basic ones and the length rules. For data that changes per message and does not belong to the contact, such as the order number, the WooCommerce plugin and the API put the value directly into the text.
Frequently asked questions
Can I filter contacts by a custom field?
The contact list shows the visible fields as columns, so you can see and search them. For sending to a subset, the safest way is a separate group per value, e.g. one group per store, as the article about contact groups suggests.
What happens if I delete a field?
Its values on all contacts in the group are deleted too, and the automations that used it are left without a field. Export the contacts before deleting, if the values are worth keeping.
Can I change the type of a field?
Better not, when it already has values. A text field that becomes a date field does not convert the old values. Create a new field with the correct type and fill it from a file.