Create and Manage Classic Form Fields

Form fields collect information about your contacts, such as their email address, and allow you to leverage the stored information to create more targeted and personalized displays, emails, and text messages for your customers. 

Default form fields

Privy creates default properties in each account to store key information. These fields are broken down into three main categories: Customer Attributes, Email Sync status, and Other.

Customer attributes

• Birthday: the contact's birthday is presented as the month and day OR the month, day, and year. 
• Email: the contact's primary email address. 
• Email Opt-in: an extra confirmation step to verify each email's eligibility for email marketing. Factors such as your industry or location will dictate if an opt-in is required for compliance purposes. For more information, check out this article on marketing consent. 
• Name: the contact's full name, first name, or last name.
• Phone: the contact's phone number. The field supports domestic (US) and international numbers as long as the country code is included. Please Note: Privy Text messages can only be sent to numbers registered in the United States and Canada (+1 country code) at this time. 
• Text Opt-in: an extra confirmation step to verify each phone number's eligibility for SMS marketing. The field is automatically added to displays where the phone field is included to adhere to SMS marketing compliance laws. If there is no intention to send text messages to the collected phone numbers, this field is unnecessary and can be deleted. For more information, check out this article on marketing consent. 

Email Sync

• Subscription Dropdown: a dropdown menu that allows contacts to elect to join a specific mailing list from a linked third-party email service provider (e.g., Shopify or Klaviyo). 
• Subscription Multiple Select: a selection area that allows contacts to elect to join multiple mailing lists from a linked third-party email service provider (e.g., Shopify or Klaviyo). 
• Subscription Single Select: a selection area that allows contacts to elect to join a specific mailing list from a linked third-party email service provider (e.g., Shopify or Klaviyo). 

Other

• Hidden field: A text field that will be submitted but not visible to the contact submitting the form. Hidden fields can be configured to send a predefined value or a detected attribute like the contact's current URL or the number of pages they've viewed. To send a predefined value, enter it in the Value input. To send a detected attribute, select one from the dropdown menu.

Form field types

When you create a custom field in Privy, the type of information you want the field to collect and store will determine the field type to select.

• Date: stores a date value. The field allows users to input a specific date in a standard format, ensuring no confusion between the day, month, and year components when inputting the information. This field can be marked as required or optional.
• Dropdown: asks users to select from a predefined set of values. The data stored and transmitted will be the value the user selected. If multiple values are allowed, and the user selects multiple values, they will be stored as a single comma-separated string. This field can be marked as required or optional.
• Multiple Select (Checkboxes): a group of multiple-choice fields that asks users to check all boxes that apply. If multiple checkboxes are defined in the group, and the user selects multiple values, they will be stored and transmitted as a single comma-separated string. This field can be marked as required or optional. 
• Single Select (Radio): a group of multiple-choice radio inputs. Users must pick exactly one option. This field can be marked as required or optional. 
• Text: stores a single string of any alphanumeric characters such as a word, a phrase, or a sentence submitted by the user. This field can be marked as required or optional.

Add a default field to a form

To add a default field to a display's form: 

• Navigate to Convert > All Displays and select or create a display with a form. 
• In the Create step of the display builder, select the Form fields option. 
• Confirm that the form is enabled and select the Add Field button followed by the desired field from the dropdown menu. 
• Select the Save option. 

Create a custom form field

When gathering information for your business that is not covered by Privy's default fields, you can create new custom fields when building a display form or importing contacts. Before proceeding, it is important to understand the terms defined below: 

• Label: is what is shown to the user in the form. Some fields cannot have their label changed. Some field types, like checkboxes, have options, each of which also has a label. Labels do not affect the data that is submitted. 
• Name: This determines how the field is identified in Privy and synced to partners. Some fields cannot have their names changed (e.g., Birthday). Each field must have a unique name. 

In the form editor

To create a new form field within the form editor: 

• Navigate to Convert > All Displays and select or create a display with a form. 
• In the Create step of the display builder, select the Form fields option. 
• Select the Add Field button, followed by the desired field type from the dropdown menu. 
• Configure the field's label, name, and any applicable options. 
• Select the Save option. 

The new custom field is now included in the display's form. 

The field will now appear on contact profiles, be available for content personalization, and be a field mapping option when importing future contacts or syncing contact information to linked accounts. 

During an import

Custom form fields can be created during the Match Your Columns step of the contact import process. To import contacts and access this option, check out this guide. 

Once the import has been completed, the custom field(s) will appear on contact profiles, be available for content personalization, and be a field mapping option when importing future contacts or syncing contact information to linked accounts.