🚀 Why Custom Fields Matter (What Data You Should Track)
Insurance agents track a lot.
Name, phone number, email, state, age… and then it gets deeper:
- policy number
- policy carrier
- plan type
- marketplace ID (ACA)
- renewal details
- dispositions and notes
If that data is scattered—or worse, not tracked at all—your follow-up becomes messy, your team gets confused, and your automation can’t personalize anything.
That’s why custom fields (also called contact details) matter.
Custom fields are simply “buckets” inside Agent CRM where important client and lead information is stored—so you can reference it later, automate around it, and keep records clean as you scale.
📍 Where Contact Details Live Inside the Contact Profile
Inside any contact record, you’ll see a left-hand column called:
Contact Details
This is where information about your lead or client lives.
At the top you’ll see a General section.
Below that, you’ll see additional folders—and those folders are where organization becomes powerful.
🗂️ Folders: How Your Data Stays Organized (Especially With Multiple Products)
The folders in Contact Details can be:
- rearranged
- reorganized
- renamed
- added
- deleted
Why does that matter?
Because most agents don’t sell one product.
If you sell multiple products, you should store product-specific info in product-specific folders. That keeps the record clean and makes the contact profile faster to use.
Example:
The ACA folder might include:
- marketplace ID
- carrier
- plan type
- eligibility details
Many Branning Bundles already include 90–95% of what you need out of the box. But you may still have unique data points you want to track—especially if your process is more detailed.
✉️ The “Bonus Power” of Custom Fields: Personalized Emails and Texts
Custom fields are not just for record-keeping.
They unlock personalization inside automations.
Meaning: your emails and texts can dynamically “pull” data from the contact profile and insert it into the message automatically.
For example:
Instead of manually typing a policy number every time, you can send a message that includes the contact’s policy number as a dynamic field.
This is how you create messages that feel personal at scale—without doing manual work for every single client.
🔑 What a Custom Field “Query Key” Is (and Why You Should Care)
Every custom field has a query key.
Think of the query key as the unique identifier Agent CRM uses to “pull” the right piece of data into messages and workflows.
You’ve already seen this in messages like:
- {{contact.first_name}} (Contact First Name)
When you insert custom fields into an email or SMS, Agent CRM uses the query key behind the scenes to grab the correct value from the contact record.
So if you store “Policy Number” in the contact profile, you can insert it into an SMS or email and it will populate automatically—as long as the field has been filled in.
That is what makes automation feel customized.
⚙️ Where to Manage Custom Fields
To manage custom fields:
Settings (bottom left) → Custom Fields
Inside Custom Fields, you’ll see:
- fields organized alphabetically
- folders (vertical dropdown groups)
- deleted fields (useful for audits and recovery)
This is also where you’ll organize folders so your most-used info is easy to access.
🔄 Rearranging Folders for a Faster Workflow
This is a simple but underrated move.
You can drag folders to reorder them based on how you work.
Example:
If your main product is Life Insurance (not Medicare), you can drag the Life folder closer to the top.
Why this matters:
When you’re on the phone, you don’t want to hunt for critical info.
Time wasted searching = slower service and less confidence.
Your contact profile should feel like a well-organized workstation, not a junk drawer.
✏️ Renaming Folders for Clarity
You can also rename folders so they match your internal language.
To rename:
- click Edit next to the folder
- choose Rename
- save the change
Clear folder names make the whole system easier for you and your team.
⚠️ Avoid Duplicate Fields (This Is More Important Than People Realize)
Before creating new fields, check whether the field already exists.
Duplicate fields create confusion fast.
Example:
If you accidentally create two “Policy Number” fields in different folders, your team will eventually ask:
“Which one are we using?”
That’s how systems get messy.
Best practice:
✅ Search first
✅ Confirm where you’re storing that data
✅ Use one source of truth for each key data point
➕ How to Create a New Custom Field
If you’ve confirmed a field doesn’t exist, here’s how to create one:
- Go to Settings → Custom Fields
- Click Add Field (top right)
- Choose a field type
You’ll see multiple options, including:
- Single line text
- Multi-line text
- Number / monetary fields
- Phone number
- Dropdown (single select)
- Dropdown (multi select)
- And more
Example from the training:
If you want to track carrier, a dropdown single-select is often better than a text field—because it keeps data consistent.
So you might create:
- Field name: ACA Carrier
- Type: Dropdown (single)
- Options: Aetna, Cigna, etc.
- Folder: ACA
🧠 Organization Now Prevents Headaches Later
The system gets harder to clean as time passes.
If you create fields without structure, you may not feel it today—but you will feel it a year from now.
That’s why the rule is simple:
✅ Create fields intentionally
✅ Place them in the correct folder
✅ Keep naming clean
✅ Avoid duplicates
A clean field structure now saves you hours later.
✅ Saving Changes (Manual vs Autosave)
When you make changes to custom fields or folder order:
- make sure you click Save
- or enable Autosave if you don’t want to remember
This prevents changes from being lost and keeps your layout consistent.
🚀 Advanced Use: Custom Fields Can Trigger Automations
Custom fields aren’t only for personalization.
They can also be used as workflow triggers.
That means you can build automation logic like:
- “If Carrier = X, send this sequence”
- “If Policy Type changes, trigger a review reminder”
- “If Marketplace ID is added, mark as enrolled”
You’re already experiencing some of this through the Branning Bundles.
As you get more comfortable, you can build even more powerful workflows with field-based logic.
🎯 Final Advice: Start Simple, Then Optimize
Start with the essentials.
Start with the Branning Bundles.
Then optimize your system over time based on how you actually work day-to-day.
Custom fields are one of the biggest “quiet multipliers” inside Agent CRM:
They make your contact records cleaner.
They make your follow-up more personal.
And they make automation more powerful.
🔗 Need Help? Here Are Your Next Steps
If you want help cleaning up workflow overlap, fixing message issues, or tightening your automations, here are the best links to use:
