Manage Audience and Signup Form Fields

Information about contacts is stored in audience fields and can be seen in the contact table and profile pages. Edit the fields to meet your needs through our form builder or through the audience settings in your Mailchimp account.

In this article, you'll learn about the different fields, how to add and delete fields, and how to add a predefined audience field.

Audience field types

There are several field types available to help you collect data when an email or SMS contact subscribes, or when you import existing data into your audience. If you plan to import contacts, make sure your data is formatted for our field types. Before you can import SMS contacts to your Mailchimp audience, you need to submit an application and be approved.

• Text
  Contacts provide typed responses. This field type is good for general questions, but character limits for audience fields prevent long responses. By default, new audiences include text fields to collect first and last names.
• Number
  Contacts provide any number, like age or an ID number. We recommend you use the Zip Code field for zip codes.
• Radio Buttons
  Contacts choose only one of a predefined set of options. Use our predefined options or create your own. This field can be used to create groups.
• Check Boxes
  Contacts select one or multiple options to select different interests. This field will always create a group in your audience.
• Drop Down
  Contacts choose only one of a predefined set of options. Use our predefined options or create your own. This field can be used to create groups. There's no limit to the amount of answers in drop-down or multiple choice fields, with one exception. Checkbox fields function as groups, and there's a sixty group limit for each audience.
• Date
  Contacts specify a date, including month, day, and year. This field supports U.S. and international date formats.
• Birthday
  Contacts specify a date, including month and day. Choose from Month/Day or Day/Month format.
• Address
  Contacts provide their full address, including country. When you create a new audience, this field is included by default, but hidden from signup forms.
• Zip Code
  Contacts provide 5-digit zip codes. Use an Address or Text field to collect international postal codes.
• Phone
  Contacts provide a local or international phone number. When you create a new audience, this field is included by default, but hidden from signup forms.
• Website
  Contacts provide a full URL. This field type generates the HTML code for a link. This field type is compatible with a full website URL only, and it can't be hyperlinked.
• Image
  Contacts provide an image URL. This can be used to display their own image or avatar in your emails.
• Language
  This field is included in your audience after you enable auto-translate for your signup form. We use it to keep track of your contacts' language preferences.

Add and delete fields in the form builder

When you add or remove fields from your signup form through our form builder, the same fields will be added to or removed from your audience database.

Add a field in the form builder

To add a field in the form builder, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   

2. Scroll to the Form builder tile, then click Manage forms.
   

3. If you have more than 1 audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.

4. Click the Build it tab.
   

5. In the Add a field section, select a field type. You can customize the new field's name, tag, and other characteristics under the Field settings menu.
   

6. Click Save Field to save your changes and add the field to your form.

Delete a field in the form builder

When you delete a field from the form builder, any data that has been collected from that field is permanently deleted from your audience. Rather than deleting, we recommend hiding the field from your signup form and instead. If you must delete a form field, back up your audience with an export first.

To delete a field in the form builder, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   
2. Scroll to the Form builder tile, then click Manage forms.
   
3. If you have more than 1 audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
4. Click the field you want to delete from your audience.
5. Click the minus (-) icon or Delete under the field settings for the field.
6. Type DELETE in all caps, then click Delete.

Add and delete fields in the audience settings

When you add or remove fields from the audience database, the same fields will be added to or removed from your signup form.

Add a field in the audience settings

To add a field in the audience settings, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   
2. Click Audience settings.
3. If you have more than 1 audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.
4. In the Settings section, click Audience fields and |MERGE| tags.

5. Click Add A Field to see the available field types and choose the type of field you'd like to add.
   

6. Name your field, then click Save Changes.

You can also set default merge tag values in the Default merge tag value column.

Delete a field in the audience settings

When you delete a field from the audience database, any data that has been collected from that field is also deleted from your audience. Back up your audience before deleting any fields, or hide fields from displaying on the audience and signup form.

To delete a field in the audience settings, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   

2. Click Audience settings.

3. If you have more than 1 audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.

4. In the Settings section, click Audience fields and |MERGE| tags.

5. Click the trash can icon next to the field you want to delete.
   

6. Type DELETE in all caps, then click Delete.

Add a predefined audience field

If you use our Drop Down or Radio Buttons field types, you can include predefined choices. Predefined choices include gender, days of the week, months of the year, U.S. states, and world countries.

To add a predefined audience field, follow these steps.

1. Click Audience, then click Signup forms.
   
2. Scroll to the Form builder tile, then click Manage forms.
   
3. If you have more than 1 audience, click the Audience drop-down and choose the one you want to work with.

4. Click the Build it tab, then click either Drop Down or Radio Buttons from the Add a field menu.

5. In the Menu options section, click the Predefined choice lists drop-down, then select the option you want.

6. Add, delete, or edit the choices for the field. Use the plus (+) icon to add an option and the minus (-) icon to delete an option. Click any entry to make changes.

7. Click Save Field.

Limits for audience fields

• Audience field values are limited to a maximum of 255 bytes of information. In many alphabets, this is equal to 255 characters. However, some alphabets or symbolic characters, like stars, use more than one byte of information per character.
• Labels for form fields are limited to 50 bytes (usually about 50 characters).
• After you add a field, the field type can't be changed. If you chose the wrong field type, delete the field and add a new field with the correct field type.
• Audiences are limited to a maximum of 30 data fields for each contact. If you want more than 30 fields of information about your contacts, use groups to help consolidate audience fields, or use tags instead.
• Mailchimp accounts on a Premium plan can map up to 80 fields.