Custom Fields Setup in Follow Up Boss

What are custom fields in Follow Up Boss and why do agents use them?

Custom fields let you attach structured data to any contact or deal record beyond FUB's built-in fields. Agents use them to capture buyer criteria, seller timelines, property preferences, and relationship notes in a consistent, queryable format — not buried in conversation threads.

Common use cases include:

• Buyer price range, preferred neighborhoods, and bedroom count
• Seller move-out timeline and motivation level
• Referral source detail beyond the built-in lead source field
• Past client home purchase anniversary date for re-engagement triggers
• Pre-approval status and lender name for buyer pipeline tracking

Once a field is populated — whether by your team or an AI tool — it unlocks smart list filtering, action plan branching, and lead routing rules. That's where custom fields go from a data-entry habit to an actual system.

How do you create a custom field in Follow Up Boss? (Step-by-step)

Creating a custom field takes under two minutes. Here is the exact path inside FUB:

1. Open Follow Up Boss and click Settings in the left sidebar.
2. Navigate to Custom Fields under the Data section.
3. Click Add Field in the upper-right corner.
4. Choose whether the field applies to Contacts or Deals.
5. Select a field type from the available options (see the table below).
6. Enter a clear, descriptive field name.
7. Optionally add a field group to keep related fields together on the contact record.
8. Click Save. The field is immediately available on all records.

Fields you create appear in the custom fields panel on each contact or deal record, in smart list filter dropdowns, and in action plan condition builders.

What field types does Follow Up Boss support?

FUB offers six field types. Choosing the right type matters because it controls how you filter and sort records later.

Use dropdowns and multi-selects whenever possible over free-text fields. Consistent values filter reliably; free-text fields accumulate variations ("SFH", "single family", "Single-Family") that break smart lists.

What are the best practices for naming and organizing custom fields?

Field discipline is the difference between a searchable database and a cluttered record. Follow these conventions from the start to avoid a painful cleanup later.

Naming conventions

• Prefix by category — use "Buyer:" or "Seller:" at the start of field names so the record panel stays organized at a glance (e.g., "Buyer: Price Max", "Seller: Move-Out Timeline").
• Be specific — "Price Range" is ambiguous; "Buyer: Max Purchase Price" is not.
• Avoid abbreviations — new agents and integrations need to read field names without a decoder ring.
• Use title case consistently — mixing cases across fields looks unprofessional in smart list exports.

Field groups

FUB lets you assign fields to named groups (e.g., "Buyer Criteria", "Seller Details", "Compliance"). Group all related fields together so agents do not scroll through an undifferentiated wall of inputs.

Contact fields vs. deal fields

Contact fields follow the person across every transaction. Deal fields are transaction-specific. Store buyer preferences on the contact; store offer price and inspection date on the deal. Mixing them leads to stale data showing up on repeat clients.

Avoid field proliferation

Every field you create is a field your agents need to fill in — or leave empty. Aim for fields that will be populated on at least 30% of new contacts within the first 30 days. Fields that stay blank do not help smart lists or action plan triggers.

Where do custom fields appear inside Follow Up Boss?

Once created, a field surfaces in four places across FUB, making it a first-class data point rather than a hidden note:

• Contact/Deal record panel — the primary place agents read and update values during conversations.
• Smart lists — filter your entire database by any custom field value; build lists like "Buyers: Max $600k AND Pre-Approved" in seconds.
• Action plan triggers and conditions — branch follow-up sequences based on field values (e.g., send a different drip to "Seller: Timeline = 6–12 months" contacts).
• Lead routing rules — route incoming leads to the right agent or team based on custom field criteria set during intake.

The team inbox, calling/texting queue, and iOS/Android apps all display custom fields inline on the record, so agents have context regardless of where they work.

How do you get custom fields from the Follow Up Boss API? (the allFields parameter)

By default, the Follow Up Boss People endpoint returns a core subset of fields. Passing the fields=allFields parameter expands the response to include every custom field on the record. It works on both the single-contact endpoint and the paginated list endpoint:

# One contact, with all custom fields
GET https://api.followupboss.com/v1/people/123?fields=allFields

# A page of contacts, with all custom fields
GET https://api.followupboss.com/v1/people?fields=allFields&limit=100&offset=0

To discover which custom fields an account has — and their machine names and types — call the /v1/customFields endpoint. The response is paginated; follow the _metadata.next cursor to walk every field:

GET https://api.followupboss.com/v1/customFields?limit=100
# next page, using the cursor from _metadata.next:
GET https://api.followupboss.com/v1/customFields?limit=100&next=<cursor>

Authentication

Follow Up Boss uses HTTP Basic auth. Send your API key as the username with an empty password (note the trailing colon, which sets a blank password):

curl "https://api.followupboss.com/v1/people/123?fields=allFields" \
  -u YOUR_API_KEY:

Follow Up Ace reads complete lead profiles with fields=allFields. After the account owner authorizes the canonical definitions and a scoring run completes, supported values enter the guarded write queue; a webhook or queued job is not proof that a field is already queryable. If you would rather not build against the raw API, the Follow Up Ace MCP exposes authorized CRM data conversationally. For webhooks and the wider API surface, see our Follow Up Boss API integration guide.

How do you use the current Ace scoring fields?

Here is where Follow Up Ace changes the picture. The biggest friction with custom fields is the manual data entry — fields only help if someone fills them in. Ace solves this for lead-scoring data specifically.

The current catalog contains two free fields and five Ace Trove fields. Each definition has one meaning and one owner; live prose, channel history, and response-time reporting remain outside the Ace custom-field catalog.

Sort Win Score descending or filter Churn Risk = High, then review the contact record. Trove fields add account-wide modeled segmentation, but a blank or stale value must never be treated as zero.

Manual custom fields vs. Ace-populated fields: what's the difference in practice?

Understanding where manual fields end and Ace fields begin helps you design a field strategy that actually gets used.

Use manual fields for facts agents know at intake—price range, timeline, property type, and communication preference. Use Ace fields only for the seven modeled outputs above, and use live FUB history or Companion for narrative context.

How does the Ace Trove use custom fields for account-level analysis?

Ace Trove adds Expected GCI, Opportunity, Seller Tier, Buyer Tier, and Last Analyzed to the two free fields. Warehouse-backed views can then compare modeled values with native source, stage, response, and transaction data without inventing extra FUB fields.

The agentic tools built on top include pipeline-health and nurture reviews. Treat their output as evidence for an agent or admin to assess, not an automatic reassignment instruction.

Can I use custom fields to trigger action plans or route leads automatically?

Yes. FUB's action plans and lead routing both read custom field values as conditions. Here are two common patterns teams build once their custom fields are populated consistently:

Action plan branching on Ace Win Score

1. Create an action plan for new leads in your database.
2. Build a saved view sorted by Ace Win Score descending; do not invent a fixed temperature cutoff.
3. Review stage, consent, ownership, and recent conversation history before applying a configured action plan.
4. Use a separate Ace Churn Risk = High view for save-list review rather than automatic enrollment.

The view re-sorts as supported values change, but action-plan changes and outbound messages should remain deliberate and agent-reviewed.

Lead routing on buyer price range

1. Set a "Buyer: Max Purchase Price" number field on your intake form or via action plan questionnaire.
2. In lead routing, create a rule: if "Buyer: Max Purchase Price" is greater than your luxury threshold, assign to your luxury specialist team.
3. Route all other buyers to the general buyer's agent pool.

Both patterns depend on fields being consistently populated — which is exactly why the distinction between manual fields (you fill) and Ace fields (auto-filled) matters for your routing design.

What should I avoid when setting up custom fields?

Most field setups go wrong in the same few ways. Avoid these:

• Too many text fields — every free-text field is a data quality liability. Use dropdowns for anything categorical.
• Duplicate fields for the same concept — "Timeline", "Move Timeline", and "Seller Timeline" in the same database produce split smart lists and agent confusion. Pick one name and enforce it.
• Skipping field groups — without groups, the custom field panel on a contact becomes a scroll of 30+ unrelated inputs. Group from day one.
• Recreating what Ace already tracks — do not build a manual "Lead Temperature" dropdown if you have Ace Win Score. Duplicate fields for the same concept create maintenance overhead and contradictory values.
• No agent training — a field that nobody fills in is wasted schema. Brief your team on which fields are mandatory at intake and which are optional enrichment.

For teams thinking about compliance-safe communication practices, it is also worth noting that Ace's compliance tools scan message content before it goes out — a separate layer from custom field data, but equally important for a well-run FUB setup.

How do I get started with Ace's automatic custom fields?

Connect Follow Up Boss, have the FUB account owner authorize field creation, and wait for Ace to report structural verification. Free accounts should see only Win Score and Churn Risk; eligible Trove accounts should see those two plus the five Trove definitions.

A field definition proves schema, not freshness. Confirm a completed scoring state and supported value before using the field in a live workflow.