Using the Attachment URL Custom Field

You can create custom fields that can be used in various locations in the Lead Gen application. These custom fields come in a variety of formats, enabling you to tailor your Lead Gen & CRM instance to your company’s needs. The Attachment URL field allows leads to attach and submit a file.

 

Tip: Are you looking for information about Constant Contact’s Email and Digital Marketing product? This article is for Constant Contact’s Lead Gen & CRM product. Head on over to the Email and Digital Marketing articles by clicking here. Not sure what the difference is? Read this article.

---

 

Article Contents

• Understanding the Attachment URL Custom Field
• Creating the Attachment URL Field 
• Mapping the Field on Import
• Using the Field in Emails and Workflows

 

Users:

Administrators	✓
Company Managers	✓
Marketing Managers	✓
Sales Managers
Salespersons
Jr. Salespersons

Understanding the Attachment URL custom field

The Attachment URL custom field is a lead field containing a URL for attachments outside of Lead Gen & CRM. While the Attachment URL can be any URL link, since it stores file locations, it's mainly used in emails to add attachments. For example, consider that you have a file hosted at the following URL:

http://yourownwebsitehere.com/myFile.PDF

You can place that URL in the leads' Attachment URL field, and create an email with the merge variable so the URL's file becomes an email attachment without showing in the email body. This lets you attach different files to different leads, so the same email can have different attachments—all depending on the URL stored in a recipient's field.

Important: This will only work if the email is sent from a visual workflow or action group. If sent to a list, the file will not be attached.

Creating the Attachment URL field 

To begin, you'll need to create a custom Attachment URL field to use in other features found in your Lead Gen & CRM account.

1. Click    User Menu > Settings in the top toolbar or   Settings in the bottom left corner of the screen. 
   
2. Click Custom Fields, located under Features in the left panel.
3. Click Add Field. 
   
    
4. Enter the Field Label or name of your new custom field.
   
   Important: Creating a custom field with the same name as a system field makes that system field invisible and unusable on the platform. Contact support to restore system fields. 
   
   
5. Select the Lead Relationship. 
6. Select a folder to put your field in. 
7. Select the Email Merge Variable checkbox. Select any additional Availability settings as needed.
8. Select the Attachment URL field type.
9. Click Create Field. 
   
    

Mapping the field on import

When importing CSV files, if there is an Attachment URL column included in the file, you can map the contents of that column to the leads during the import process. To map the Attachment URL field, do the following:

1. Click Contacts in the left toolbar.
   
    
2. Click    Options. 
   
    
   
3. Select Import Contacts.
   
    
4. At the bottom of the Import Tool page, select the appropriate file settings.
5. Click Choose a File to select the desired CSV file.
6. Select a CSV file to upload and then click Upload CSV File.
   
    
7. Select either New List or Use Existing List, under the List Settings section on the Import Contacts page that automatically opens. Depending on the list type you have chosen:
   • New lists: Enter a name for the list.
   • Existing lists: Enter the name of the desired existing list to add contacts to.
     
     
8. Choose how Lead Gen & CRM should handle duplicate contacts: 
   • Do not import contacts with duplicate emails
   • Merge and update only new or empty fields
   • Merge and overwrite all fields
9. Choose the status to import new leads into the list as: 
   • Open
   • Unqualified Leads
   • Qualified Leads
   • Contacts
   • Customers
     
     Note: If you selected to merge duplicate Contacts, you will be able to choose Overwrite Existing Lead Status or not. 
     
     
10. Decide to assign leads to a campaign or assign leads to a particular user. 
    
     
11. In the CSV Columns section, select the Attachment URL field for the relevant imported field.
12. Select Import. 
    
     
13. Type CONFIRM into the text field.
14. Scroll down and click on the confirmation checkbox. 
15. Click Import.
    
    

Once the import is complete, you will be able to see the Attachment URL as a custom field in the Contact Manager. 

Using the field in emails and workflows

Note: Attachment URLs as merge variables can only be used when sending emails that are part of a workflow. If you attempt to send an email that contains an Attachment URL merge variable directly to a list, or from the email itself, the Attachment URL merge variable will not populate as intended.

1. Click into an email textbox and click Merge Variables.
   
    
   
2. Select the Attachment URL variable from the dropdown and click Next.
   
    
3. Enter the Default Value that appears if the variable isn't populated. 
4. Click OK. 
   
    

1. Click into an email textbox and click Merge.
2. Select Custom Fields from the dropdown menu.
3. Select the Attachment URL variable. 
   
   Note: This field will not work in custom notification emails.
    
4. Add other content to the email as necessary and click Save. 
   
    
    

Once you have added the Attachment URL field to an email, you can set it to operate in a workflow. To add the Attachment URL as an action in visual workflows, create or edit a workflow.

1. Click + Add > Trigger under Start or an applicable branch and add the desired trigger.
   
    
2. Click + Add > Action under the created trigger.
   
    
3. Click Send the email, located under Communication.
   
    
4. Enter the name of the email with the Attachment URL merge variable and click OK.
   
    
5. Add triggers, actions, time delays, and action groups as necessary, and when finished, click the Active/Inactive toggle to set this workflow to Active.
   
   
   
   

Contacts who trigger the workflow will receive the email containing their specific Attachment URL as a merge variable.