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Labels vs. Lists vs. Custom Fields

All three live under the Manage dropdown on the Subscriber Manager list, and all three add structure beyond a subscriber’s built-in phone number, subscriber ID, and name — but they solve different problems. Knowing which one you actually need saves a lot of backtracking later: A simple rule of thumb: if the answer is the same word for a whole group of people (VIP, Lead, batch1), it’s a Label or a List — pick whichever you use as your everyday segments and keep the other free for a separate purpose (e.g. Labels for customer type, Lists for campaign batches). If the answer is different for every single subscriber (priya@company.com, Order #4521), it’s a Custom Field. Example: A clothing store imports 500 contacts from a sale event. They label everyone event_signup_jan (same word for the whole group) so they can broadcast to just that segment later. On the same import, each row also has an email column — that becomes a Custom Field, because Priya’s email and Raj’s email are different values, one per person.

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The Manage dropdown

Subscriber Manager with the Manage dropdown open showing Labels, Lists, and Custom Fields, and the Manage Lists panel open on the right with a Create New List button and one existing list
From the subscriber list, the Manage dropdown opens Manage Labels, Manage Lists, and Manage Custom Fields as a panel on the right — this is where all three are defined, before any of them can ever be assigned to a subscriber.

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Create a label

Labels group subscribers into segments (e.g. batch1, Lead, VIP Customer) that you can filter by, target in broadcasts, or trigger automations from.
Create New Label modal with a Label Name text field and Save/Cancel buttons

The Create New Label modal — a Label Name field with Save and Cancel buttons.

1

Open Manage → Manage Labels

From the subscriber list, open Manage, then Manage Labels.
2

Click Create New Label

Click + Create New Label in the panel.
3

Name the label

Enter a Label Name, e.g. batch2.
4

Save

Click Save — the label is now available to assign to subscribers.
Expected result: The new label appears in the All Labels list and in every label picker across ChatSyncs — ready to filter subscribers by, or attach to a broadcast’s audience. Creating a label only defines it — it doesn’t attach it to anyone yet. Assign it to subscribers from the Subscriber Manager overview’s bulk actions, or automatically from a flow built using How to Create a Keyword-Based WhatsApp Chatbot, via its Automation Actions.
Naming labels with a consistent prefix (batch1, batch2, batch3) or a clear category (Lead, Customer, VIP) makes them far easier to pick correctly later, once you have a dozen of them.

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Rename or delete a label

Open Manage → Manage Labels and each row in the All Labels list has its own edit and delete icons. Renaming a label updates it everywhere it’s already assigned — you don’t need to reassign it to anyone. Deleting a label removes the tag from every subscriber who had it; it does not delete the subscribers themselves.
Deleting a label can’t be undone. If you’re not sure whether it’s still in use by a broadcast audience or automation, rename it instead of deleting it until you’ve checked.

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Create a list

Lists work the same way as Labels — group subscribers so you can filter, target, or automate against them — but they’re a separate namespace, so you can keep one system for your everyday customer segments and the other for something like campaign or import batches, without the two mixing together in the same picker.
Create New List modal with a single text field and Save/Cancel buttons
1

Open Manage → Manage Lists

From the subscriber list, open Manage, then Manage Lists.
2

Click Create New List

Click + Create New List in the panel.
3

Name the list

Enter a name, e.g. list test.
4

Save

Click Save — the list is now available to add subscribers to.
Expected result: The new list appears in All Lists, with a running count of how many subscribers are currently in it. Creating a list only defines it — it doesn’t add anyone yet. Add subscribers to it the same way you assign a label: from the subscriber list’s bulk actions, from the Chat Actions panel in Shared Inbox, or automatically from a flow’s Add to List(s) automation action, alongside Add Label(s).

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Rename or delete a list

Manage Lists panel showing All Lists with one existing list, its subscriber count, and edit and delete icons
Open Manage → Manage Lists and each row in All Lists has its own edit and delete icons, plus a subscriber count so you can see how many people are in it before touching it. Deleting a list removes it and un-groups every subscriber who was in it; it does not delete the subscribers themselves.
Deleting a list can’t be undone, for the same reason as deleting a label — rename it instead if you’re not sure it’s safe to remove.

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Custom Fields

Manage Custom Fields panel with a Create Custom Field button and a list of fields including status, Phone, Email, Designation, Department, Name, and employee id, each showing its type

The Manage Custom Fields panel, listing every custom field with its type and a Create Custom Field button.

A Custom Field stores one extra piece of structured data per subscriber, beyond the built-in Phone Number, Subscriber ID, and Name — e.g. email, designation, department, or employee id. Create one from Manage → Manage Custom Fields, picking a type that matches the data:
1

Open Manage → Manage Custom Fields

From the subscriber list, open Manage, then Manage Custom Fields.
2

Click Create Custom Field

Click + Create Custom Field in the panel.
3

Name the field and choose its type

Pick a type that matches the data you’ll store — see the table below.
4

Save

The field is now available on every subscriber’s profile, and as a mapping target during import.
Create Custom Field dialog with the Type dropdown open, showing Email, Phone, Text, Number, URL, File, Image, Video, Date, Time, and Datetime

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How a custom field gets filled in

Creating a custom field only defines the storage slot — it starts empty for every subscriber until it’s populated one of three ways, all covered elsewhere on this site:
  • Manually or via import — any extra column beyond phone number and name in an imported file (see How Do I Import Subscribers Using a CSV File?) becomes a custom field automatically, matched by column header.
  • From a conversation — a Keyword Replies flow’s Save to Custom Field action stores whatever the subscriber types (e.g. their email) the moment they answer.
  • From a form submission — an Input Flow or WhatsApp Flow question can save its answer straight to a custom field.

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Rename or delete a custom field

Open Manage → Manage Custom Fields and each row in the All Custom Fields list has its own edit and delete icons, plus a usage count showing how many places (templates, flows) already reference that field. Renaming a field keeps every subscriber’s stored value intact — only the label changes. Deleting a field removes it, and its stored value, from every subscriber.
Check a field’s usage count before deleting it — a field referenced inside a live Message Template or Keyword Replies flow will leave that reference broken (sending blank) once the field itself is gone.

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How that data flows back out

Once populated, a custom field’s value flows back out the same way it flows in:
  • To Google Sheets — Keyword Replies’ Sync Data to Google Sheets maps each custom field to a spreadsheet column on every submission.
  • To a webhook — Keyword Replies’ Forward Data to Webhook, or a dedicated Outbound Action (see How to Connect a Bot Flow to External Systems) with Input Flow Data enabled, sends the same custom field values as JSON to a CRM, Zapier, Make.com, or your own server.
  • Back into messages — a custom field’s value can be inserted into a Message Template or Keyword Replies text as a #fieldname# variable, e.g. Hi #name#, your appointment is on #preferred_appointment_date#.

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Frequently asked

A label is a shared tag for grouping subscribers into a segment (VIP, batch1) — it holds no data of its own. A custom field stores a different value per subscriber (an email address, an order ID). See the comparison table above.
Functionally, very little — both group subscribers so you can filter, target, or automate against them. The real difference is that they’re separate namespaces with their own pickers, so teams often use one for everyday customer segments (Labels) and the other for campaign or import batches (Lists) to keep the two from mixing together.
Create a Label under Manage → Manage Labels, then select subscribers in the Subscriber Manager list and use Options → Assign Label (or Remove Label to undo it). You can then filter the subscriber list by that label, or target it in a broadcast.
Create the list first under Manage → Manage Lists, then add subscribers to it from the subscriber list’s bulk actions, the Chat Actions panel in Shared Inbox, or an Add to List(s) automation action inside a flow.
Three ways: an extra column in a CSV/Google Sheet import, a Save to Custom Field action in a Keyword Replies flow, or a form answer from an Input Flow / WhatsApp Flow. See “How a custom field gets filled in” above.
Yes — reference it as a #fieldname# variable in a Message Template or Keyword Replies text block, e.g. Hi #name#, your order #order_id# has shipped.
Number — it keeps the value sortable and usable in calculations, unlike Text, which stores it as an unstructured string.
Yes — renaming updates the label everywhere it’s assigned, or the field name on every subscriber that has it, without touching the underlying data.
Nothing happens to the subscribers themselves — only the tag is removed. Deleting a label never deletes a subscriber record.
Yes — you can add or remove labels from subscribers at any time, and rename or delete the label itself from Manage → Manage Labels.
Yes — but deleting it also removes its stored data from every subscriber that had it, and breaks any template or flow still referencing it. Check the field’s usage count first.
It’s safer to make each label specific (batch1_jan2026 rather than just batch1) so you can always tell which campaign or import it came from once you have a long label history.

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