Custom Member Data (CMD) lets you add your own information about Members to Community, such as a customer tier, a purchase date or a city, and then use it to filter who receives a Campaign and to personalize what each Member sees. You bring the data in by uploading a CSV that matches your records to your Members' phone numbers.
Custom Member Data is available to eligible Leaders on usage-based plans. Availability and functionality can vary by plan, so if you don't see it in your dashboard, contact your Account Manager or yourfriends@community.com to check your eligibility.
What is Custom Member Data?
Community already knows some things about your Members, like when they joined and which Subcommunities they belong to. Custom Member Data adds the things only you know, stored as custom fields on each Member's record.
Once a field exists, you can use it in two places:
- Filtering recipients. Choose which Members receive a Campaign based on a custom field value.
- Personalizing messages. Insert a custom field into the message so each Member sees their own value.
Why use Custom Member Data?
Members opted in to hear from you, and the messages they respond to are the ones that reflect what they actually care about. Custom Member Data lets you use what you already know about your audience from your own systems, instead of sending everyone the same message or rebuilding that knowledge inside Community.
What data types are available for Custom Member Data?
Each column in your CSV maps to one custom field, and each field has one data type.
| Data type | Format | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Plain text | Any text | Gold |
| Date | MM/DD/YYYY | 09/29/2026 |
| Datetime | MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM AM/PM | 09/29/2026 12:34 AM |
| Integer | Whole number | 1 |
| Decimal | Number with two decimal places | 12.34 |
| True/False | True or False | True |
How can I upload my Members' custom data?
- Prepare a CSV that matches your data to your Members' phone numbers. If you have Data Exports enabled, you can export your Members' phone numbers from the dashboard to use as a starting point.
- In the Community web dashboard, go to Settings > Customize.
- Under Custom Member Data > Upload .CSV with Custom Member Data, select New Upload.
For the full walkthrough, including how to map columns and data types, see Uploading Custom Member Data.
You can also collect custom data directly from Members when they sign up, using Custom Signup Fields.
Using custom fields in a Campaign
Filtering recipients by a custom field
- Start composing a Campaign and open recipient selection.
- Alongside the standard filters and Subcommunities, select Custom Member Data.
- Choose a field and the values you want to target.
Inserting a custom field into a campaign message
In the message body, select the {+} icon, then choose the field from the dropdown. Each Member receives the message with their own value in place of the field.
For more on dynamic fields, see Personalizing Campaigns.
Note: Members missing a value are dropped from personalized sends. If you insert a custom field into a message and a Member has no value for it, that Member does not receive the message. There is no fallback text. Check your data coverage before inserting a field, or filter to Members who have a value.