Smart fields – Assembled

Plans and permissions:

Add-on: AI agents, billed separately
Create, edit, and connect smart fields: Admin role, or a custom role with Smart fields set to Can edit smart fields settings
Use smart fields in a workflow: Admin, Manager, or Team Lead role, or a custom role with Workflows set to Can create, edit, and delete workflows

Use smart fields to collect, store, and reuse details about a customer or case across your workflows, such as an order ID, a customer tier, or an issue category. A smart field can be filled in from the conversation, from your APIs and databases, or from data your website sends, and then used in conditions, instructions, API calls, and handoffs. You can also connect it to a field in Zendesk, Kustomer, Salesforce, or Shopify.

To set them up, go to Configure > Smart fields.

How smart fields work

A smart field is a variable that stays with the case. Once it’s set, later steps can use it, so the AI agent doesn’t ask the customer for the same detail twice, and the value is the same whether the customer contacts you by chat, email, or phone.

Smart fields can be filled in by:

A Collect information step, which asks the customer for the details you choose.
The AI agent during a conversation, in an Analyze case or Guide step, from what the customer says.
Your systems, through an API endpoint’s output mapping or a SQL query’s Save output to smart field setting.
Data your website sends, through user data mapping and case data enrichment.
Support team members, who can update a value during a conversation.

Once a smart field has a value, you can use it in:

Workflow conditions and triggers.
Guide steps and reply instructions.
API requests and database queries, as an input.
Handoff forms, so support team members see what the AI agent collected.
Connected fields in your help desk or other platforms.

How connected fields work

You can connect a smart field to one field in each platform you’ve integrated with Assembled.
Assembled writes the values when a chat agent creates a case or hands a conversation off.
Every connected smart field that has a value is written, not only the ones in the handoff form. Smart fields with no value are skipped, so they don’t overwrite anything.
For Salesforce, connect to fields on the Case object, not the Contact or Account.
For dropdown smart fields, each option needs to match a value in the platform field:

Platform	How dropdown options are matched
Zendesk	You choose the Zendesk custom field option for each dropdown option.
Salesforce	By name. Matching ignores capital letters and leading and trailing spaces. If nothing matches, the field is left blank.
Kustomer	By name. Matching ignores capital letters and leading and trailing spaces. If nothing matches, Kustomer creates a new value.

A connected field is only filled in if the smart field has a value before the handoff. The chat agent can fill it in a workflow’s Guide or Collect information step that ends with a handoff, in the handoff form, or from signed-in user data that you map on the chat agent’s Setup tab, under User data mapping. See Map user data to smart fields.

Create a smart field

Go to Configure > Smart fields. Your fields are on the Custom tab.
Select Create smart field.
Enter a Name, such as Order ID.
Choose the Type. See Smart field types.
Enter a Description. Say what the field is for, any format it must follow, and how best to collect it from customers. Your AI agents use it to understand what to gather.
For a Dropdown field, add each option under Dropdown options, with a Description that explains when to use it.
Optional: to fill a field in your help desk with the value, turn on the platform’s connection, such as Connect Zendesk field, and choose the field. See Connect a smart field to a platform field.
Select Save changes.

The field is now available in your workflows and settings.

Smart field types

Type	What it holds	Examples
Text	Names, descriptions, or free-form answers.	Customer name, issue summary
Number	Quantities, amounts, or numeric IDs.	Order number, account balance
Boolean	Yes or no.	VIP customer, subscription active
Dropdown	One option from a list you define, each with a description of when to use it.	Issue category, product type, urgency
Email address, Phone number, Full name	Contact details. On voice calls, the AI agent asks for them, reads them back, and confirms them before saving. These types appear only when contact capture on voice calls is turned on for your company.	Callback number
Credit Card	Card details collected on voice calls. This type appears only when a voice agent has a payment connector.	Card for a payment

Use smart fields in workflows

To collect details from the customer: in a Collect information step, choose the smart fields to collect, such as Order ID, Issue category, and Customer tier, and add instructions such as “Ask for their order number and a short description of the issue.”
To branch: in a Condition step, add a condition such as “Customer tier equals VIP” that leads to a priority path, with ELSE for everyone else.
To use or set a value in instructions: in a Guide step, type @ and choose the smart field. See Guide steps in workflows.
To fill a field from your systems: map a JSON path in an API endpoint’s Output mapping to the smart field, or turn on Save output to smart field for a SQL query. See Custom API endpoints.
To pass a value to a tool: in an MCP tool or Database query step, set an input from a Smart field.
To choose a workflow: in the trigger, add a Smart field rule, if you see it.

For details on each step, see Building workflows.

Use smart fields in chat handoffs

When a chat agent hands a conversation to a person, smart fields can fill in the handoff form, so the support team member starts with the customer’s details and the case is created or updated with them.

Go to AI support > Chat agent and select the chat agent.
Open the Handoff tab.
In Collect customer information, select Add smart field and choose a smart field.
Enter the Form field label the customer sees, and select Required if the customer must fill it in.
Repeat for each field, then select Save changes.

The AI agent analyzes the case and uses lookups before it asks the customer for anything.

Connect a smart field to a platform field

Connect a smart field to a field in Zendesk, Kustomer, Salesforce, or Shopify, so the details your chat agent collects fill in the case and your team doesn’t have to copy them over. For example, a customer gives their account number in the chat, the chat agent saves it to an Account number smart field, and when the chat is handed off, the account number appears in the case’s Account Number field. For when values are written and how dropdown options are matched, see How connected fields work.

Go to Configure > Smart fields and open the smart field, or create one.
Turn on the section for your platform, such as Connect Zendesk field or Connect Salesforce field.
Choose the platform field to fill.
For a Dropdown smart field connected to Zendesk, choose the Zendesk custom field option for each dropdown option.
Select Save changes.

Test a connected field

Start a test conversation with the chat agent.
Give the information that fills the smart field, through the workflow, the handoff form, or your signed-in user data.
Hand the conversation off to a support team member.
Open the new case in your platform, and check that the field is filled in.

If the field is empty:

Check that the connection is saved on the smart field.
Check that the smart field had a value before the handoff. Open the conversation in AI quality > QA review to see the smart field values it stored.
Check that the platform field exists, and that your integration has permission to update it.
For dropdown fields, check that the options match, as described in How connected fields work.

Best practices

Name fields clearly and consistently. Use Customer account ID rather than ID, and add the format where it helps, such as Priority level (1-5).
Build fields to reuse. One field used across many workflows keeps your data consistent.
Prefer dropdowns for categories. A fixed list gives cleaner data than free text.
Plan for your other systems. Match smart fields to existing platform fields, and to the reports you want, where you can.
Collect the essentials early. Gather the key details near the start of a conversation, and check that they’re in the right format before you rely on them.
Say what format you expect. Tell customers how to give details such as order numbers.

Examples

Customer segmentation

Create smart fields for the customer’s tier, region, and product. Use them in conditions to send conversations to specialized teams, or to give priority customers a faster path.

Order management

Collect the order ID, look up the order through an API endpoint that fills in smart fields for its status and items, and include them in the handoff so the support team member has the context.

Technical support

Collect the customer’s device, any error code, and the steps they’ve already tried. Use the fields to categorize issues for reporting and to skip steps the customer has done.

Several platforms

Use one dropdown smart field for the issue category, connected to the matching field in Zendesk and in Salesforce, so both platforms get the same value.

Account tier in Salesforce

You want each chat’s account tier to appear in the Account_Tier__c field on the Salesforce case.

In Configure > Smart fields, create a smart field named Account tier, with the Type set to Dropdown and the options Free, Premium, and Enterprise. These match the picklist values in Salesforce.
Turn on Connect Salesforce field, choose Account_Tier__c, and save.
In a workflow, add a Collect information step that asks “What type of account do you have?” and saves the answer to Account tier.
Test it: start a chat, answer Premium, and hand off. The Salesforce case shows Premium in Account_Tier__c.

Common issues

A smart field isn’t filled in: Check that the step that collects it is set up and runs, that the API output mapping points to the right JSON path, and that the customer gave the information.
The value doesn’t sync to your platform: Check that the platform field exists and is connected, that its type matches the smart field’s type, and that the integration is connected. See Test a connected field.
A condition doesn’t match: Check that the value matches the condition exactly, including capitalization, and that the smart field is filled in before the condition runs.