What the smart fields mean
Smart fields are the ones Participant Kit works out for you. Custom data fields are what you define and fill in yourself, like someone’s job title. Smart fields are worked out from what actually happens: when someone was last contacted, when they last signed a consent form, when they’re scheduled.
If “person record” and “participant record” are new to you, see Important! Key concepts.
They show as columns, and you can filter and sort by them. Your panel’s cooldown rules use them too, to decide who to hide when you’re picking people for a study.
The same smart field can be called different things in different places, and two similar names can mean different things, so this is the reference for what each one is.
Smart fields on a person
These belong to someone’s person record, so they cover everything that person has ever taken part in. You’ll see them wherever you see people, including your panel.
| Field | What it means | What sets it |
|---|---|---|
| Last contacted | The last time this person was contacted through Participant Kit | Sending them a message or a broadcast, or recording contact you made outside Participant Kit |
| Last active | The last time they did something in a study | When they consent, complete a screener, are scheduled or are incentivised |
| Last consented | The last time they signed a consent form in a study | Signing a consent form, or a change to one they have signed |
| Last incentivised | The last time an incentive was recorded for them in a study | Recording an incentive |
| Last scheduled | The last time they were scheduled in a study | Scheduling them into a session |
| Opted in at | When they joined this panel | Opting in. An import can set it to the date they actually opted in |
Smart fields on a participant
Someone in a study has their own smart fields, on their participant record. Most are about that study only, not the person’s whole history.
| Field | What it means |
|---|---|
| Last contacted | The last time you contacted them in this study |
| Last active | The last time they did something in this study |
| Scheduled for | The session they are scheduled into. This one can be in the future |
| Incentivised on | The date recorded on their incentive |
The same name, two meanings
Last contacted is the one to watch. On a person it means the last contact anywhere in Participant Kit. On a participant it means the last contact in that study. Someone can look untouched in a study and have been emailed last week from somewhere else.
A shortlist shows both, side by side. The column badged This shortlist is contact from that shortlist, and the one without a badge is contact from anywhere.
Last incentivised and Incentivised on are different dates. Last incentivised, on a person, is when an incentive was last recorded for them in any study. Incentivised on, in a study, is the date written on the incentive itself.
They cover every study, not one
A person’s smart fields look across every study they have taken part in. Last consented is the most recent consent they signed in any study, not the one you happen to be looking at.
That is what makes them useful when you’re choosing who to ask next. You are asking “when did we last ask anything of this person”, not “what happened in this project”.
When a field is empty
A field stays empty until the thing happens. The table shows a dash, and they are still available to add to research.
This matters when you filter. “Last contacted is before 1 June” only matches people who have a date. Everyone you have never contacted is left out. To include them, add a second filter for “Last contacted has no value” and switch the word between them to or. See Filtering your panel to find the right people.
Where smart fields show up
- as columns, which you switch on in View settings
- as properties in the filter builder, wherever you filter people
- in your panel’s cooldown rules, which hide people for a while after one of these dates. See Using panel rules to stop over contacting
Key takeaways
💡 Remember: A person’s smart fields cover every study they have taken part in. A participant’s cover one study.
🧪 Try: Sort your panel by Last contacted to see who you have left alone the longest.
⚠️ Watch for: An empty date is left out by date filters. Add “has no value” with or to include people who have never been contacted.
⚡ Quick tip: Recording contact you made outside Participant Kit keeps Last contacted honest, so cooldown rules count the call or email you sent yourself. See Recording contact made outside Participant Kit.