---
title: "Custom Attributes for Routing and People Match"
slug: "custom-attributes-for-routing-and-people-match"
description: "Maximize customer service efficiency with custom attributes for routing and People Match. Learn how to utilize personalized data fields for enhanced assistance."
updated: 2025-11-04T16:47:12Z
published: 2025-11-04T16:47:12Z
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://help.gladly.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Custom Attributes for Routing and People Match

A Custom Attribute is a custom data field that can be set on the Customer Profile in one of three ways:

1. Via a [Lookup Adaptor](https://help.gladly.com/developer-tutorials/docs/introduction-to-lookup-adaptor) (whether home-grown or an out-of-the-box Gladly app integration)
2. Via the [Create Customer](https://developer.gladly.com/rest/#operation/createCustomer) or [Update Customer](https://developer.gladly.com/rest/#operation/updateCustomer) Gladly REST APIs
3. Via a custom attribute field set to "editable," Agents can manually enter freeform text.

Examples of custom attributes range from Customer tier (e.g., VIP) to lifetime value (e.g., $100,000.00).

**What can custom attributes be utilized for?**

In addition to supplying an Agent with more information regarding the Customer they are assisting, custom attributes can be used for routing and People Match. For example:

- **Rules –** Use custom attributes through Rule Conditions to find Customer attributes sourced from external systems to route Customers to the most appropriate Inbox or Agent. Custom attributes that are typed as text and numbers can be used in Rules.
- **Routing –** A custom attribute can direct a Customer to a certain Inbox of specialists.
- **People Match –** A custom attribute can be used to boost the likelihood of matching with a skilled specialist or to boost the priority of a Conversation.

It is important to understand these differences:

- **Rules –** The Lookup Adaptor running before Rules run is the default routing behavior unless Lookup before Rules is [deactivated](https://help.gladly.com/docs/deactivate-custom-attribute-lookup-before-rules). Otherwise, custom attributes will not be guaranteed to be retrieved on time when Rules to route a Customer to a specific Inbox or Agent.
- **Routing –** For custom attribute routing to work as expected, the attribute must already exist and be set to the correct value in the Customer Profile before Lookup occurs and Rules are evaluated. If Lookup before Rules is [deactivated](https://help.gladly.com/docs/deactivate-custom-attribute-lookup-before-rules), Gladly will not wait for the Lookup Adaptor to return the latest custom attribute values before evaluating for routing.
- **People Match –** Gladly will wait for your Lookup Adaptor to finish sending back more information about the Customer Profile before applying a People Match boost.

Use the [Custom Attributes tool](https://help.gladly.com/docs/find-custom-attributes) to view custom attributes available from the Lookup Adaptor.

**Recommendations**

Implementation recommendations depend on your use case and how often your custom attribute changes. However, Gladly offers several [out-of-the-box Rule capabilities](/docs/common-rules-library) you can utilize without needing custom attributes.

|  | **Attributes change often** | **Attributes don't change often** |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **Required for routing** | Note that the **first** time a Profile is created on Gladly, and when an existing attribute value on a Customer Profile changes for the first time, routing may not go to the correct Inbox as Rules don't wait for the Lookup Adaptor to finish running prior to executing. | Note that the **first** time a Profile is created on Gladly, and when an existing attribute value on a Customer Profile changes for the first time, routing may not go to the correct Inbox as Rules don't wait for the Lookup Adaptor to finish running before executing. |
| **Required for boosting priority** | Implement Lookup Adaptor. | Implement Lookup Adaptor. |

Contains everything about a Customer. Their Conversation history, contact details, order details, and other Customer-specific information.