How to segment B2B leads with custom fields in Manychat

If you’re managing B2B leads through chat automations and want to stop feeling like you’re just blasting the same message to everyone, you’re in the right place. This guide is for marketers, sales folks, or founders who use chatbots to capture leads—specifically, those using Manychat—and want to get serious about segmenting their audience so they can actually send relevant follow-ups.

Let’s get into how to use custom fields in Manychat to segment B2B leads. No buzzwords. No theory. Just step-by-step instructions, honest pitfalls, and a few shortcuts I wish someone had told me.

Why bother segmenting B2B leads in the first place?

If you’re reading this, you probably already know the pain: Every lead looks the same in your bot. You can’t tell decision-makers from tire-kickers. Your follow-ups miss the mark. You waste time (and money) sending the wrong messages to the wrong people.

Segmenting—putting people into useful buckets based on what matters to you—means you can:

  • Prioritize qualified leads.
  • Send targeted offers or content.
  • Avoid annoying valuable prospects with generic spam.

Custom fields in Manychat are the way to do this. But, fair warning: Just because you can collect every scrap of info doesn’t mean you should. More on that later.

Step 1: Decide what you actually need to know

Before touching Manychat, be brutally honest: What info do you really need to separate a hot B2B lead from a dud?

Don’t ask for: - Every detail about their company - Their life story - Stuff you’ll never use

Do ask for: - Company name - Role/title (Are they a decision-maker?) - Company size (if it matters for your offer) - Industry (if your product only fits certain niches) - Anything else directly tied to qualifying or segmenting

Pro tip:
The more you ask up front, the more drop-off you’ll get. Keep it snappy—ask only what you’ll actually use to segment or follow up.

Step 2: Set up custom fields in Manychat

Manychat gives you built-in fields (like name, email), but for B2B segmentation, you’ll need your own.

Here’s how:

  1. Go to Settings > Custom Fields
  2. In Manychat, click on “Settings” (bottom left), then “Custom Fields.”
  3. Create new fields for your segments
  4. Use clear names. For example:
    • CompanyName
    • JobTitle
    • CompanySize
    • Industry
  5. Choose “Text” or “Number” types—don’t bother with fancy types unless you really need them.
  6. Keep it simple
  7. Resist the urge to create ten fields “just in case.” You can always add more later.

Pitfall to avoid:
Don’t use “Tags” for storing actual data like company names—they’re best for yes/no flags (e.g., “IsDecisionMaker”). Use custom fields for anything you want to reference or display later.

Step 3: Collect the info in your flows (without annoying people)

This is where most people mess up: They turn their chatbot into a form that feels like a tax return. Don’t.

How to do it right:

  • Break up questions:
    Don’t ask for everything at once. Sprinkle questions into the flow, ideally after you’ve given some value (like a lead magnet or helpful answer).
  • Make it conversational:
    Instead of “Please provide your company name,” try “Mind if I grab your company name, so I can send the right info?”
  • Use quick replies:
    For things like company size or industry, give predefined options—don’t make them type it out unless they have to.
  • Be transparent:
    If you’re asking something sensitive, say why: “Just so I don’t waste your time with stuff that’s not a fit—what’s your role at Acme Corp?”

How to save the answer: - After each question, use the “Set Custom Field” action in Manychat to save the user’s response to your custom field. - For dropdowns (like company size), you can save the reply directly.

What doesn’t work:
Long forms. If your flow feels like a survey, you’ll lose people. You’re not running a census.

Step 4: Actually segment your audience (don't just collect data for fun)

Having a pile of custom fields is useless if you never use them.

Ways to segment in Manychat:

4.1: Using conditions in flows

Let’s say you want to only send a certain follow-up to leads at companies with more than 50 employees.

  • In your flow, add a Condition block.
  • Example: “If CompanySize is greater than 50, send X. Otherwise, send Y.”
  • You can stack conditions:
    “If JobTitle includes ‘Manager’ or ‘Director’ and Industry is ‘SaaS’…”

4.2: Using audience filters

  • Go to “Audience” in Manychat.
  • Filter contacts based on your custom fields.
    Example: Show everyone where Industry = “Healthcare.”
  • Use this to send broadcasts or export segmented lists.

4.3: Using tags for quick flags

  • If you want to mark “hot leads” based on a combo of answers, you can use a Tag (e.g., “HotLead”).
  • Set up an Action to apply the tag when someone meets your criteria.

What’s not worth it:
Don’t try to build a CRM inside Manychat. It’s good for basic segmentation and routing, but if you need pipeline tracking, sync your data out to your CRM.

Step 5: Use segmentation to send better follow-ups

Segmenting only pays off if you actually use it to tailor your messages.

Examples:

  • Decision-makers:
    Send them high-level ROI content or book-a-demo invites.
  • Non-decision-makers:
    Nurture them with more educational content and ask if they can intro you to the right person.
  • Industry-specific:
    Highlight case studies or testimonials from similar companies.

How to do it in Manychat:

  • Use Conditions or Audience filters to target messages.
  • For sequences, branch your flows so each segment gets a path that makes sense.

Don’t overthink it:
If you have 50 leads, don’t waste time building endless segments. Focus on the big, obvious buckets first.

Step 6: Review, clean up, and iterate

Nobody gets this perfect the first time.

  • Check your data:
    Look at your custom fields. Are people filling them out? Are you getting junk answers?
  • Tweak your questions:
    If everyone’s skipping a question or giving nonsense, rephrase or move it later in the flow.
  • Delete unused fields:
    If you’re not using a custom field, delete it. Less clutter means fewer mistakes.
  • Sync data out:
    If you want to use this info in your CRM or email tool, set up a Zapier or native integration to push custom field data out of Manychat.

What to ignore:
Don’t get obsessed with “data completeness.” You’ll never get every answer from every lead. Good enough is good enough.

Honest takes and pro tips

  • Don’t ask what you won’t use. More data isn’t better if you never act on it.
  • Keep your flows human. A little personality goes a long way, but don’t force it.
  • Start basic, expand later. You can always add more segments, but cleaning up a mess is way harder than starting simple.
  • Tags vs. custom fields:
  • Tags = flags (yes/no)
  • Custom fields = info you want to reference or display

Wrap-up: Keep it simple, keep it useful

Segmenting B2B leads in Manychat with custom fields isn’t rocket science, but it can get messy if you overthink it. Start with just a couple of fields tied directly to your sales process. Build flows that collect the info naturally as part of the conversation. Use segments to send smarter follow-ups, not just to feel data-rich.

Check your results, clean up what you don’t need, and tweak as you go. The best segmentations are the simplest—the ones you’ll actually use. Don’t let perfect be the enemy of good enough.