Custom Fields: Why Are My Prospects Stuck in Pending?

Last updated: June 5, 2026

If you use custom fields to personalize your campaigns, you might occasionally notice some prospects hitting a pause — landing in Pending instead of moving through your sequence as expected. The good news: this is usually a quick fix. Here's what's going on and how to sort it out.

What causes a prospect to go to Pending?

There are two common reasons:

  • The custom field value is empty in your CSV file. The prospect is there, the column is there — but the cell has no value. When the system tries to pull that data for the step, it comes up empty and the step can't run.

  • You've used a placeholder inside a custom field value. Things like {{Company Name}} aren't supported inside custom field values — only in the actual message body of your steps. If a placeholder ends up in a custom field, the step won't know what to do with it.

💡 Set up a fallback so it doesn't happen again

The cleanest way to prevent prospects from getting stuck is to add a fallback value to your custom fields. That way, if a field is empty, the step can still run using a default instead.

When a custom field is missing, you'll typically see an error like: "Could not find data for the following fields: your_field_name"

To add a fallback:

  1. Open your campaign and go to the step with the custom field.

  2. Find the field in your message template — for example: {copy_message_1}

  3. Add a colon after the field name, followed by your default text: {copy_message_1:your default text}

  4. Save the step.

Note: Custom fields are case-sensitive and need to match your CSV column headers exactly — spaces, capitalization, and all. For more on this, check out Using Fallback in Placeholders.

Now let's get those pending prospects moving

Once your fallback is in place for future prospects, you'll also want to resolve the ones already sitting in Pending. You've got two options depending on how many there are.

Option A — Update them one by one (works well for a small number)

  1. Click Pending in your campaign dashboard to see the list.

  2. Open a prospect's card.

  3. Click the pencil icon in the custom fields section.

  4. Type in the missing value for the relevant field.

Check this article for more details: How to Add Custom Fields to Prospect Profiles

Option B — Bulk update via CSV (better for larger batches)

  1. Open your original CSV file and fill in the missing values in the relevant column(s).

  2. In the same campaign, click Add Prospects → Upload CSV.

  3. At the mapping stage, double-check that each column lines up with the right field — wrong mapping is one of the most common reasons data goes missing in the first place.

  4. Upload the file. The system will update existing prospects without creating duplicates.

Once the updates are in, the system will automatically update the wait reasons for the affected prospects and they should be on their way.