How to set up required fields
Required fields are a blunt instrument: they guarantee a field is filled, but they cannot guarantee it is filled honestly.
The skill is requiring just enough to keep records usable without creating a form so long that reps game it with junk.
Short answer
Set up required fields by making mandatory only the few fields that truly drive routing, scoring, and outreach - like email, company, and owner - keeping the list short, and filling machine-knowable fields through enrichment instead of requiring them. Too many required fields breed garbage data as reps type anything to escape the form, so require sparingly.
Step by step
Identify the truly critical fields
List the few fields that break something downstream when empty: email, company, owner, and stage. These are the candidates for required.
Keep the required list short
Require only those critical fields. Every additional required field raises friction and the odds reps enter garbage to get past it.
Enrich instead of requiring
For machine-knowable fields like industry and size, enrich automatically rather than requiring reps to fill them.
Require judgment fields at the right stage
Make a field like next step required to advance a stage, not at creation, so it is asked when the rep actually knows it.
Too many required fields backfire
A twelve-field required form does not produce complete data - it produces reps typing "x" and "n/a" to escape. Requiring fewer, truly critical fields, and enriching the rest, yields cleaner data than a long mandatory form that everyone games.
How Ardovo helps
Ardovo keeps the required list short by enriching machine-knowable fields automatically, so reps are only asked for what truly needs a human. Rook fills the rest and prompts for judgment fields at the right stage, so required fields protect quality without breeding junk.
Frequently asked questions
How many fields should be required in a CRM?
As few as possible - just the fields that break routing, scoring, or outreach when empty, typically email, company, owner, and stage. Every extra required field raises friction and the risk reps enter garbage to get past the form. Require sparingly.
Why can too many required fields hurt data quality?
Because reps facing a long mandatory form type "x" or "n/a" to escape it, producing filled-but-worthless fields. That is worse than an empty field, which at least honestly signals missing data. Fewer required fields plus enrichment yields cleaner data.
Should machine-knowable fields be required?
No - enrich them instead. Requiring reps to fill industry, company size, or location wastes selling time on data a provider already has and produces inconsistent values. Reserve required status for judgment fields no external source knows.