What is a required field?
Required fields are the simplest data-quality control: no value, no save. They guarantee presence, though not accuracy.
Their power and their danger are the same - they force entry, which produces either useful data or garbage depending on how sparingly they are used.
Short answer
A required field is a CRM field that must be filled before a record can be saved or advanced to the next stage. Required fields enforce completeness on the data that matters most. Used sparingly they keep records usable; overused they backfire, because reps enter junk values to get past a form that demands too much.
Key takeaways
- A field that must be filled before saving or advancing a record.
- Enforces completeness on the most critical data.
- Best applied to a few truly essential fields only.
- Overuse breeds garbage values as reps bypass the form.
Why it matters
Required fields decide whether records arrive usable. The right few keep every record routable and scoreable; too many turn the form into an obstacle reps defeat with junk. Restraint is what makes them work.
How Ardovo handles it
Ardovo keeps required fields minimal by enriching machine-knowable data automatically, so reps are asked only for the judgment fields that genuinely need a human. Rook fills the rest, so completeness comes from enrichment rather than a long mandatory form.
Frequently asked questions
When should a field be required?
When an empty value breaks something downstream - routing, scoring, or outreach - and only a human can supply it. Email, company, owner, and stage are common examples. If a provider can fill the field, enrich it instead of requiring it.
Can you require a field only at certain stages?
Yes, and it is often better. Requiring a field like next step to advance a stage, rather than at creation, asks for it when the rep actually knows the answer. Stage-based requirements gather judgment data at the right moment instead of upfront.
Why do overused required fields cause bad data?
Because a form demanding too many fields pushes reps to enter placeholder junk like "x" or "n/a" to save the record. Those filled-but-meaningless values are worse than honest blanks, so requiring too much actively degrades data quality.