When you create a custom field, the description you write is the instruction your Cloud Employee follows to decide what to save there. It is not a label for your teammates to read. This is why a vague or leftover description leads to answers that look random, and it is a place almost nobody thinks to check. Read general best practices first. If your Cloud Employee used the wrong tool or ended the conversation badly, see Cloud Employee. If the answer saved in a field is wrong, you are in the right place.

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The description is a prompt

Write the description as an instruction. Say what belongs in the field, what does not, and how to choose when the conversation is unclear.

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Best practices

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Describe this field only

Help your Cloud Employee fill in this one answer. Do not add personality, tool instructions, or rules about other fields. Don’t

You are a friendly coordinator. Also set the urgency and the next step while you are here.

Do

The day the customer would prefer to visit, such as Tuesday or next Friday. Leave this empty if they never name a day.

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Say what a good answer looks like

Describe the kind of answer you want, and the form it should take. Don’t

Notes

Do

A one-sentence summary of why the customer is visiting, in their own words. Not a full transcript.

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Add a short example when the answer is easy to get wrong

If people tend to say “the usual” or “same as last time,” explain what to save in that case. Don’t

Preferred time

Do

The time of day the customer prefers. If they say “morning,” save morning. If they say “the usual,” save the time already on their record. Never invent a time they did not give.

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Make sure it agrees with the base prompt

If the base prompt and the field description explain the same decision in two different ways, the saved answer will change from one conversation to the next. Keep the instruction on the field and remove it from the base prompt.

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What to avoid

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Treating the description like a label

A description such as “Other,” “Notes,” or a leftover sentence will give you leftover answers.

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Putting personality or tool instructions in a field

Those belong with your Cloud Employee. In a field they compete with the base prompt, and you will not think to look for them when you are trying to fix a conversation. Don’t (on a field)

Be warm. If they want to book, use the calendar tool.

Do (on a field)

The email address the customer wants us to use. If they give two, save the one they confirm.

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Repeating the same instruction on every field

Each field should describe its own decision. If a rule applies to all of them, write it once in the base prompt rather than pasting it into six descriptions.

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Band-Aid fixes on a description

A Band-Aid is a line you add to stop something you just saw, without finding out why it happened. On a field it usually reads like “never save a phone number here” or “do not guess.” Those pile up until the description is longer than the answer it is asking for. Before you add one, check whether the description was simply too vague to begin with, or whether it disagrees with the base prompt. See Band-Aid fixes in the general guide.

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Fixing a field that saved the wrong answer

1. Make sure the field is the problem. A wrong answer saved on the record belongs here. A wrong reply or the wrong tool belongs in Cloud Employee.
2. Collect the description and the conversation. Copy the field description, the base prompt, and the conversation from the start through the moment the wrong answer was saved. The description alone tells you what your Cloud Employee was told, not what it was working from.
3. Read the field description before you touch the base prompt. Most surprising answers come from this description, or from this description disagreeing with the base prompt.
4. If both places explain how to fill in the field, keep one. Leave the instruction on the field and delete it from the base prompt.
5. Run the same conversation again and check what was saved. Try one close variation as well, such as “Tuesday” and “sometime next week.”

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Checklist

Read your field descriptions once more and check these off. If you cannot check one, that is the first thing to fix.

• Every description reads as an instruction, not as a label for your teammates
• Each description covers only its own field
• You have said what a good answer looks like and what form it should take
• Fields that are easy to get wrong include a short example
• No description contains personality or tool instructions
• Nothing tells your Cloud Employee to invent an answer it was never given
• No rule about filling a field is also written in the base prompt
• A rule that applies to every field is written once, not pasted into each one
• There are no leftover Band-Aid lines from problems you no longer have