Skip to main content

Contacts

Contacts are the people who message your business on WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, TikTok or live chat. A contact is created automatically the first time someone messages you, and you can also add or import contacts yourself. Use the contacts list to keep contact details tidy, tag and stage leads, find people for a broadcast and stop messages to numbers that should not receive them.

Contacts are part of every plan. Clients (the people you book and invoice) are a separate list in CRM Suite; a contact can be linked to a client through its Contact owner.

Open the contacts list​

Go to Engage > Contacts. The page has three tabs:

  • List View: a searchable table of all contacts.
  • Pipeline View: contacts as cards in columns by stage.
  • WhatsApp Suppressions: numbers that must not receive WhatsApp messages.
The Contacts List page in List View with search, channel, stage and tag filters and a table of contacts showing name, contact, stage, last activity and tags

Find contacts​

In List View you can:

  • Search by name or number under Search Contacts.
  • Filter by channel (WhatsApp, Messenger, Instagram, Telegram, Live Chat), by stage, by tags (Search Tags) and by tags to leave out (Exclude Tags).
  • Click Date Range to filter by when contacts were created.
  • Turn on Filter Message Undeliverable/Failed Contacts to see numbers WhatsApp could not deliver to.
  • Sort by creation date or name.

Your filters are remembered the next time you open the page.

Add a contact​

  1. Click + New Contact.
  2. Enter the name under Enter Name and the phone number with country code under Enter Phone (for example +6591234567).
  3. Optionally add Tags (type a new tag and press Enter to create it), a Stage, Notes and Custom Fields (click + Add Field for each key and value).
  4. Click Save. You see The contact is added successfully!

If a contact with that phone number already exists, you see Contact exists for the phone.

To message the contact, click the chat icon (Message Contact) in its row. This opens the conversation in the Team Inbox.

Import contacts from a CSV file​

  1. Click Bulk Import.
  2. Click Download Sample file and fill it in. The columns must be exactly name, countryCode, phone, tags, stage, notes, with an optional customFields column.
    • Separate several tags with |, for example VIP|Massage.
    • Write custom fields as "Key":"Value"|"Key2":"Value2".
  3. Under Upload CSV, choose your file and check the Preview table.
  4. Click Import, then confirm.

You see Import Started. The import runs in the background and its progress shows at the top of the page.

How importing works:

  • A row whose phone number matches an existing contact updates that contact: its name is overwritten, its tags are replaced and its custom fields are merged. Other rows create new WhatsApp contacts.
  • Each row needs a name, country code and phone. Repeated numbers in the same file are skipped.
  • Files must be CSV, up to 1 MB and 10,000 rows. Only one import can run at a time.
  • Importing is available on paid subscriptions, not during the free trial.
  • New contacts count towards your plan's active contact limit. Rows over the limit are skipped.
  • Automations triggered by the import (for example Contact Created or tag changes) run in delayed batches.

Edit, tag and block a contact​

  1. In the contact's row, click More Actions (the three dots) > Edit Contact.
  2. Update Contact Name, Stage, Notes, Contact Tags and Contact Group(s). Under Contact owner, link the contact to a client whose phone number matches.
  3. To stop receiving messages from this person, turn on Block Contact. For WhatsApp contacts, the number is also blocked on WhatsApp. Turn it off to unblock.
  4. Click Save.

To store extra data such as a membership number, choose More Actions > Custom Attributes, click Add New Attribute, enter an Attribute and Value, and save. You can use these values as personalisation variables in messages.

Use the pipeline view​

Pipeline View shows contacts as cards in stage columns, from Subscriber and Lead through Customer, plus No Stage.

  • Drag a card to another column to change its stage.
  • Use a card's menu (View Actions) to Update Stage, Edit Contact, open Custom Attributes or Delete Contact.
  • Click the gear icon to open Customise Pipeline View, where you drag stages to reorder them and untick stages to hide them. This applies to the whole workspace.
The Pipeline View with contact cards arranged in stage columns such as Lead, Engaged and Customer

Merge duplicate WhatsApp contacts​

  1. Click Merge.
  2. Choose the Source Contact (the duplicate) and the Destination Contact (the one to keep).
  3. Click Merge.

Messages move from the source to the destination, the destination's profile and details are kept, and the source contact is deleted. This cannot be undone.

Export contacts​

  • Export selected contacts: tick contacts, then click Export Selected Contacts in the bar that appears.
  • Export all contacts: click Export All Contacts (admins and owners only). You can do this once a week.

Exports are prepared in the background. Click Go to Export in the confirmation, or find the file later in Settings > Data Exports.

Delete contacts​

  • One contact: More Actions > Delete Contact, then confirm.
  • Several contacts: tick them, click Delete Selected Contacts and confirm.

Deleting a contact also deletes its messages. This cannot be undone.

WhatsApp suppressions​

Numbers on the WhatsApp Suppressions tab do not receive WhatsApp template messages, such as broadcasts and automated notifications. Undeliverable numbers and people who opt out are added automatically, with the type UNDELIVERABLE or UNSUBSCRIBE.

  • To add a number yourself, click Add Number, enter the WhatsApp Number with country code and an optional reason, then click Add.
  • To add many, click Bulk Import, download the sample CSV, then upload your file (up to 2 MB and 10,000 rows) and click Import Numbers.
  • To remove numbers, tick them and click Delete Selected Suppressions.

If you turn off Message Undeliverable on a contact, its undeliverable suppression is removed.

Last updated on