Contacts
A Contact refers to any individual your business communicates with through messaging platforms such as WhatsApp, Instagram, or other integrated channels. Contacts form the core of your communication activities, representing the people your business engages with for purposes such as sales, customer support, marketing, or general interaction.

You may engage with a Contact in various ways, such as:

• Responding to customer support inquiries
  

• Sending campaign messages
  

• Sharing updates, announcements, or promotional offers

How Are Contacts Created?  

In Convonite, Contacts can be created through multiple methods, ensuring flexibility for different business workflows. The four primary ways are:

• Manual Creation

• File Import

• Incoming Messages

• CRM Integrations

1. Manual Creation

Team members can add a new Contact directly within Convonite by entering details such as name, phone number, and other identifiers. To add manually click on the New contact button in the contacts tab.

Then fill in the necessary details and click on the Save button.

2.File Import

Bulk upload options allow businesses to import large lists of Contacts from existing external sources (e.g., spreadsheets or databases).

To import a file, click on the Import button in the Contacts tab (Note:CSV format supported)

Once you click on the New Import option, select the file from which contacts have to be imported.

After selecting, upload the file.

Once the import is completed you can view the import history to know the status of the import. To view the history select the Import History option from the Imports button.

The import history will show the following details

1. Time of import

2. Total rows in the original file

3. Number of contacts actually imported

4. The count of failed rows- By clicking on this number, you can view the specific reasons for each failure, helping you quickly identify and correct errors.

5. Status of the import- if it is in progress or completed.

3,Incoming Messages  

When someone sends a message to your business for the first time, Convonite will automatically create a new Contact using the details available in the message.
Example: If a new customer sends a WhatsApp message, Convonite will instantly register them as a Contact without requiring manual entry.

4.CRM Integrations  

If your business uses external tools like Zoho CRM or HubSpot, Contacts can also be synchronized and pushed into Convonite based on your integration settings.
Note: If a contact from the CRM does not include a valid country code in their phone number, they may be flagged with an error. This is important because certain platforms (such as WhatsApp) require a valid country code in order to successfully deliver messages.

How Contact Details Are Handled  

Convonite securely stores all essential information about each Contact. This ensures agents can quickly view, search, and utilize details for effective communication, personalization, and customer management.

Contact Fields  

Each Contact record can include the following fields:

• Name

• Mobile Number

• Email 

• Date of Birth

• Company Name

• Address: Street, City, State, Zip, Country

• Social Profiles: Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter

These fields help businesses maintain a complete customer profile and enable personalized engagement.

Automatic Country Detection  

If a country is not manually entered while creating or editing a Contact, Convonite automatically detects and fills in the country field based on the mobile number’s country code.

Note: This automatic detection applies both during Contact creation and while updating existing Contact details.

Contact Ownership  

Every Contact in Convonite is assigned an owner. The owner is the user (agent or admin) responsible for managing and maintaining that relationship. This ensures accountability and provides clarity on who is handling each customer.

Ownership Rules:

• Manual or Imported Contacts – The user who creates or imports the Contact automatically becomes its owner.

• Contacts from Incoming Messages – If a new Contact is created when someone sends a first-time message, ownership is assigned to the agent who receives the Chat.

Communication Preferences  

Communication preferences define how and when your business can engage with a Contact.

Preference Types  

• Proactive – Your business is allowed to send messages to the Contact at any time. (Note: In WhatsApp, proactive outreach requires pre-approved templates.)

• Reactive – Your business can only respond after the Contact initiates a conversation. This is commonly enforced by channels with strict messaging policies.

Dealing with Duplicate Contacts  

In many cases, the same customer may reach out to your business through multiple platforms (for example, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook Messenger). This can lead to duplicate Contact records.

Convonite provides the ability to merge Contacts, ensuring that all interactions are consolidated into a single profile. In case of import from Zoho CRM or HubSpot, the fields get updated and when imported as a file, the duplicate contacts are automatically removed.

Summary