# Customer contact details

Keep a customer's contact details together, including alternate addresses, custom information and a company link.

*Release 3.3 · developer, operator, visitor*

**Settings › General Settings › Data Fields** · **Settings › General Settings › Companies**

## What it is

**Contact Information** brings together the details you hold about a customer. A contact can have primary and alternate values, custom fields and a company link. Several visits and channel identities can belong to the same contact.

## Who uses it and why

- Operators use contact details to recognise customers and choose an address or number for follow-up.
- Developers supply customer information through the website integration.
- Visitors provide details through your website and configured forms.

## Where to find it

Open a visitor and use **Contact Information** or the **Visitor** tab. The visitor menu includes **Add Contact** and **Edit Contact** where applicable. With the **Settings** role, find field definitions under **Settings › General Settings › Data Fields**, and companies under **Settings › General Settings › Companies**.

## How it works

1. Open the customer's contact details. Standard information includes name, email, mobile, phone, account and company, alongside configured custom fields.
2. Add or edit the available fields. Your website determines their labels, validation and whether you can edit them.
3. Where multiple entries are allowed, add another value instead of replacing the existing one.
4. Use the star control to make the intended value primary, then save.

The address book uses the contact's primary values. When you view a particular visitor, INSIDE can show details supplied for that visitor ahead of the contact's primary value. This lets a shared contact retain alternate details without making every visit display the same address.

## Configure it

An administrator with the **Settings** role and the relevant delegated permissions can manage **Data Fields** and enable **Allow Multiple Entries** for an appropriate field. Field definitions also determine validation and operator editability. Use **Companies** to maintain the directory used by company selections.

Ask Powerfront about changing the standard limit of ten stored values per contact field. Personal-data access is controlled separately through operator permissions.

### Settings

| Setting | Where | Applies to | Default | Who can change it | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Allow Multiple Entries | Settings › General Settings › Data Fields | website | Off for a new field | Settings role | Allow a contact field to hold more than one value. Existing fields can have different settings. |

### Permissions

| Permission | Lets you |
|---|---|
| Settings | Manage Data Fields and Companies, subject to delegated Settings permissions. |

## Limits and good to know

- A visitor can have contact information before INSIDE has enough identity information to keep a separate contact.
- A name or ordinary phone field alone does not identify a contact. Matching uses email, mobile or account identities.
- The standard limit is ten stored contact values per field. An additional value may not be saved once the limit is reached.
- Contact reads can mask personal details when you do not have permission to view them, even when you handle the conversation.
- Removing all identifying details can remove the durable contact association. Do not rely on a name-only contact remaining in the address book.
- Salesforce-linked profiles can follow different rules for updating names and email addresses.

## Depends on and works with

### This feature uses

- **Configured in** [Companies](ADM-029.md): Companies maintains the directory offered when assigning a company to a contact.
- **Configured in** [Virtual Assistant task data fields](ENG-012.md): Visitor/contact data fields control the available fields, validation and operator editing.
- **Configured in** [Customer identity and conversation visibility permissions](SEC-016.md): Personal-data permission controls access to contact details.
- **Works better with** [Contact matching](CRM-003.md): Identity matching finds an existing contact for supplied details.
- **Works better with** [Contact opt-in and blocking](CRM-007.md): Email addresses and mobile numbers have communication permissions.
- **Works better with** [Contact change history](CRM-008.md): Contact History records meaningful profile changes.
- **Works better with** [Salesforce contacts](CRM-011.md): Salesforce integration supplies linked customer details where enabled.
- **Works better with** [Visitor data mapping for targeting](VIS-007.md): Website-supplied visitor data can contribute contact information.

### Used by

- **Required by** [Email ticket handling and statuses](CHN-026.md): The ticket identifies a customer contact and email address.
- **Required by** [Contact matching](CRM-003.md): Matching associates a visitor with a contact profile.
- **Required by** [Contact merge preview and assignment](CRM-004.md): Review and merge operate on contact profiles and their values.
- **Required by** [Customer contact identities across channels](CRM-005.md): A contact holds the profile shared by linked channel identities.
- **Required by** [Contact opt-in and blocking](CRM-007.md): Communication permissions belong to the contact's individual address values.
- **Required by** [Contact change history](CRM-008.md): Contact History belongs to a saved contact profile.
- **Enhances** [Visitor data mapping for targeting](VIS-007.md): Contact information is another supported mapping source.
- **Enhances** [Visitor flags and custom scores](VIS-008.md): Linked contact flags can contribute to visitor state such as VIP status.
- **Enhances** [Visitor names and session codes](VIS-017.md): A linked contact's primary name takes priority in the visitor display name.
- **Enhances** [Visitor and conversation information panels](CON-017.md): Linked contact profiles supply customer details and contact actions.
- **Enhances** [Mobile console](CON-033.md): Mobile visitor context includes available contact details.
- **Enhances** [Virtual Assistant task data fields](ENG-012.md): Visitor/Contact storage can retain answers on the contact profile.
- **Enhances** [Existing answers in Virtual Assistant tasks](ENG-013.md): Visitor/contact fields can read stored contact answers when identity rules allow.
- **Enhances** [AI updates to customer and conversation data](AI-019.md): Approved customer fields can be saved to the relevant contact.
- **Enhances** [WhatsApp message templates](CHN-007.md): Contact details can supply customer-specific values for review.
- **Enhances** [WhatsApp Business App connection](CHN-009.md): Contact synchronisation can update names and mobile numbers.
- **Enhances** [Store customer matches and orders](COM-010.md): Eligible alternate email addresses on the linked contact add customer matching identifiers.
- **Enhances** [Conversation lead capture and follow-up](COM-026.md): Available contact details can prefill the lead form.
- **Enhances** [Visitor data mapping for customer identity](CRM-002.md): Persisted member fields can update contact information.
- **Enhances** [Address book and contact actions](CRM-006.md): Saved INSIDE contacts supply local address-book results when Salesforce search is not used.
- **Enhances** [Email recipient suggestions](CRM-009.md): Saved customer contacts contribute email suggestions.
- **Enhances** [Salesforce contacts](CRM-011.md): Selected Salesforce values are reflected in the INSIDE contact.
- **Enhances** [Dynamics 365 connection and customer records](CRM-015.md): Remote contact edits reflect selected name, email and phone details in the INSIDE contact.
- **Enhances** [Zendesk tickets and contacts](CRM-019.md): Editing a Zendesk user reflects selected details into the INSIDE contact.
- **Enhances** [Custom CRM integration](CRM-022.md): Successful local contact-field edits can invoke custom CRM processing.
- **Enhances** [Audit search for retained customer records](REP-021.md): Contact profiles provide identity details shown with search results.
- **Enhances** [Personal data export](SEC-014.md): Contact exports include stored contact identity details.
- **Enhances** [Customer data deletion and recovery](SEC-019.md): Contact deletion includes the selected contact's personal information.
- **Enhances** [Personal data retention and automatic deletion](SEC-021.md): A separate pass clears old contacts once their linked visitors have been processed.
- **Related** [Tags and conversation data](CHAT-031.md): Contact profiles can use tags from the same website vocabulary as conversations.
- **Related** [Companies](ADM-029.md): Review associated contacts before changing or deleting a company record.
- **Related** [Customer identity and conversation visibility permissions](SEC-016.md): Contact profiles apply identity masking separately from the exception for your assigned conversations.

## FAQ and troubleshooting

### Why does the visitor show a different email from the address book?

The visitor may have supplied a different value. The address book shows the primary contact value; the visitor view can prefer that visit's details.

### Why can't I add another value?

Check whether the field allows multiple entries and whether it has reached the stored-value limit. The field may also be read-only for operators.

### Why are personal details masked?

Your operator account needs **Can view Customer PII and Conversation Data**. Handling a conversation does not by itself reveal the contact profile's personal details.

### Can I change Salesforce details through the ordinary contact form?

Use the Salesforce **Edit Contact** action for linked Salesforce records. The ordinary profile and Salesforce forms do not have identical update behaviour.