# Customer contact identities across channels Associate a customer's channel identities with a contact while keeping channel and account identities distinct. *Release 3.3 ยท developer, operator, visitor* ## What it is INSIDE can associate several channel identities with one contact. This lets you recognise the same customer across supported channels while retaining the address and account needed for each channel. A channel identity and a contact are different records with different purposes. ## Who uses it and why - Operators use the linked contact to understand the customer and choose an available channel. - Developers integrating channels must preserve the channel's customer and connected-account identities. - Visitors can contact you through several channels without each conversation necessarily becoming a separate customer profile. ## Where to find it Open the visitor's **Contact Information** to see the associated profile. Available channel actions appear in the **Address Book** and contact panels. There is no separate channel-identity editor for ordinary contact work. ## How it works When a channel supplies a customer identifier, INSIDE looks for that identity within the website and channel. The lookup can also use the connected app or account to distinguish identities that otherwise look alike. A channel identity can link to a saved contact and help INSIDE find the customer's channel visits. Some identity changes retain the previous identifier as an alternate, allowing older references to continue to find the identity. Removing or replacing an email address or mobile number can remove its corresponding channel association. INSIDE checks whether that value still exists elsewhere on the contact before removing the link. A change of email letter case alone does not trigger that cleanup. ## Configure it Follow each channel's setup article for account configuration and access requirements. There is no independent contact switch for channel identities. Use the contact assignment and merge controls to resolve customer associations, and ask Powerfront to investigate an incorrect channel link. ## Limits and good to know - The same external identifier on different channels, apps or accounts is not sufficient proof that it belongs to the same participant. - An email channel identity represents a mailbox. INSIDE guards against linking an unrelated mailbox to a contact whose identity values do not contain that address. - Removing one alternate value does not necessarily remove a channel link if that value remains on the contact. - Linking a customer does not enable an additional channel or grant permission to send through it. - Conversation-history display still follows the website's conversation settings and your access permissions. ## Depends on and works with ### This feature uses - **Requires** [Customer contact details](CRM-001.md): A contact holds the profile shared by linked channel identities. - **Works better with** [Conversation history and search](CHAT-024.md): Contact associations can bring conversations from different channels into the customer's history. - **Works better with** [Messaging conversations](CHN-002.md): Connected messaging services add customer identities that can share an INSIDE contact. - **Works better with** [Contact matching](CRM-003.md): Contact identities help establish the customer association. - **Works better with** [Contact merge preview and assignment](CRM-004.md): Contact linking and merging can change channel associations. - **Works better with** [Address book and contact actions](CRM-006.md): Address-book actions use available linked channel identities. - **Works better with** [Contact change history](CRM-008.md): Contact History can explain channel identity link changes. ### Used by - **Required by** [WhatsApp Business App connection](CHN-009.md): Platform identities associate imported contacts with INSIDE records. - **Enhances** [Messaging conversations](CHN-002.md): Platform identities can be associated with an INSIDE contact. - **Enhances** [Purchase tracking and sales totals](COM-020.md): Linked visitor identities currently on the floor receive updated sales summaries. - **Enhances** [Purchase details and conversion credit](COM-030.md): Linked visitors for the same INSIDE user contribute to default purchase history. - **Enhances** [Contact merge preview and assignment](CRM-004.md): Merging contacts also moves their channel identity associations. - **Enhances** [Address book and contact actions](CRM-006.md): Linked channel identities make SMS and WhatsApp contact actions available for local contacts. - **Enhances** [Contact change history](CRM-008.md): Channel identity associations can appear alongside visitor associations. - **Enhances** [Personal data export](SEC-014.md): Linked platform identities add their conversations to a contact export. - **Enhances** [Customer data deletion and recovery](SEC-019.md): Linked channel identities and conversations participate in contact deletion and recovery. - **Enhances** [Personal data retention and automatic deletion](SEC-021.md): Contact cleanup also clears associated channel identity information. ## FAQ and troubleshooting ### Does one contact mean all channels use the same address? No. Each channel retains the identifier it needs. The contact association groups those identities under the customer profile. ### Why didn't changing the capitalisation of an email remove its link? INSIDE treats an email case-only change as the same address for this cleanup. ### Why does an old number still appear linked? Check all saved values on the contact. Cleanup retains the link while the old value still belongs to that contact. ### Why can't INSIDE link a mailbox to this contact? The mailbox address must correspond to the contact's identity values. Confirm the correct customer and address before changing the association.