Contacts and organizations

A contact is a person who has contacted you. An organization is a company that contacts belong to. Cliedesk creates contacts on its own when people write in. When a contact registers on your site with the same email, Cliedesk links the WordPress user.

For the details of one customer (past conversations, activity, preferences and fields), see The customer profile. To import contacts from a CSV file or clean up old data, see Import and clean up contacts. For your own record types, see Custom records.

WordPress accounts for customers

Cliedesk can create a WordPress account with the customer role for a contact. Admins choose when in Settings → Conversations → Contacts → Create a WordPress customer account for contacts:

• off (the default): never.
• first_contact: when a contact is created by an incoming message.
• first_order: when the customer pays their first WooCommerce order.

If an account with the same email already exists, Cliedesk links it instead. An email never gets two accounts. Contacts that agents add by hand are not affected. The customer gets the normal WordPress new-account email, unless you turn off Send the normal WordPress new-account email on the same screen. The country for phone numbers, Gravatar pictures, events that are not recorded and the pages contact owners hear about are set there too.

Find a contact

1. Select Contacts in the left rail, or press g then c.
2. Type in Search contacts: a name, or an exact email address, phone number or #ID.

Select Filter to build a filter, for example by country, tag, organization or last conversation. Select Columns to choose the columns of the list.

Segments and lists

• A segment is a saved filter. Its members update on their own. Filter the list, then select Save as segment.
• A list is a fixed group of contacts. Select New list.

Under Who can see it, share a segment with Everyone or Only selected teams.

Edit a contact

Open a contact to see its Profile. You can:

• Change the name, Language, Time zone, Country and City, then select Save contact.
• Add email addresses and phone numbers under Email, phone and channels with Add identity.
• Add Tags and Notes. Notes are visible to your team only. Pin keeps a note on top.
• Set an Owner: the agent responsible for this customer.
• Link records from your site, such as posts and comments, under Records with Link a record.

Block or remove a contact

• Block: new messages from this contact no longer reach the inbox. Choose Spam silently or Drop. Select Unblock to undo.
• Move to Trash: the contact is hidden from lists and search. Select Restore to bring it back. Contacts in Trash are removed after 30 days.

Act on many contacts

1. Tick the contacts, or select Select all matching.
2. Choose an action in Bulk actions: tags, a field, an organization, a list, block or Trash.

Most bulk changes can be undone. To export, select Export…, choose the columns, then select Export CSV. Large exports run in the background and you get an email with a link.

Merge duplicate contacts

Cliedesk looks for contacts that may be the same person.

1. Go to Contacts and select Possible duplicates.
2. Read Why each pair was found.
3. Select Merge…, check the preview and choose the Values that differ to keep.
4. Select Merge.

You can undo a merge for 30 days. Select Not a duplicate to hide a pair for good. You can also start from a contact with Merge with….

Change the customer of a conversation

1. Open the conversation.
2. In the side panel, select Change customer….
3. Pick the right contact. Tick Keep the current customer as a CC if needed.

Organizations

1. Select Organizations in the left rail.
2. Select New organization and enter the name and domains.

A contact with an email on the organization’s domain joins it on its own. Free email domains never match. On the organization page you can:

• Add a member and choose their Primary organization.
• Set a parent organization under Part of.
• Add Tags. New conversations of members get these tags.
• See Activity: open conversations, Conversations per month and Top topics.
• Merge Possible duplicates with Merge….

Organizations from other plugins

Cliedesk can create organizations from the company names in other plugins. Built in is the WooCommerce billing company. To see the sources, go to Organizations and select From plugins…. Select Sync now to sync at once.

Each company becomes one organization. A renamed company keeps its organization. The customers of the company join it as members. When the plugin is deactivated, its organizations are hidden, not deleted. They come back when you activate the plugin again.

Organizations in views, rules and reports

Views, rules and queues can use two organization conditions (with Cliedesk Pro, SLA policies too):

• Organization tag: a tag of the customer’s organization. For example, an Enterprise tag can send the conversation to a priority queue.
• Organization of the conversation: the organization the customer belonged to when the conversation started. It does not change when the customer later moves to another organization.

Reports split by organization also use the organization at the start of the conversation.

Customer cards

The conversation side panel shows a card for the customer and the organization. Admins choose what the cards show in Settings → Conversations → Customer cards.

Records from your other plugins

When one of these plugins is active, the Records panel of a conversation shows the customer’s records from it, read live and read-only: Easy Digital Downloads orders and licences, LearnDash, LifterLMS and Tutor LMS courses (status, progress, enrolled and completed dates), MemberPress memberships, and WooCommerce orders, subscriptions, bookings and memberships. Cliedesk finds them by the customer’s WordPress account and email. Nothing is copied.

You do not set anything up. To stop showing one plugin’s records, turn it off in Settings → Developer → Integrations. When the plugin is deactivated, its records simply no longer show.