How to Identify Contacts by Email and Phone NumberI
Business Goal: Collect Contact's phone number or email when you get a new Contact to identify if they are an existing customer.
Last updated
Business Goal: Collect Contact's phone number or email when you get a new Contact to identify if they are an existing customer.
Last updated
Identifying an existing customer gives support agents more context on the customer. With a better understanding of a customer, agents can provide better assistance. On respond.io, Contact identifiers can be collected using Workflows and Website Chat Widget.
Use the email address or phone number collected to:
when a Contact messages you from a different Channel.
be able to sync Contacts and contact properties with another CRM.
Here are four methods that you can use to collect Contact identifiers:
Automatically obtained from Channel's Metadata.
Ask for a Phone Number or Email using Workflows.
Pre-Chat Form on Website Chat Widget.
Identify logged-in Contacts via Website Chat Widget.
Use this method when you are using channels that pass metadata containing Contact's phone number or email to respond.io platform.
respond.io platform automatically receives Contact's phone number or email address for the following channels:
For channels that do not provide Contact's phone number or email to respond.io platform, use the other three methods to collect Contact identifiers.
Method Objectives
Select a Workflow Template and customize steps if needed
Continue the Workflow when the question is skipped
Workflow Setup
There are Workflow templates set up by our team that you can use immediately. These templates can be edited to fit your business needs.
On the respond.io platform, click Workflows > + Add Workflow and choose your template.
To collect emails, click Welcome Message & Ask For Email > Use Template.
To collect phone numbers, click Welcome Message & Ask For Phone Number > Use Template.
Click the Ask for Email step to edit the Question Text. The Question Type should remain as Email. Finally, click Save and Publish to activate the Workflow.
Click the Ask for Phone Number step to edit the Question Text. The Question Type should remain as Phone. Finally, click Save and Publish to activate the Workflow.
These Workflow templates are set up with a Branch Step to check if the Contact Field already contains the email address or phone number.
Contact identifier does not exist
Ask the question
Contact identifier exists
Skip the question
Add a Jump Step to define the next step in the Workflow when the question is skipped. Often, you will choose the Step after the Ask a Question Step.
Use this method when you expect Contacts to message you via Website Chat Widget.
Unlike instant messaging channels which will provide the name of the Contact, when Contacts message from the Website Chat Widget, you’ll also need to get their name in addition to the phone number or email address.
Method Objective
To ask for Contact’s Name, Phone Number or Email Address using the Pre-Chat Form.
Feature Setup
Here’s how to set up the Contact information you want to collect from the Pre-Chat Form.S Messenger
Navigate to Settings module > Channels > Website Chat Channel > Customize.
Open the Pre-Chat toggle and enable Pre-Chat Form.
Add First Name and Email Address field to the form.
Make the fields Mandatory so Contacts must fill them out.
Open the Pre-Chat toggle and enable Pre-Chat Form.
Add First Name and Phone Number field to the form.
Make the fields Mandatory so Contacts must fill them out.
If Contacts are logged in, you can get the name, email, phone number and more automatically.
Method Objective
To have the Website Chat Widget identify logged-in Contacts on your website.
Feature Setup
Learn more about .
Then, customize the & Step as desired.
Additionally, you can configure the Save Response As to to reference it at a later step of the Workflow.
Learn how to configure the .
Consider continuing your Workflow with , , or .
Must-have: First add and install the .
Learn more about .
Follow the instructions to add JavaScript code to your website .
