> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://en.help.firstline.cc/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://en.help.firstline.cc/feature/crm/social-media-contact.md). # Contacts Contacts are used to centrally manage external identities that have appeared in messaging and email channels, helping the team find interaction records, identify whether they have been matched to a CRM customer, and perform follow-up contact and channel-level management. “Contacts” are used to manage external identities that have previously interacted with a business through channels such as LINE, Facebook Messenger, Instagram, live chat, and Email. It is not the same layer of data as “Customers” in CRM:**A contact represents an identity on a communication channel, while a customer is a CRM identity that the business wants to manage long term.** A contact can be further mapped to a customer, allowing the team to organize interactions that were originally spread across different channels under the context of the same customer. {% hint style="info" %} If you see the same person with one record each under “Contacts” and “Customers,” that is not necessarily duplicate data. The former represents a channel identity, while the latter represents a CRM customer identity; only after the two are linked can the system know which customer the external account belongs to.\ \ For example,**Wang Xiaoming**contacts customer support through his own LINE account. The system will first create a LINE “contact” record; later, after support confirms his identity, this LINE account is linked to the “Wang Xiaoming” customer record in CRM. In the future, when Wang Xiaoming contacts support again from this LINE account, the system will know which customer he corresponds to. {% endhint %}
## What problems are contacts suitable for solving? When a business uses multiple messaging and Email channels at the same time, it often encounters the following situations: * Want to know whether a LINE, Messenger, or other channel account has ever contacted customer support before. * Want to confirm whether an external identity has already been mapped to a CRM customer. * Know the customer’s name, but need to find out which messaging channels they actually used. * Want to identify specific people from a large number of contacts by channel, time, or level of interaction. * Want to trace contacts who appeared with specific message content. * Need to review past interactions again, or contact the other party again if the channel allows it. * Need to block social contacts that are no longer suitable for continued interaction. Therefore, the Contacts page is more like**a lookup and management center for external communication identities**rather than another CRM customer roster. ## What is the difference between contacts and customers?
ContactsCustomers
What it representsAn external identity on a messaging channel or EmailA CRM customer identity maintained by the business over the long term
Main sourceGenerated when the customer actually interacts with the business through a channelCreated, imported, or organized by the business during service operations
Main purposeTo look up channel identities, interaction records, status, and sourceTo maintain name, contact information, company, tags, and other CRM data
Can it be linked?Can be mapped to a customerCan be linked to one or more external channel identities
A customer may have multiple contact records at the same time. For example, if Wang Xiaoming contacts the business through both LINE and Facebook Messenger, the system may have one LINE contact and one Facebook contact respectively, and then link these external identities to the same “Wang Xiaoming” CRM customer record. For businesses with a large membership base and multiple service channels, this approach preserves each channel’s original identity and interaction history, while organizing them into a more complete service context through CRM customer data, making it easier to confirm which channels customers have used to interact with the business. Some businesses’ service processes do not necessarily require a complete CRM customer record. In such cases, even if a contact has not yet been mapped to a customer, you can still use the contact function to look up and trace by channel identity, time, or interaction data, for day-to-day service use.
## Which channels can be managed? The Contacts page creates different tabs based on the messaging channels currently used by the business. Different channels provide different information. For example: * Social or messaging channels display the name on the channel, source account, current status, and interaction information. * LINE-type channels can additionally show join and cancellation time information. * Facebook-type channels can additionally show subscription and unsubscribe time information. * Email contacts use the email address as the primary identifier and provide historical conversation viewing. The tabs and actions actually available will still vary depending on the channels the business has integrated and the limitations of each platform. ## What information can be seen in the contact list? The social and messaging contact list mainly displays:
InformationUse
NameShows the contact name or identifying information available on the current channel.
ChannelShows which channel account this contact comes from.
StatusShows the current conversation or contact status.
DescriptionShows supplemental information provided by the system or channel.
CustomersIf it has already been mapped to a CRM customer, you can directly see the customer name and go to the customer record.
Created timeHelps determine when this external identity first entered the system.
Interaction levelCan be used as a condition to organize and filter contacts with different levels of interaction.
Some channels also display additional fields, such as LINE join/cancel times or Facebook subscription/unsubscribe times. ## How do you find a specific contact? Social contacts support multiple filtering methods, which can be combined according to the actual service scenario. ### Search by name For social channels that support name search, you can directly enter the contact name for a fuzzy search. Some channels that cannot stably provide nicknames or names, such as live chat or Onsite, may not display a name search field. ### Filter by channel account If a business manages multiple brands, branches, or sets of social accounts at the same time, you can specify a channel account and view only the contacts entering from that account. ### Filter by creation date You can specify a date range to find contacts created within a specific period. For example: * Find contacts who entered during a certain campaign period. * Check recently added external identities. * Narrow the scope when searching historical data. ### Filter by interaction level If you need to quickly distinguish different levels of interaction from a large number of contacts, you can use interaction level as a filter criterion. ## What can advanced filtering do? Advanced filtering is especially suitable for situations where you already know part of the clue, but do not know which external identity it is. ### Find whether it has already been mapped to a customer You can filter: * Contacts already linked to a CRM customer. * Contacts that do not yet have a CRM customer link. This is very helpful for organizing anonymous or externally contacted people whose identities have not yet been verified. ### Specify a CRM customer If you already know which customer it is, you can directly specify the customer and find the external contacts related to them. For example, the same customer may have contacted the business from different LINE accounts, Messenger, or other messaging channels. This condition can be used to reverse-search for related channel identities. ### Search for contacts that have appeared with specific messages You can enter message keywords to find contacts who have said the specified content. For example: * Find contacts who have asked about “refunds.” * Trace the source of conversations that once provided a certain order number or event name. * Use remembered message content to trace back to the contact when you do not know the other party’s name. {% hint style="info" %} The actual matching method for message search will vary depending on the search mechanism currently used by the business. If you cannot find the expected result, try shortening the keyword or narrowing the scope with conditions such as date or channel account. {% endhint %} ## View a contact’s past interactions Social contacts can open message records from the list to view the past interactions of that external identity. This is suitable for: * When a customer contacts again, look back and confirm what was said earlier. * Knowing the external identity, but needing to confirm whether the same issue was handled before. * Tracing the full context of a specific message, campaign, or event. Email contacts also provide an independent historical conversation viewing function, allowing you to find past correspondence by email address. ## Go from contact to CRM customer When a contact has already been mapped to a CRM customer, the list will display the customer name. Clicking it allows you to go directly to that[customer record](/feature/crm/contact.md). This link allows the team to quickly switch from “which LINE account or Email is this” to “the complete CRM data and service context for this customer.” If a contact has not yet been mapped to a customer, it means the system only knows this external channel identity for now and does not yet have enough CRM identity linkage. ## Can you contact the other party again from a contact? Some channels allow you to directly re-enter message interaction from the contact list; Email contacts can also be followed up from the list. However,**whether you can proactively send messages is not determined by the contact feature itself**. Whether sending is actually allowed will still be affected by the following conditions: * The channel’s own rules and restrictions. * The other party’s current subscription, friend, or contactable status. * The platform’s rules for proactive messaging time windows. * The channel settings currently integrated by the business. Therefore, if you cannot send a message directly from the Contacts page, it does not mean the contact data is abnormal; you should check whether the channel currently allows proactive contact. ## Block and unblock contacts For social contacts that support blocking, you can block or unblock directly from the list. Blocking is suitable for sources that continuously send malicious content, spam, or other interactions that are no longer suitable to continue. For further understanding of the impact after blocking, refer to[Block contact](/feature/channels/advanced-features/block-contact.md). {% hint style="warning" %} Blocking is a channel-level contact management action and is not the same as deleting a CRM customer. If the same customer still has other available channel identities, whether those other identities can continue interacting will still depend on their respective status. {% endhint %} ## What is different about Email contacts? Email contacts use the email address as the primary identifier, and the list will display: * Email address. * Name. * Status. * Mapped CRM customer. * Created time. The Email tab allows you to search directly by Email address, view the address’s historical conversations, and, if the current business mailbox settings allow it, carry out follow-up contact. Therefore, the role of Email contacts is the same as social contacts: it first represents an “external contact identity,” and then, as needed, establishes a relationship with a CRM customer. ## Common use cases ### Customer switches channels and contacts again A customer previously asked a question through LINE, and later contacted via Email. The team can retain the two external contact identities separately, then map them to the same CRM customer, avoiding treating the two service interactions as two completely different people. ### Don’t know the name, only remember the conversation content If you only remember that the customer once mentioned a certain order number, product name, or issue, you can use message keywords and date conditions to trace back to the contact who said the related content. ### Find contacts whose identities have not yet been verified Through the “not yet linked to a customer” condition, you can find contacts that currently only have a social identity and do not yet have CRM customer data, as a basis for later data organization. ### Find the channel identities used by a specific customer If the CRM customer is known, you can specify the customer condition and view the social contacts related to them, helping you understand which identities this customer has used to interact with the business.