CRMbeginner

Create a contact manually

Most contacts are created automatically when a customer reaches out. But sometimes you need to create one ahead of time — for proactive outreach or for importing from another system. Open the CRM, click Add contact, fill in a name, and optionally an email or phone.

3 min read

Create a contact manually

Atender creates contacts automatically the moment a customer reaches out. You don’t have to do anything for inbound contacts — they appear.

You only create contacts manually when:

  • You want to call or message a customer who hasn’t contacted you yet (proactive outreach)
  • You’re importing customers from another system that doesn’t have an integration
  • You want to set up a contact ahead of an expected outreach (e.g. a planned campaign)

Steps

Manual contact creation is currently available in the web CRM. On iOS, CRM supports finding and reading contacts and organizations, but not creating them.

  1. Open the CRM module from the main navigation.
  2. Click Add contact at the top right.
  3. Pick the type: Individual or Organization.
  4. Fill in the name (Full Name, or Organization Name for an organization). Emails and phones are optional.
  5. (Optional) Add emails or phones with Add email and Add phone. The first of each type becomes primary.
  6. (Optional) Set the customer tier from the dropdown.
  7. (Optional) Link the contact to an organization. If the email domain matches an existing organization, Atender suggests the link.
  8. (Optional) Fill in any custom fields. They appear in sections below the built-in fields.
  9. Click Create Contact (Create Organization for an organization).

The contact appears in the CRM list and is immediately searchable.

What happens automatically

  • Initials derive from the name and populate the avatar
  • Domain of each email address (free email providers excepted) is used for organization auto-linking
  • Auto-link to organization — if the email domain matches an existing organization, the contact is linked silently

Verify it worked

  • The contact is visible in the CRM list (search by name, email, or phone)
  • Opening the contact shows all the fields you entered
  • If you set a tier, the tier badge shows on the contact’s detail
  • If the contact was auto-linked to an organization, the organization appears in the Overview

Outbound from a new contact

Once the contact exists, you can immediately:

  • Place a call — see Call a contact from the CRM
  • Be the inbound recipient — when this contact emails / calls / messages your tenant, the existing contact record is matched (by email or phone) and the new conversation links to it

Common mistakes

  • Creating duplicates — search before you create. If a contact with this email or phone already exists, Atender opens the existing contact instead of creating a new one.
  • Wrong type — picking “Individual” when you meant “Organization” (or vice versa). You can change the type afterwards under Type when you edit the contact.
  • Wrong primary — if you add multiple emails, double-check which one is marked primary. The primary drives outbound email.

Troubleshooting

  • Symptom: “A contact with this email or phone already exists” when saving. Fix: Atender opens the existing contact instead. Edit it instead of creating a duplicate.

  • Symptom: Contact saved but doesn’t appear in the list. Fix: Refresh the list. If you have a filter or saved view applied, the new contact may be excluded by that filter — clear filters and check.

  • Symptom: Email auto-linked to the wrong organization. Fix: Open the contact, unlink, and link to the right organization manually. See Link a contact to an organization.

See also

Tags

How To
Back to CRM