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
- Open the CRM module from the main navigation.
- Click New contact at the top right.
- Pick the type: Individual or Organization.
- Fill in the required fields — at minimum, a name and one channel address (email or phone).
- (Optional) Add additional emails, phones, or channel addresses. One per type can be primary.
- (Optional) Set the customer tier from the dropdown.
- (Optional) Link the contact to an organization. If the email domain matches an existing organization, Atender suggests the link.
- (Optional) Fill in any custom fields. They appear in sections below the built-in fields.
- Click Save.
The contact appears in the CRM list and is immediately searchable.
What happens automatically
- Initials derive from the name and populate the avatar
- Domain extracts from the primary email and 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. Atender doesn’t auto-merge, and if a contact with this email already exists, you’ll have two records.
- Wrong type — picking “Individual” when you meant “Organization” (or vice versa). The type can’t be changed after creation; you’d need to delete and recreate, or contact support.
- Wrong primary — if you add multiple emails, double-check which one is marked primary. The primary drives outbound email.
Troubleshooting
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Symptom: “A contact with this email already exists” when saving. Fix: Search the CRM for that email — the existing contact will appear. Edit it instead of creating a duplicate.
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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.
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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.