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Learn to work with Contact information

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Overview

Contact information is the personal details or corporate information of a person or company respectively. Contact information of customers or potential customers, users and partners is captured through this module.

Module features

Contacts can be defined as physical person or companies keeping only required information for each
Users, customers, potential customers and partners details are registered in the system at contact information
A contact information associated with an accounts receivable is considered a customer which is denoted by life cycle state which is set to 'financial'
Automatic assignment of contact name day, so you never miss a chance to wish your customers or even reward them on their name day
Contact's preferred language for communication is kept so that all outbound communications are made in this language
Keep information on whether customers would like to be part of direct and affiliate marketing campaigns to confirm with DPA
Provide customers with the option to opt-in and opt-out of mailing lists through their emails
Keep multiple emails addresses and phones for each contact and used by other modules to define billing or delivery addresses, contact and business phones etc.

Setting Up Contact Information

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Configuration > Crm Application > Contact Information

Industries and Industry sectors

Industry sectors are used to define a number of large segments of the economy that share a similar business type and industries group segments of the economy according to business activity. Once configured they can be added to a contact information. For example, for contact information used to save partner information, the industry and industry sector will be useful in categorising your partners based on the industry or industry sector they focus at.

Business definitions

Contact information definitions are business rules which are used to control the behaviour of Contact information throughout their life cycle. There can only be one active definition at a time.

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Definition fields

The table describes the sections of the Contact Information Definition Data Entry page and explains how the fields in the page are used.

Mandatory Configurable

Rules
Name Rule	Defines how the contact information name should be displayed in Summary, Data Entry and Search pages, as well as Reports and Dashbaords. The supported options are the following: First Name + Last Name (Default Option) Last Name + First Name First Name + Middle Name + Last Name Last Name + Middle Name + First Name
Persons Uniqueness Rules	The fields which will be used to determine the uniqueness of contact information that represent persons. If more than one fields are selected then the combination of the fields should be unique and not each one of the selected fields. The supported uniqueness fields are the following: Name ID Number Passport Number Social Security Number Related Organisational Unit Fields included in the uniqueness rule must be provided when creating or editing a contact information.
Companies Uniqueness Rules	The fields which will be used to determine the uniqueness of contact information that represent companies. If more than one fields are selected then the combination of the fields should be unique and not each one of the selected fields The uniqueness is validated on creating or updating contact information and can be defined as a combination of multiple fields. The supported uniqueness fields are the following: Name VAT Registration Number Fields included in the uniqueness rule must be provided when creating or editing a contact information.
Name Day Rules	Ensure that you won't miss a customer's name day by using name day rules. In each rule provide the date of the name day along with all the names celebrating that day and any variations, separated by a comma ',' . Once the rules are in place execute the Name Day Application Process to ensure that the correct name day is saved in each contact information record, if one exists.
Authorisation Settings
Defines a default setting for all new contact information, with regards to their inclusion to mailing lists. The default options can be changed at the contact information. Send direct marketing material: Defines whether contacts will receive communications for in-house marketing campaigns. (i.e. Customer Care Notifications) Send affiliate marketing material: Defines whether contacts will receive communications for partner marketing campaigns. (i.e. Customer Care Notifications) Refer to Contacting customers for a complete description of the required setup and usage of authorisation settings
Supported Preferences
Addresses , Emails, Phones, Relations	A list of address, email and phone types as well as relations which are supported by the system. Select the Supported field if you would like the type to be made available for selection in contact information Data Entry page and provide a label which will be displayed for the type.

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Related configuration areas

The following modules are related to Contact information and may be configured for the Contact information module to operate at its full capacity.

Module Link	Area	Description
Security Management	Privacy Level Assignment Rules	Provides automation on setting the privacy level of contact
Platform	Formatting Settings	Provide formatting settings with relation to contact information fields
Communications	Communication definitions Communication templates	Create communication templates including dynamic links that will allow customers to opt in and out of mailing lists.

Using Contact Information

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Crm > Contact Information > Manage Contact Information

Contact Information is used to keep all the contact details for customers, users or partners. Contact information can be one of 2 types. Either a physical person or a company, and according to the type different information is kept.

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Contact information fields

The table describes the sections of the Contact Information Data Entry page and explains how the fields in the page are used.

Mandatory Configurable

Main Information

Type: The contact information type is defined on selecting to create a new contact by clicking on New

For Persons

For Companies

Gender

Title

First Name

Last Name

Company Name

Preferred Language: The contact's preferred language that will be used when communications are sent to the contact. If none is specified, then the system will use its default language.

Photo: Add a photo which can be used by third party system such as a mobile app or portal as a profile photo.

Addresses

The addresses of the contact. Multiple addresses can be defined and used or updated by other CRM.COM modules as billing or delivery addresses. contact information addresses may also be handled through other modules, for example if a new address is defined at the subscription as a billing address, then the address will be added to the list of the contact's information addresses,

The type of addresses that can be provided are only the ones set as supported at the contact information definition. For each type you can only have one address defined. If however you would like to define a different address for a type that already exists then you have the option to Deactivate the existing one and define a new address.
Option to view and reactivate older inactive addresses using View Inactive link is possible

Phones

The phones of the contact. Multiple phones can be defined and used or updated by other CRM.COM modules. The type of phones that can be provided are only the ones set as supported at the contact information definition. The area code is automatically set based on the selected country as defined in the Countries module available under Platform

Emails

The emails of the contact. The type of emails that can be provided are only the ones set as supported at the contact information definition. The email address provided must include

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Contact Information - The Basics

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Contact Information - The Advanced

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Contact Information - The Admin Stuff

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Demographics
the character @ and a dot at a position after the @.
Section is available for contact persons and it includes demographic information listed below Date of Birth Name Day: Name Day can be automatically applied on contact persons through the 'Name Day Application Definition' and based on the 'Name Day Rules' configured in Contact Information Definition. Country of residence ID number Registration Country Passport Number Social Security Number Industry Industry Sector
Company Profile
Section is available for companies and it includes company profile information listed below Industry Industry Sector Profile Year Annual Turnover Established on Number of Employess Tax Reference Number Registration Details: Registration Number Registered in: The company registration country. VAT Registration: VAT Number By: VAT registered by On: VAT registration date
Relations
Includes other contact information that are related to the specific contact. Outward Relations: the contacts that the specific contact information is related to along with the type of relationship. The available relations are filtered based on the business & personal relations specified on the active contact information definition. You can add multiple related contacts. Inward Relations: Inward relations are the contacts for which the specific contact was defined in their outward relations and it can only be modified, through the other contact's data entry page.
Authorisation Settings
Authorisation settings provide information whether the contact would like to be contacted for direct and affiliate marketing material. By default the settings is set as defined in the contact information definition. Send me Direct Marketing material: Defines whether the contact will receive communications for in-house marketing campaigns. (i.e. Customer Care Notifications) The date on which this authorization was granted or denied and the user who updated this information is also available Send me Affiliate Marketing material: Defines whether contacts will receive communications for partner marketing campaigns. (i.e. Customer Care Notifications) The date on which this authorization was granted or denied and the user who updated this information is also available Customers can opt in and out of mailing lists (direct/affiliate) via email. i.e. the authorisation settings can be updated directly by the customers. Refer to Contacting customers for a complete description of the required setup and usage of authorisation settings.

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Creating and processing contact information

Note
Actions are subject to validations which take place before an action is initiated (prerequisite) or after it is submitted (postcondition).

Selecting and creating a contact information

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Navigate to Contact information and specify the criteria that match the contact information you are interested in, or click on NEW > Person or NEW > Company from the Actions Menu to register detail of a new contact. Proceed by providing the mandatory information as defined in the attributes table above before you SAVE the contact. If the contact is also associated to an accounts receivable then the life cycle state is set to 'Financial' to distinguish the contact as a customer, while if not the life cycle state is set to 'Marketing'.

Working with contact information addresses

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Accessing historic address data may be required at times, such as a customer moving back to a previous place he used to live. All addresses registered for a contact can be kept in the system and the ones that are no longer valid can be inactivated, with the option to re-activate at any point required. You can only have one active address per type registered for a contact, so as long as you inactivate one you can replace with a new of the same time. For example if you have one delivery address and one billing address and the customer would like to change his billing address with a new one, then the existing must be set to inactive and a new billing address can be registered.

Deactivate addresses

Go to Addresses tab where all your active addresses are shown and you can switch between them by selecting the respective radio button
Click on DEACTIVATE to deactivate the address you are currently viewing

Activate or remove inactive addresses

Go to Addresses Tab and click on VIEW INACTIVE for a list of inactive registered addresses
Click on ACTIVATE to reactivate an address
Or
Click on REMOVE to complete delete an address
Click on VIEW ACTIVE to go back and view active addresses

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Applying business flows on contact information

Communicating contact information

Contact information details are used when communicating with customers for every other module in the system. Contact information related communication tags (text that is automatically replaced by values specific to selected records) are available to every communication created. Tags are available for selection by typing '#'.

Refer to Communications manual for a complete list of Contact information tags.

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Contacting customers upon approval

Customers are always contacted for financial matters, such as new or unsettled bills and they have no say in this. However, they can choose whether they will also be contacted for your company's or partner's marketing campaigns or not. In occasions, where it is imperative for the information to be communicated, even if its not financial, you have the option to ignore the customer's preferences and notify them anyway.

Take into consideration customer's preference

In order for the customer preference to be taken into consideration when executing Notification Runs then the 'Apply Contact Information Data Protection for Direct/Affiliate Marketing' setting in Notification Type should be selected.

Ignore customer's preference

If the setting in the Notification Type is not selected, then the system will create the notification and communication for the customer, no matter what the preferred selection is in the Contact Information.

Opting in and out mailing lists

A customer can subscribe (Opt-In) or unsubscribe (Opt-Out) of direct and/or affiliate marketing automatically via email links.
For more information refer to 'Dynamic Links Settings' in the Communications definition

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Assign a name day to contacts

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Automatic assignment of contact name day ensures that you never miss a chance to wish your customers or even reward them on their name day. Use Name Day Application Run Definitions along with Name Day rules set at the contact information definition to assign a name day to contacts. Once configured, as in all definitions, the definition must be submitted so that a run is executed. When the run is executed it will find all the contacts that meet one of the 'name day rules' configured in the contact information definition and which comply with the 'Name Day Application settings' provided in the 'Name Day Rule' definition and for each one of those set a name day in the contact information respective field.

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Name Day Application Settings

Determines on which Contacts the Name Day Rules will be applied on. Two options are available:

Apply on All Contacts: Name day rules will be applied to all contacts of type 'person' regardless if their name day is already specified and different than the one specified in the rule.
Apply on Contacts without Name Day: Name day rules will be applied only on contacts of type 'person' that their current name day is not specified.

Navigate to Crm > Contact Information > Perform Name Day Automation Runs
Create a new definition and select whether all contacts should be included in the run (if you would also like to make updates to existing) or just the ones without a name day
Provide scheduling settings and SAVE the definition.
Click on Actions > Submit from the Actions menu and either execute or schedule the definition to make the assignments

Classifying contacts as financial or marketing

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A customer in CRM.COM is not an entity, but is represented by a contact that owns an accounts receivable and is indicated by the contact life cycle state set to 'Financial'. Contacts who are not customers have a life cycle state set to 'Marketing'.

Segmenting contact information

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You can group contact information with common business characteristics. Use the lists in system business processes for identification of customers or for simple statistical calculations.
For more information on Segmentation and how you can create contact information lists refer to Segmentation.

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Contact information Business Examples

Company uniqueness rule

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title	Setting up Contact Information Uniqueness Rules - Contact Company

Scenario 1

Company ZX would like to ensure that no two companies share the same VAT Registration Number in their contact information

Solution

Configuration
The Uniqueness Rule in the Contact Information Definition should be set with a check on VAT Registration Number under the Companies Uniqueness Rules.

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title	Uniqueness Rule setup options for companies

Option A: If Name and VAT Registration Number are specified in the rule, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name and VAT Registration Number combination
Option B: If only Name is specified, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name.
Option C: If only VAT Registration Number is specified, then no other contact information can exist with the same VAT Registration Number

Person uniqueness rule

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title	Setting up Contact Information Uniqueness Rules - Contact Person

Scenario 1

Company ZX would like to ensure that the ID Number in contact information is unique for all contacts

Solution

Configuration
The Uniqueness Rule in the Contact Information Definition should be set with a check on ID Number under the 'Persons Uniqueness Rules.'

Scenario 2

Company ZX would like to ensure that the ID Number and Social Security Number (SSN) combination in contact information is unique for all contacts

Solution

Configuration
The Uniqueness Rule in the Contact Information Definition should be set with a check on both ID Number and Social Security Number under the 'Persons Uniqueness Rules'.

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title	Uniqueness Rule setup options for persons

Option A: If Name, Social Security Number, ID Number are specified in the Rule, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name, Social Security Number and ID Number combination
Option B: If Name and Social Security Number are specified, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name and Social Security Number combination
Option C: If only Name is specified, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name value
Option D: If only Name and ID Number are specified, then no other contact information can exist with the same Name and ID Number values

Financial and marketing life cycle state

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Scenario 1

Company ZX registers 2 contacts in the system, one as a new subscriber and another one as a potential lead. See below how their Life Cycle State is set by the system:

Solution

User Process

Financial

A new contact is registered in the system as a new subscriber. A subscription and financial account (accounts receivable) is created for billing purposes and to track the contact's financial history. The Life Cycle State of the contact information record is (then) automatically updated to Financial.

Marketing

A new contact is registered in the system as a lead. The contact does not require a financial account (accounts receivable) and their state remains as Marketing. When this contact becomes a subscriber and requires a financial account (accounts receivable), their Life Cycle State will automatically be updated from Marketing to Financial.

Exclude customers from partner marketing campaigns

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title	Authorisation Settings

Scenario 1

Company ZX contacts its customers on a monthly basis to let them know about new offers and to notify them about new available channels. In addition to internal organisation (Direct) marketing campaigns, Company ZX also engages in (Affiliate) marketing campaigns for partners. Some of ZX's customers would like to be removed from the Affiliate Marketing campaigns Mailing list, but would like to remain in the Direct marketing campaigns mailing lists .

Solution

Configuration

Include in Direct Marketing Campaigns

Contact Information: The Authorisation Settings on the contact information related to marketing should be set as follows:

Send me Direct Marketing material: YES
Send me Direct Affiliate material: NO

Notification Type: The Notification Type used for the monthly Affiliate Marketing campaign should have the Authorisation Settings set as follows (in order to take into consideration the Affiliate Marketing Contact Information settings):

Apply Contact Information Data Protection for Direct Marketing: YES
Apply Contact Information Data Protection for Affiliate Marketing: YES

Notification Run: Use the Customer Care Notification Type created with the settings configured as above.

System Process
When the system executes the Notification Run with the specific Notification Type (configured as described above), contacts that meet the criteria will be validated against the Authorisation settings and notifications/communications and those that have the flag for Direct Marketing set to YES will be contacted.

Exclude from Affiliate Marketing Campaigns

Contact Information: The Authorisation Settings (on the)/in contact information related to Marketing should be set as follows:

Send me Direct Marketing material: YES
Send me Direct Affiliate material: NO

Notification Type: The Notification Type used for the monthly Direct Marketing campaign should have the Authorisation Settings set as follows (in order to take into consideration the Direct Marketing Contact Information settings):

Apply Contact Information Data Protection for Direct Marketing: YES
Apply Contact Information Data Protection for Affiliate Marketing: YES

Notification Run: Use the Customer Care Notification Type created with the settings configured as above

System Process
When the system executes the Notification Run with the Notification Type (configured as described above), contacts that meet the criteria will be validated against the Authorisation settings and notifications/communications, while the ones that have the flag for Affiliate Marketing set to NO will be excluded.

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If you are using a previous release, view CRM.COM Release Changes.
Use the Contact information WEB API to create and manage Contact information from an external system, such as a customer portal. View the Contact information WEB API for a complete list of actions available through the WEB API.

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Glossary

CRM.COM Term	Definition
Accounts Receivable	A ledger of the financial transactions carried out between a company and its customers, such as invoices and payments.
Subscription	A collection of customer services billed on a recurring, usage or one-time basis.
Opt-in	Contacts can opt-in, in order to receive marketing emails, either from your company or from affiliate companies
Opt-out	Contacts can opt-out, so that they will never be sent marketing emails, either from your company or from affiliate companies.
Notification	Auto-generated text, used to communicate financial or customer care information to existing or prospective customers. Notifications are sent through CRM.COM by email or SMS or by using a third party external system, such as a mobile app or portal.
Notification run	Run used to generate notifications and communication which are sent to customers.

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Versions Compared

Old Version 7

New Version 8

Key

Overview

Module features

Setting Up Contact Information