# Contacts

Find, add and edit the people who chat with, call and text your business, set statuses and tags, start a sequence and read each timeline.

Updated Oct 28, 2026. Source: https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/contacts

## What this does

The CRM in Small Business Chatbot keeps a contact for each person who reaches your business through website chat, calls or texts. Contacts save themselves from website chats where the visitor gives a phone or email, calls the AI receptionist answers, text conversations, replies to workflow emails and bookings. Each contact holds the person's details, a status, tags, notes, tasks and a timeline.

## Where contacts come from

Under **CRM › Contacts › Settings › Passive CRM sync**, each channel has two switches. **Save contacts** creates or updates contacts. **Log activity** adds the channel's conversations to the timeline. New accounts start with all of them on, and turning one off deletes nothing. Click **Save settings** after a change.

| Channel | What saves a contact |
|---|---|
| **Chat widget** | A website chat where the visitor gave a phone or email |
| **Text messages (SMS)** | A text conversation with your business number |
| **Voice calls** | An answered call to your business number, matched by the caller's number |
| **Email** | A reply to a workflow email |
| **Appointments** | A booking in your connected calendar |

![The Passive CRM sync settings with Save contacts and Log activity switches on for chat widget, texts, voice calls, email and appointments](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/contacts-passive-sync-2026-10-28.webp)
*CRM › Contacts › Settings, October 2026*

A chat whose details don't clearly match one contact waits in the **Needs review** tab. That tab appears next to **Contacts** when something is waiting. [Export and duplicates](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/export-and-duplicates) covers it.

## Find and edit a contact

1. **Open the list**

   In the app, open **[CRM › Contacts](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/app?panel=contacts)**. **Next due date** is the date of the contact's earliest open task. **Fields** chooses the columns.

   ![The CRM contacts list with name, company, email, phone and next due date columns and the toolbar above it](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/contacts-list-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Contacts, October 2026*

2. **Search, filter and sort**

   **Search contacts** finds a name, phone, email, website, LinkedIn URL, business or tag. The filter menu narrows the list by **Status**, **Source** or **Tag**. The sort menu orders it by **Last activity**, **Contact name**, **Created** or **Next due date**.

3. **Open a contact**

   Click a row. **Contact Detail** opens with the **Activity** timeline beside it. Change any field, then click **Save Contact**.

   ![A contact's details beside the Activity timeline with a chat, a call and a note](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/contacts-detail-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Contacts, October 2026*

To add someone, click **New contact**, fill in **Email** or **Phone** at least, and click **Create Contact**. If a contact already has that phone or email, the app updates it and shows **Existing contact found and updated.** To change several contacts at once, tick their boxes and use **Edit selected**, **Add tag** or **Archive**.

## Contact fields

| Field | What it holds |
|---|---|
| **First Name**, **Last Name** | The person's name |
| **Person’s phone**, **Person’s email** | Their own phone and email. Chats, calls and texts match contacts on these. |
| **Person’s website**, **LinkedIn URL** | Links that open in a new tab. The pencil edits them. |
| **Primary Company** | Their company. **New company** creates one. |
| **Status** | One choice from your status list |
| **Source** | Where the contact came from, such as manual |
| **Tags** | Type a tag, then press Space, Tab, Enter or a comma. |
| **Communication preferences** | **Do not contact (all channels)**, **Do not text**, **Do not email**, **Do not call**. A checked box blocks that channel's workflow messages. Replying STOP to a text checks **Do not text**. |
| **Custom Fields (JSON)** | Your own fields, written as JSON |

## Statuses

The defaults are Open, Contacted, Do not contact, Non-target industry, Booked and Bad contact information. To change them, open **CRM › Contacts › Settings › Contact statuses**. Rename one in place, drag rows to reorder, or type a name and click **Add status**, then click **Save settings**. Renaming keeps contacts on that status. Contacts keep a removed status until you change it.

![The Contact statuses list with six default statuses, reorder controls and an Add status field](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/contacts-statuses-2026-10-28.webp)
*CRM › Contacts › Settings, October 2026*

> **Note:** The **Do not contact** status is a label. To stop workflow messages, check a box under **Communication preferences**.

## Tags start workflows

A tag you add in **Contact Detail** or with **Add tag** starts every published workflow whose **Contact tag added** trigger watches that tag. Tags from a CSV import never start workflows. [Triggers](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/workflows/triggers) lists the others.

## Sequence

The **Sequence** card in **Contact Detail** gives the contact a set of dated tasks for you to do. It creates tasks and sends nothing.

1. **Choose the sequence**

   On the **Sequence** card, pick one under **Choose sequence…** and set the start date, which is Day 1.

2. **Preview the tasks**

   Click **Preview tasks**. If a task uses a field the contact doesn't have, tick **I understand these fields will be left blank.** The button then reads **Start with blank fields**.

   ![A contact's Sequence card with the sequence menu, a start date, and the line Create a sequence in the Sequences tab first](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/static/images/docs/user-guides/contacts-sequence-2026-10-28.webp)
   *CRM › Contacts, October 2026*

3. **Start it**

   Click **Start sequence**. The tasks appear in the **Tasks** tab, and the card shows the next due date.

**Stop sequence** cancels the open tasks and keeps the closed ones. A contact can be in one sequence at a time. You build sequences in [Notes and tasks](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/user-guides/crm/notes-and-tasks).

## The Activity timeline

**Activity** lists the contact's chats, calls, texts, bookings, workflow messages, notes and tasks, newest at the bottom. A conversation shows its AI summary. The full transcript is in **Conversations**.

## Archive a contact

**Archive Contact** takes a contact out of the list and out of automatic matching. Their history stays, and the **Archived** view has **Restore**.

## Other CRMs

To send contacts to another CRM, use a workflow's HTTP Request step or Zapier. To bring contacts in from one, use an inbound webhook. [Integrations](https://smallbusinesschatbot.com/docs/integrations#other-tools) shows how.

## If something goes wrong

| What you see | Why | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| A chat didn't create a contact | The visitor gave no phone or email, **Save contacts** is off for **Chat widget**, or the chat is in **Needs review**. | Check **Settings**, and the **Needs review** tab if it shows. |