--- title: "Contacts - Auto-Respond Docs" description: "Keep one customer profile for contact details, linked lead conversations, sources, tags, notes, and addresses." source: https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/contacts/ last_updated: 2026-07-31 --- ![Contacts documentation guide](https://auto-respond.com/assets/docs/crm-contacts.svg "Contacts Documentation") A visual guide to the Contacts documentation, covering the setup, configuration, and workflow details explained on this page. Documentation illustration for Contacts. # Contacts **Contacts** are reusable customer profiles. A Contact brings together the person’s phone numbers, email addresses, linked lead conversations, sources, notes, tags, and addresses so your team does not have to rebuild the customer’s history for every new inquiry. ## Getting here In Auto-Respond, open **CRM** → **Contacts**. ## How Contacts are created ### Created automatically from a lead When a lead shares a real phone number or email address, Auto-Respond looks for a matching Contact in the same business. - If no match exists, a new Contact is created. - If a match exists, the new lead and source are linked to that Contact. - New phone numbers, email addresses, and source-provided addresses can be added to the existing profile without removing the details already there. - Temporary platform email addresses are not used to create or match Contacts. This keeps repeat inquiries from the same customer together. Matching is scoped to a business, so the same phone or email may belong to separate Contacts in separate businesses. ### Created manually Click **New contact** in the upper-right corner. A manual Contact requires: - **Business** - **First name** - **Last name** - At least one valid **phone number** or **email address** If the phone or email already belongs to another Contact in that business, Auto-Respond asks you to use the existing record instead of creating a duplicate. ## Finding a Contact The Contacts page shows the total number of matching Contacts and loads more records as you scroll. ### Search and filters - **Search** - find a Contact by name, company, phone, email, or Contact ID. - **Source** - show Contacts linked to one or more selected lead sources. - **Custom tags** - find Contacts whose tags contain the text you enter. - **Clear filters** - return to the full list. The current business selection controls which Contacts you see. Switch businesses from the top bar when you need a different location’s customer list. ## Contact details Click a row or choose **Details** from its actions menu to open the Contact. ### Profile - **Business** - the business that owns the Contact. - **First name, last name, and company** - the customer’s identity. - **Sources** - the connected source locations associated with this customer. - **Record state** - Active, Inactive, Blocked, or Archived. - **Preferred contact method** - the channel the customer prefers. - **Score** - an optional number your team can use for its own qualification process. - **Timezone** - useful when contacting customers across regions. - **Tags** - flexible labels for grouping and filtering Contacts. ℹ️ Record state, preferred contact method, score, and tags are organizational fields. Changing them does not by itself start, stop, or reschedule lead messaging. ### Contact info A Contact can store multiple phone numbers and email addresses. Click the star next to an entry to make it the **primary** value shown in the Contacts list. Phone numbers must be valid 10-digit North American numbers, and email addresses must use a valid email format. ### Notes and addresses - **Notes** are internal CRM notes. Each saved note needs both a title and a description. - **Addresses** can include street lines, city, state, postal code, and country. Add more than one when the customer has multiple service locations. ### Linked Leads The **Leads** section at the top of an existing Contact lists every lead conversation linked to that customer. Click a Lead to open the conversation without leaving the Contact workflow. If no lead is linked, the section shows **No leads linked to this contact yet**. This is normal for a Contact your team created manually. ## Creating a Job for a Contact Open a saved Contact and click **Create job**. The new Job is prefilled with the same business and linked Contact. Save any unsaved Contact changes before starting the Job. Full reference: [Jobs](https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/jobs/). ## Removing Contacts Use the row actions menu to remove one Contact, or select several Contacts with the checkboxes and click **Remove**. Removal is irreversible and requires confirmation. Removing a Contact removes the CRM profile. The original lead conversations are separate records and remain available in **Leads**. ## Related topics ### [Built-in CRM](https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/) [See how Leads, Contacts, Jobs, and Calendars fit together.](https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/) ### [Jobs](https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/jobs/) [Create and track work for a Contact.](https://auto-respond.com/docs/crm/jobs/) ### [Leads](https://auto-respond.com/docs/leads/) [Read and reply to linked customer conversations.](https://auto-respond.com/docs/leads/) ### [Customer info](https://auto-respond.com/docs/leads/customer-info/) [Edit contact details on an individual Lead before they flow into the CRM.](https://auto-respond.com/docs/leads/customer-info/) *** Questions? Email . Last updated: July 31, 2026