Clients Overview

The Clients feature provides a CRM-style client management system that automatically tracks and organizes customer information from conversations across all channels (email, SMS, chat, voice).

What are Clients?

Clients are customer records that store:

• Contact Information: Name, email, phone, company
• Address Details: Street, city, state, zip, country
• Additional Data: Date of birth, notes, custom metadata
• Conversation History: All interactions linked to the client
• Automatic Extraction: Contact info extracted from conversations

Key Features

Automatic Client Creation

Clients are automatically created when:

• Contact information is extracted from conversations
• Email addresses are detected in email conversations
• Phone numbers are identified in SMS or voice calls
• New contacts are discovered in any channel

Manual Client Management

You can also manually:

• Create new client records
• Edit existing client information
• Add notes and additional details
• Link conversations to clients
• Search and filter clients

Cross-Channel Tracking

Clients are tracked across all channels:

• Email: Email addresses linked to clients
• SMS: Phone numbers matched to clients
• Chat: Session information connected to clients
• Voice: Call records associated with clients

Client Information

Basic Information

• First Name: Customer's first name
• Last Name: Customer's last name
• Email: Primary email address
• Phone: Primary phone number
• Company: Company or organization name

Address Information

• Street: Street address
• City: City
• State: State or province
• ZIP: Postal code
• Country: Country

Additional Details

• Date of Birth: Optional date of birth
• Notes: Free-form notes about the client
• Metadata: Custom JSON data for additional information
• Communication Preferences: Preferred channels, contact windows, and automation settings
• Sensitivity Flag: Mark clients as sensitive for special handling

Communication Preferences

Set up how and when to communicate with each client.

Preferred Channels

Tell the system which communication channels each client prefers:

• Email: Client likes email
• SMS: Client prefers text messages
• Phone: Client wants phone calls

You can select multiple channels. The system uses these preferences when sending messages.

Contact Windows

Set when it's okay to contact the client:

• Days of Week: Pick which days (Monday through Sunday)
• Time Range: Set start and end times (like 9 AM - 5 PM)
• Timezone: Specify the client's timezone

Example:

• Days: Monday - Friday
• Time: 9:00 AM - 5:00 PM
• Timezone: America/New_York

Automation Controls

Control how automation works for this client:

• Never Auto-Send: Turn off all automated sending for this client (everything needs manual review)
• Human Review Required: All automated responses must be reviewed before sending

When to use these:

• High-value clients who need a personal touch
• Clients with specific communication requirements
• Accounts that need extra care and attention

Setting Preferences

1. Open a client record
2. Go to the Communication Preferences section
3. Pick preferred channels
4. Set contact windows (optional but helpful)
5. Enable automation controls if needed
6. Save your preferences

Note: These preferences apply to all threads from this client unless you override them on a specific thread.

Sensitive Clients

Marking Clients as Sensitive

Admins can mark clients as sensitive to make sure they get extra special handling:

1. Open a client record
2. Toggle the Sensitive switch (admin-only)
3. The client is now marked as sensitive

What happens:

• All threads from this client are automatically marked as sensitive
• AI autonomy is automatically turned off for all threads
• Everything needs human review before sending
• You'll see a visual indicator (badge) in the inbox and client list
• Everyone can see it's sensitive, but only admins can mark/unmark it

When to use this:

• High-value accounts that need extra care
• Legal or compliance-sensitive clients
• Clients with special requirements
• Accounts that need extra security

Thread-Level Override

Even though sensitive clients automatically mark all threads as sensitive, you can:

• Override it on individual threads if needed (admin-only)
• Keep flexibility while making sure the default is safe

Using Clients

Viewing Clients

1. Navigate to Clients page
2. View list of all clients
3. Search by name, email, phone, or company
4. Click on a client to view details

Creating Clients

1. Click Create Client button
2. Fill in client information
3. Add address details (optional)
4. Add notes (optional)
5. Configure communication preferences (optional)
6. Save client record

Editing Clients

1. Find client in list
2. Click Edit button
3. Update information
4. Modify communication preferences if needed
5. Save changes

Viewing Client Details

Client detail view shows:

• Contact Information: All contact details
• Address: Full address information
• Notes: Client notes and metadata
• Communication Preferences: Preferred channels, contact windows, automation settings
• Sensitivity Status: Whether client is marked as sensitive
• Conversation History: All conversations with this client
• Timeline: Chronological view of interactions

Automatic Extraction

How It Works

The system automatically extracts contact information from conversations using AI-assisted PII extraction:

1. Email Detection: Email addresses found in messages or known from sender
2. Phone Detection: Phone numbers identified in conversations or from channel (SMS/voice)
3. Name Extraction: Names detected from context using advanced pattern matching
4. Company Detection: Company names identified from email signatures or content
5. Address Parsing: Addresses extracted when mentioned

Name Extraction and Validation

Extraction Methods:

• Pattern matching for explicit introductions ("my name is", "i'm", "i am")
• AI-assisted validation to reduce false positives
• Rejects common false positives like "Looking", "Trying", "Interested" from phrases like "I'm looking for..."

Validation Rules:

• Single-word names are validated against common false positive list
• Verb forms (ending in -ing, -ed) are rejected for short names
• Must start with capital letter
• Minimum length requirements

Examples:

• ✅ Valid: "I'm John Smith" → Extracts "John" and "Smith"
• ❌ Invalid: "I'm looking for a truck" → Does NOT extract "Looking" as name

Matching Logic

When contact information is found:

1. Check Existing Clients: Look for matching email or phone (normalized comparison)
2. Create New Client: If no match, create new client record with validated information
3. Link Conversation: Associate conversation with client
4. Update Information: Merge new information with existing client (preserves existing data)

Phone Number Priority

For SMS Conversations:

• Sender's phone number always takes priority (from channel_identifier)
• Extracted phone numbers from message content are secondary
• Ensures accurate phone number storage for SMS clients

For Other Channels:

• Extracted phone numbers are used when available
• Email address is primary identifier for email conversations

Manual Review

Review automatically created clients:

• Verify extracted information is correct
• Check for false positive names (should be rare with validation)
• Merge duplicate clients if needed
• Add missing information
• Correct any errors
• Delete invalid client records (soft delete - they won't appear in list)

Best Practices

Client Data Quality

1. Review Regularly: Check automatically created clients
2. Merge Duplicates: Combine duplicate client records
3. Complete Information: Add missing details when possible
4. Keep Notes: Add context and notes about clients

Organization

1. Use Search: Quickly find clients by any field
2. Add Notes: Document important client information
3. Link Conversations: Ensure conversations are properly linked
4. Update Regularly: Keep client information current

Privacy

1. Secure Data: Client information is tenant-isolated
2. Compliance: Follow data protection regulations
3. Access Control: Only authorized users can view clients
4. Data Retention: Manage client data according to policies

CRM Integration

Clients are automatically synced to your CRM system:

• Automatic Sync: New clients sync immediately to connected CRMs
• Contact Updates: Client information updates sync on a schedule
• Conversation Notes: Conversation summaries added as CRM activities
• Multi-CRM Support: Connect to Salesforce, HubSpot, or Dynamics 365
• Configurable Sync: Control what syncs and how often

Learn More: See CRM Integration for setup and configuration.

Integration with Conversations

Clients are automatically linked to conversations:

• Email Conversations: Linked by email address
• SMS Conversations: Linked by phone number
• Chat Conversations: Linked by session information
• Voice Conversations: Linked by phone number

Conversation History

View all conversations for a client:

• All Channels: See conversations across all channels
• Chronological Order: Most recent first
• Quick Access: Jump to conversation details
• Context: Understand full customer journey

Search and Filtering

Search Clients

Search by:

• Name: First name or last name
• Email: Email address
• Phone: Phone number
• Company: Company name

Filtering

Filter clients by:

• Date Created: When client was added
• Last Contact: Last conversation date
• Has Email: Clients with email addresses
• Has Phone: Clients with phone numbers

Exporting Client Data

Export client information:

1. Apply filters if needed
2. Click Export button
3. Download CSV file with client data

CSV Includes:

• All client fields
• Contact information
• Address details
• Notes
• Creation and update dates

Troubleshooting

Duplicate Clients

• Manually merge duplicate records
• Review automatic extraction logic
• Check for variations in contact information
• Use search to find potential duplicates

Missing Information

• Add information manually
• Review conversation history for details
• Update client records as information becomes available
• Check extraction logs for issues

Clients Not Linking

• Verify contact information in conversations
• Check email/phone format matches
• Review automatic extraction settings
• Manually link conversations if needed

Next Steps

• Contact Information Collection - Detailed guide on how contact info is collected across channels
• View Conversations - See client conversation history
• Learn about Email System - Email client tracking
• Learn about SMS System - SMS client tracking