Contact Management

Contacts are the foundation of your WhatsApp campaigns. Waflow provides a comprehensive contact management system that helps you organize, segment, and communicate with your audience effectively. This guide covers the contact database structure and available management features.

Contact Database Overview

Every contact in Waflow represents a person or entity you can message via WhatsApp. The contact database stores:

• Core contact information (phone, name, email)
• Custom fields (any additional data you define)
• Tags (labels for categorization)
• Segments (dynamic or static groupings)
• Message history (conversations with each contact)
• Engagement data (opens, clicks, replies)

Each workspace has its own independent contact database. Contacts don't transfer between workspaces automatically.

Contact Data Structure

Required Fields

Every contact must have:

The phone number is the unique identifier for each contact. Duplicate phone numbers are not allowed within a workspace.

Default Fields

Waflow includes standard fields you can populate:

Custom Fields

You can create additional fields to store any data:

• Text: Short text values
• Long Text: Multi-line text
• Number: Numeric values
• Date: Date values
• Dropdown: Select from predefined options
• Checkbox: Yes/no values
• URL: Web links

See Custom Fields for detailed setup instructions.

Adding Contacts

Manual Entry

Add individual contacts through the UI:

1. Go to Contacts
2. Click Add Contact
3. Fill in the contact details
4. Click Save

Best for adding a few contacts quickly or testing.

CSV Import

Bulk import contacts from spreadsheets:

1. Go to Contacts > Import
2. Upload your CSV file
3. Map columns to Waflow fields
4. Review and confirm

See Import Contacts for the complete guide.

API Integration

Add contacts programmatically:

curl -X POST https://api.waflow.com/v1/contacts \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_API_KEY" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{
    "phone": "+14155551234",
    "first_name": "John",
    "last_name": "Doe",
    "email": "[email protected]",
    "tags": ["customer", "vip"]
  }'

Ideal for integrating with your CRM or other systems.

Webhook Integration

Automatically add contacts when events occur:

• Form submissions
• E-commerce purchases
• CRM updates
• Custom triggers

Configure webhooks in Settings > Integrations.

Contact List View

The main Contacts page shows all contacts in a table view:

┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│ Contacts                                      [+ Add] [Import]   │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Search: [________________] Tags: [All ▼] Segment: [All ▼]       │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ □ Phone          Name           Email           Tags   Last Msg  │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ □ +14155551234   John Doe       [email protected]     VIP    2h ago   │
│ □ +14155555678   Jane Smith     [email protected]     Lead   1d ago   │
│ □ +14155559012   Bob Wilson     [email protected]      New    3d ago   │
│ ...                                                              │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│ Showing 1-50 of 12,345 contacts              [< Prev] [Next >]   │
└──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Filtering Contacts

Filter your contact list by:

• Search: Phone, name, email (fuzzy search)
• Tags: Filter by one or more tags
• Segments: Show only segment members
• Custom fields: Filter by any custom field value
• Date ranges: Created date, last message date
• Engagement: Has replied, has opened, etc.

Sorting Contacts

Sort by clicking column headers:

• Name (A-Z or Z-A)
• Created date (newest or oldest)
• Last message (recent or oldest)
• Last reply (recent or oldest)

Bulk Actions

Select multiple contacts for batch operations:

• Add tags: Apply tags to selected contacts
• Remove tags: Remove tags from selected contacts
• Delete: Remove selected contacts
• Export: Download selected contacts as CSV
• Add to segment: Include in a static segment

Individual Contact View

Click on a contact to see their profile:

Contact Profile

• Full contact information
• All custom field values
• Assigned tags
• Segment memberships
• Internal notes

Conversation History

View all messages exchanged:

• Outbound messages (from you)
• Inbound messages (from them)
• Message status (sent, delivered, read)
• Timestamps
• Template used

Engagement Timeline

Track their interactions:

• Campaigns received
• Messages opened
• Links clicked
• Replies sent
• Opt-out events

Edit Contact

Update any contact information:

1. Click Edit on the contact profile
2. Modify fields
3. Click Save

Changes are logged in the activity history.

Organizing Contacts

Tags

Labels for categorizing contacts:

• Quick to apply and remove
• Contacts can have multiple tags
• Use for filtering and campaign targeting

Examples: "VIP," "Lead," "Churned," "Newsletter," "Black Friday"

See Tags & Segments for details.

Segments

Groups of contacts based on criteria:

Static Segments: Manually selected contacts

• Fixed membership
• Update by adding/removing manually

Dynamic Segments: Rule-based groups

• Automatic membership based on criteria
• Updates when contact data changes

Examples:

• "Customers who purchased in last 30 days"
• "Contacts who haven't replied in 90 days"
• "VIP customers with email addresses"

See Tags & Segments for details.

Contact Engagement

Message History

Waflow tracks all messaging activity:

Engagement Scoring

Contacts can be scored based on engagement:

• Opens and reads
• Reply frequency
• Link clicks
• Recency of interaction

Use engagement data to identify:

• Highly engaged contacts (prioritize)
• Unengaged contacts (re-engage or clean up)
• At-risk contacts (win back)

Data Quality

Duplicate Detection

Waflow prevents duplicates by phone number. When importing:

• Existing contacts are updated (if configured)
• Or import is skipped for duplicates
• Duplicate report is generated

Invalid Numbers

Waflow validates phone numbers:

• Format validation (E.164 format)
• Country code validation
• Checksum validation (where applicable)

Invalid numbers are flagged during import and can be reviewed.

Opt-Out Management

Respecting opt-outs is critical:

• Contacts who reply "STOP" are automatically opted out
• Opted-out contacts cannot receive campaigns
• Opt-outs are logged with timestamp
• Contacts can opt back in by messaging you

Warning: Never message opted-out contacts. This violates WhatsApp policies and can result in account restrictions.

Contact Limits

Workspace contact limits vary by plan:

Approaching your limit? Upgrade your plan or clean up inactive contacts.

Data Privacy

Consent Management

Track consent status for each contact:

• Consent given date
• Consent source (form, import, etc.)
• Consent type (marketing, transactional)

Data Export

Contacts have the right to their data:

1. Go to a contact's profile
2. Click Export Data
3. Download JSON file with all their information

Data Deletion

To delete a contact's data:

1. Go to the contact's profile
2. Click Delete Contact
3. Choose to keep or delete conversation history
4. Confirm deletion

For GDPR right-to-be-forgotten requests, use full data deletion.

Best Practices

Keep Data Clean

• Regularly remove bounced/invalid numbers
• Clean up contacts who haven't engaged in 6+ months
• Merge duplicates when discovered
• Validate email addresses

Use Tags Effectively

• Create a tagging system before you start
• Use consistent naming (lowercase, underscores)
• Don't over-tag (5-10 tags per contact max)
• Regularly audit and clean up unused tags

Segment Strategically

• Start with broad segments, then refine
• Use dynamic segments for automatic updates
• Review segment criteria quarterly
• Test segments before large campaigns

Protect Contact Data

• Limit team access to contact data
• Don't export to unsecured systems
• Audit contact access regularly
• Respond to data requests promptly

Next Steps

Ready to build your contact database?

• Import Contacts - Bulk import from CSV
• Tags & Segments - Organize your audience
• Custom Fields - Store additional data