How does tawk.to create a contact?

The Contacts section in your tawk.to Dashboard is a built-in CRM, allowing you to store and organize details about your customers. It brings together:

• Conversation history

• Contact information (like name, email, and phone)

• Internal notes

• Related organizations

This makes it easier for your team to follow up with visitors, stay organized, and keep everyone on the same page.

A contact is added to your property whenever a visitor’s details are saved in the Dashboard. Here are the main ways a contact can be created:

• Agent adds details during a chat

• Pre-Chat Form

• CSV import

• Software integrations

Agent adds details during a chat

While chatting, an agent can enter the visitor’s details (such as name, email, or phone number) to create or update a contact.

To learn how to add a contact outside a chat, or add many contacts at once, see this guide:

How to add, export and delete contacts.

Pre-Chat Form

If you’ve enabled the Pre-Chat Form, visitors must enter details (like name, email, or phone) before they can start a chat. When they submit the form, their contact record is automatically created or updated.

To learn how to set this up, see this guide:

Using the Pre-Chat Form

CSV import

You can add contacts in bulk by importing a CSV file. The file must include a name for each person. You can also include:

• User ID

• Email address

• Phone number (only “+” and digits are allowed)

For the step-by-step process, see this guide:

How to add, export and delete contacts

Software integrations

Some integrations can automatically create or update contacts when data is shared between platforms.

The options available depend on which integrations you’ve set up.

To learn more about integrations, see this guide:

Create Zapier integrations with tawk.to

Understanding the difference makes it easier to organize your contacts and get the most out of your CRM.

Visitor

• Every person who lands on your website is a Visitor.

• They get an ID starting with “V” + 16 digits (system-generated).

• Their record may include device/browser details and IP-based location data (if you’ve enabled location tracking).

Contact

• A Contact is a Visitor with at least one saved identifier — an email or phone number (a name can also be saved).

• You can convert a Visitor into a Contact without changing their Visitor ID.

• If you create a Contact manually, the first name is required.

For tips on managing people in your CRM, see this guide:

How to manage contacts

Sometimes, returning visitors provide different details (e.g., a new email address or device). When that happens, tawk.to may create a separate profile.

You can merge duplicates and choose which details to keep. Learn more here: How to merge contacts

• Keep forms short
  Long Pre-Chat Forms can reduce the number of people who start a chat. Only ask for what you really need.
  
  

• CSV import format matters
  Review your file before importing. Make sure each contact has a name, and phone numbers use only “+” and digits.
  
  

• Offline messages are never lost
  When your widget is Offline, visitors can still reach you. Their messages will appear in your Inbox, and you can follow up via tickets. Learn more here: Responding to offline messages via Ticketing

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