Introduction to contacts
A contact in Voyado Engage is the unique collection of data connected to one individual. Contacts are the backbone of Engage and it is not possible to store transactions or other event data without connecting it to a specific contact in the system. During a contact's journey, the amount of information connected to them increases with every step.
Contact types
Engage can handle several types of contacts in parallel. The purpose of this is to track as many pieces of information as possible as the contact progresses from an unknown web user to a loyal customer. For this, Engage uses a unique data model for each step.
The most common contact types are:
Contact – mainly used for email lists such as newsletter subscribers or prospects. Typically the data model for this contact type uses only their email or perhaps some demographic data such as a country code.
Member (called Customer in the UI) usually has the richest data model, where the person has given consent and shared their information.
These two contact types are set up by default when creating a Voyado Engage environment. They are always spelled with a capital letter: Contact and Member. The display names for these can be changed and it’s also possible to add user-defined contact types. But do not delete the Contact and Member types or you will be in trouble.
Important
Contact and Member are the two basic contact types that must always exist. Other custom contact types can be added to suit the user's needs.
The relevant contact types, along with the key values and mandatory fields, are defined in the client project and can be obtained from your Voyado Engage team.
A Contact card in Engage looks like this:
Different data models per contact type
The amount of data connected to your contact types can adjusted depending on your needs. Voyado and its partners can configure which fields should be included and can also add custom fields in the formats listed here.
Public identifier
For every contact, one or more public identifiers are defined. This is unique data for every individual that can be used to identify them in a sales interaction. A mobile phone number is often used as a public identifier. In Sweden, a person's unique Public Identity Number is sometimes used. A pure player (e-commerce) will probably use email, but this is not the best identifier for a physical store scenario, where information needs to be given quickly and easily.
Multiple lookups on different identifiers can be done on a POS system (POS = point of sale, the place where a customer makes the payment for goods or services). The lookup fields used can also vary from installation to installation.
Integration key
The integration key is used to link a customer to their interactions, most commonly through receipts. It is strongly advised to use a unique numerical value such as:
contactId: The contact's unique identifier in Engage
memberNumber: The value connecting a point transaction to a contact
externalId: The contact's unique identifier in an external system
By doing it this way the data stored for a receipt can’t be linked to an individual in XML files and API-calls outside of the Voyado Engage context.