Contacts

Contacts include an email address that can be used to email the contact as a recipient. The methods for doing so are covered in the Emailing Records section of the User Interface documentation. Contacts may also be recipients of campaigns that allow you to send email messages to a large group of recipients as well as to track the results of that message. Please refer to the Campaigns and Contacts section of this page for more information. In addition to being a recipient or sender of an email, contacts may be related to emails by being selected in the email's Related To field. These relationships allow the contact to display all relevant email correspondence in the Emails subpanel and History dashlet on a contact's record view.

Campaigns and Contacts

Sugar's Campaigns module can be used to send mass emails or a series of newsletter emails to Sugar accounts, contacts, leads, and targets. The results of each campaign are recorded to measure its impact. Contacts are not related directly to campaigns. Rather, each campaign is related to several target list records, and each target list is related to contacts and other recipients. To send a campaign email to a contact, the contact should belong to a default-type target list related to the campaign. To prevent a contact from receiving emails from a campaign, the contact should belong to the campaign's suppression list-type target list. Once a campaign is sent, the results specific to a particular contact will appear in the Campaign Log Subpanel on the contact's record view as described in the Campaign Log Subpanel section of this page.

Contacts can be added to target lists via the target list record itself, from the Contacts list view using the Add To Target List option, or from the Contacts record view using the Manage Subscriptions option. Instructions for using the Add To Target List and Manage Subscriptions options in the Contacts module are provided in the sections below. For instructions on other available methods of adding to target lists, please refer to the Target Lists documentation.

Adding to a Target List via Contacts List View

A target list consists of a group of individuals or organizations you wish to be included or excluded from a mass marketing campaign. These targets are typically identified based on a set of predetermined criteria such as being a prospect or existing customer, age group, industry, etc. There are various ways to add contacts to a target list in Sugar including using the Add To Target List option from the Contact list view's Mass Actions Menu. For more information on target lists and other methods of adding contacts, please refer to the Target Lists documentation.

You can use the Select All feature in the list view when adding to a target list, which will allow you to easily select the first 1000 records in the result set. If you wish to add more than 1000 records or add a specific group of records to the target list, please use the filter option in list view search to perform the additions in smaller batches.

Use the following steps to add accounts to a target list via the Contacts list view:

• Navigate to the Contacts list view by clicking the Contacts module tab.
• Use the List View Search to find the Contact records you wish to add to a target list.
• Select the desired contact records then choose "Add to Target List" from the Mass Actions menu.
  
• Below the search bar, locate and select the desired target list in the dropdown list or click "Create new target list" to add the contacts to a new target list. Click "Update" to add the record(s) to the target list.
  

In order to view the contacts that have been added, you can navigate to the Target Lists module. Click the target list's name to open the record view, and you will see the contact records within the Contacts subpanel.

Managing Contact Subscriptions

Contacts who receive newsletter-type campaign emails from your Sugar instance are considered subscribers to that newsletter. Users can manage these newsletter subscriptions from the Contacts record view using the Manage Subscriptions option in the Actions menu. Please note that you can only manage subscriptions for newsletter-type campaigns. A newsletter campaign you have created will have one or more default-type target lists. Contacts are added to these target lists in order to receive your newsletter. The Manage Subscriptions option allows you to add a contact to the default-type or suppression-type target lists of your newsletter campaigns without leaving the Contacts module. For more information on newsletter subscriptions, please refer to the Campaigns documentation.

Use the following steps to manage contact subscriptions via a contact's record view:

• Navigate to a contact's record view.
• Select "Manage Subscriptions" from the Actions menu.
  
• To add the contact to a newsletter subscription mailing list, select the newsletter from the Available/Newsletters Unsubscribed To list and drag it to the Newsletters Subscribed To list. This will add the contact to the campaign's default target list.
• To remove the contact from the newsletter subscription mailing list, select the newsletter from the Newsletters Subscribed To list and drag it to the Available/Newsletters Unsubscribed To list. This will add them to the suppression-type unsubscription target list for the newsletter campaign which will prevent the contact from receiving the newsletter. Please note that the contact will not be removed from the campaign's default target list.
  
• Click "Save" to preserve your changes.

Campaign Log Subpanel

The Campaign Log subpanel contains historical information regarding a contact's interaction with all Sugar campaigns. When a mass marketing campaign is sent to a contact (or manually marked as sent in the case of non-email campaigns), the related campaign activity information will appear within the Campaign Log subpanel on the contact's record view. This information mirrors the "View Status" page available from within each individual campaign and shows activities such as when a campaign was sent, when the recipient viewed the campaign message, when the recipient clicked a tracked link within the campaign, etc. Since this subpanel contains historical campaign interactions for the contact, it cannot be used to associate a contact with a campaign or otherwise manage a campaign or target list. For more information on associating a contact with a campaign, please refer to the Adding to a Target List via Contacts List View section of this page. For more information on campaigns, please refer to the Campaigns documentation.

The Campaign Log subpanel allows the following functions to be performed:

• Campaign Details: To view the details of a campaign, click its name to open it in detail view.
• Record Count: Subpanel headers display the total count of related records (e.g., "5 of 6+") next to the module name. The count captures the number of records currently displayed with an additional, hyperlinked number (e.g., "6+") where there are more records than currently displayed. Click the hyperlinked number to see the total count of related records.
• Collapse or Expand: Click anywhere in the subpanel's header to collapse or expand it. Subpanels will remain collapsed or expanded on future visits to the module.
• Note: Administrators can choose to disable collapse stickiness or to collapse all subpanels by default via Admin > System Settings. For more information, please refer to the System documentation in the Administration Guide.
• Column Widths: Place your cursor on the column divider. When the double arrow cursor appears, click and drag the column to the desired size. Please note that the column width will not be preserved when you navigate away from the page.
• Column Sort: Click a column header to sort the subpanel's items by that value. Clicking the same header again will reverse the sorting order (e.g., from ascending to descending).
• More Records: By default, Sugar displays up to five records in each subpanel though administrators can alter the number via Admin > System Settings as described in the System documentation of the Administration Guide. If additional related records exist, click "More {Module Name}..." (e.g., "More campaign log...") at the bottom of the subpanel to load the next set of records.

Converting Leads to Contacts

Sugar enables you to convert lead records to contact records as you determine that they qualify for your organization's definition of a contact (e.g., after an evaluation/qualification process or upon entering into business with the individual). When the lead is converted, a new contact record is created with a relationship to the original lead record. For more information on converting leads, please refer to the Leads documentation.

Use the following steps to convert leads into contacts:

• Navigate to a lead's record view.
• Select "Convert" from the Actions menu or click the Unconverted button to initiate the lead conversion process.
  Note: Sugar will automatically perform a duplicate check for the modules (e.g., Contacts) on the Convert Lead page.
  
• If there are no duplicate records found for a module (e.g., Contacts), the new record will be automatically marked for creation on the Convert Lead page and associated to the lead. The panel will be collapsed as well, but you can click the header to open the panel and view the record's details.
• If there are duplicate records found for a module (e.g., Contacts), they will display in a list view within the panel. You can select an existing contact, or if none of the suggested duplicates are valid, simply click "Ignore and create new" to create a new contact record.
  
• Some of the fields (e.g., address, phone) on the displayed record view will be pre-populated with the lead's values. Simply update any necessary fields then click the Create Contact button.
  
• Complete the other module panels (Accounts, Opportunities) accordingly on the Convert Lead page.
• Once all of the necessary information is entered and the appropriate panels are completed, click "Save and Convert".

Once the lead has been converted successfully, the lead's record view will display the converted contact, account, and opportunity information below the record's detail. You can click the Preview icon to the far right of each record's row to view the details of the converted contact and other records.