Learn how contacts in the Engage and Chat platforms can be created/updated/deleted.
Viewing contacts
Engage
Only users who are part of a user group with the Contacts - View permission can see contacts in Gecko.
You're able to view and filter contacts from the Contacts page.
Clicking into an individual student record grants, you access to a host of information about the student in question. The overview screen shows you all contact fields and their historical data, any information on consents and integration IDs, and a detailed activity log showcases all of the dates/times and interaction types the student has had with your Gecko account.
Other tabs of note include:
Responses - A table showing all the form responses this student has submitted. Clicking into each record shows the student's response for that particular form.
Calls - A log of all the calls this student has received and, if applicable, any call recordings.
Messages - A log of all email and text messages student to the student, including the ability to read the entire message.
Events - A list of all events this student has an attendance record of.
Chat
Student records can be found by navigating to the Contacts tab. Students can be searched using name/email in the Search contacts search bar or manually sorting the table.
Clicking into a student record allows you to see previous conversations and view/update any custom field information you've captured.
Creating
Engage
There are three ways to create a contact in Gecko:
Manually - head to Contacts and click + New Contact in the top-right corner.
Form/Script submissions - When a new form or script submission is received in Gecko, providing it has unique values in your matchable fields (full name + email by default), it will create a new contact.
Importing - Running a contact import will allow you to bulk-upload contacts into Gecko. Some CRM systems also support contact importing functionality.
Chat
There are two ways to create a contact in Gecko:
New conversations - When Gecko receives a message in a new conversation, providing it has unique values in your matchable fields (email and telephone), it will create a new contact.
Importing - Users of Microsoft Dynamics 365 and Anthology Radius can import lists of contacts into Chat.
Editing
Engage
There are two main ways of updating contacts in Engage:
Manually - Head to Contacts and click on the contact you want to edit. On the Overview tab, click the contact field value you'd like to change, edit it, and click the tick icon to save. This change will be logged on the student activity log.
Importing - Existing contacts can be updated in bulk by running an import into Gecko.
Chat
There are two ways to edit student contact details within Chat. You could head to the Conversations tab, click on a conversation, and edit any details in the Contact Details section on the right-hand side of the page.
Another way to update contact information would be to navigate to Contacts, click on the contact you want to edit, and make any changes to the values in the student's custom fields.
Merging
Engage
🚨 Once a contact has been merged, it cannot be unmerged!
To merge contacts in Gecko, go to Contacts and click on the contact whose contact ID you want to keep.
On the Overview page, click Actions > Merge this contact and select the contact you'd like to merge with.
Once the merge is confirmed, Gecko will:
Move all Activity Log entries, Organisation, Notes, Responses, Calls, Messages, Campaigns, Broadcasts, Events, and Attachment data into the contact you elected to keep.
Update the contact fields on the record you elected to keep with the most recently updated value across the two contact records.
Keep any integration/sync IDs from the contact you elected to keep.
Chat
🚨 Once a contact has been merged, it cannot be unmerged!
To merge a contact in Chat, go to Contacts and click on the contact record you'd like to keep.
Click the breadcrumb icon in the top-right corner and select Merge Contacts. Search for the contact you want to merge with and click on the record.
Fields that are being kept will be displayed in green, while fields that will be overwritten will be displayed in red. Once satisfied, click Merge to complete the action.
All conversations which historically belonged to the now-merged contact will be attributed to the contact you elected to keep.
Deleting
Engage
There are three ways to delete contacts on Engage:
Manually (1 at a time) - Head to Contacts and click on the contact you want to delete. Click Actions > Delete this contact.
Bulk (up to 50 at a time) - Head to Contacts and, at the bottom of the page, change results to 50 per page. Click the checkbox at the top of the table to select 50 results, then click Actions on selected > Delete contacts.
Automatically - Clients with Gecko Protect can instruct Gecko to delete inactive contacts automatically.
Accidentally delete a contact? Don't panic! Head to Settings > Data Security Preferences > Deleted Contacts. Deleted contacts will appear here and can be manually restored at any point over 14 days. Once this date passes, however, the contact will be permanently purged.
Chat
Chat supports the ability in-app to delete individual contact records. This can be done by navigating to Contacts, clicking on the contact you'd like to remove, clicking the breadcrumb icon in the top-right corner, and selecting Delete Contact.
Please contact the Gecko support team if you're interested in bulk-deleting contacts!
Any questions? Start a live chat with a support team member, or feel free to explore the rest of our academy. Spotted an error or want to suggest a future article for the academy? Let us know here.