# Customer Management

Customers in ClearFeed represent the external organizations you support. This guide explains how to create, organize, and maintain customer records so your team always has the right business context when handling support requests.

{% hint style="info" %}
**Note:** Customer objects are available only on the **External Helpdesk Product Edition**.
{% endhint %}

## What is a Customer?

A **Customer** represents an external company or organization you support. Each customer record can include:

* Customer name
* One or more email domains (e.g., `acme.com`)
* Individual email addresses (e.g., `john@gmail.com`)
* Associated Slack Connect channels
* Custom fields (e.g., Account Tier, Region, Owner)
* Portal access and verification status
* Auto-enriched company data (industry, size, location)

ClearFeed uses customer records to:

* Link incoming requests to the correct customer
* Group conversation history by customer
* Apply customer-specific rules and workflows
* Control portal access
* Provide business context to your support team

## Key Concepts

<table><thead><tr><th width="216">Term</th><th>Definition</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Customer</strong></td><td>An external organization you support</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Collection</strong></td><td>A grouping of customers or request sources (channels, email addresses)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Customer Collection</strong></td><td>A collection that groups customers (used in Customer Centric Inbox)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Source Collection</strong></td><td>A collection that groups request sources like email addresses or Slack channels (used in Standard Management)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Request Channel</strong></td><td>Where requests originate (email, Slack, web chat, portal, API)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Domain</strong></td><td>The email domain used to identify which customer a request belongs to (e.g., <code>@acme.com</code>)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Individual Email Address</strong></td><td>A specific email address associated with a customer, including addresses from free domains (e.g., <code>john@gmail.com</code>)</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Internal Domain</strong></td><td>Your company's email domains that should not create customer records</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Routing</strong></td><td>Automatically directing requests to the appropriate collection based on rules</td></tr></tbody></table>

## How Customers Work in Different Inbox Types

ClearFeed offers two approaches to organizing support requests:

### Customer Centric Inbox

**Customers are the primary organizing unit.**

* Each customer belongs to exactly one Customer Collection
* Requests are grouped and routed by customer
* SLAs, assignments, automations, and AI behavior are applied at the customer or collection level
* Ideal for B2B support teams managing multiple accounts

**Example:** All requests from `acme.com` appear together under the Acme Corp customer, regardless of whether they came via email, Slack, or portal.

### Standard Management

**Request sources (channels) are the primary organizing unit.**

* Requests are organized by where they came from (email address, Slack channel, etc.)
* Customers are optional metadata used for:
  * Storing business context
  * Linking domains and channels
  * Portal access control
  * Reporting and filtering

**Example:** Email requests appear in one collection, Slack requests in another, even if they're from the same customer.

## Creating Customers

Customers can be created manually or automatically.

### Manual Creation of Customers

#### **In Customer Centric Inbox Accounts**

You can create customers in three ways:

1. **From a Customer Collection:** Navigate to the collection and click the **3-dot menu** → **+ New Customer**

   <figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2FSe9XY6qYbUo937jJiZbe%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=863e1772-ca1c-4cab-a8fd-c33e01893f43" alt="" width="321"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
2. **From the Inbox page:** Click the **New** button at the bottom of the side navigation<br>

   <figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2FOvmwcDTNzI8p8av46hd6%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=a76a8d50-3c84-4ac0-a0ec-43f02b89debf" alt="" width="227"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
3. **From the Customers section:** Navigate to **Customers and** Click **+ New Customer**<br>

   <figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2F5LDWAFDkIVjjA1xuDCg4%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=992783be-87fd-41cb-859d-e379633afaf9" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

Fill in the information:

* Customer Name
* Collection (which Customer Collection this customer belongs to)
* Owner (can be inherited from the Collection Owner)
* Request Channels (ie. Slack or MS Teams channels)
* Email Domains
* Individual Email Addresses
* Custom field values

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-b2fc70a9507fd6dfa89e9e5670710d422c7aaa36%2Fcustomer-config-domains-email.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption><p>Customer configuration showing Email Domains and Individual Email Address fields</p></figcaption></figure>

#### **In Standard Management Accounts**

1. Navigate to **Customers and** Click **+ Add New Customer**<br>

   <figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2F5LDWAFDkIVjjA1xuDCg4%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=992783be-87fd-41cb-859d-e379633afaf9" alt="" width="563"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>
2. Fill in the information:
   1. Customer Name
   2. Owner
   3. Request Channels (ie. Slack or MS Teams channels)
   4. Email Domains
   5. Custom field values

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2FnppbpU0ZrT88XslX2ZMc%2Fimage.png?alt=media&#x26;token=c021f0fa-8167-4234-88b0-5f14a926eb1c" alt="" width="543"><figcaption></figcaption></figure>

### Automatic Creation of Customers

ClearFeed automatically creates customers in the following scenarios:

#### **When Slack Connect channels are added automatically**

When you add a Slack Connect channel to ClearFeed through [automatic channel monitoring](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/sources/manage-request-channels#automatically-monitor-slack-connect-channels):

* ClearFeed identifies the external workspace's email domain(s). This is done by analyzing the email addresses of it's external members.
* Removes any free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.) or internal domains.
* Removes any domains already associated with existing customers.
* Checks if customer already exists with the remaining domain(s)
  * **If yes:** A new customer is created with an empty domain field. A verification notification is sent to add a domain.
  * **If no:** A new customer is created with the remaining domain(s)
* All future requests from that channel are automatically linked to this customer
* For Slack Connect channels - the name of the customer and it's logo are obtained by using the `teams.info` Slack api call on the channel. If this is not available, then the domain and/or the channel name itself is used as the customer name.

**Example:** You add a Slack Connect channel with external workspace `acme.slack.com`. The domain `acme.com` is identified, a customer "Acme Corp" is created, and the channel is linked.

ClearFeed always creates new customers in this process. Users can [merge customers](#merging-customers) later if this process ends up creating extra customer objects.

#### **When Tickets are created from Email, Web Chat, Portal, or API**

When a request arrives from an email address:

* ClearFeed extracts the domain (e.g., `user@acme.com` → `acme.com`)
* Checks if the domain, **or** the email address matches an existing customer
  * **If yes:** The request is linked to that customer
  * **If no:** ClearFeed checks the domain type:
    * **Business domain:** A new customer is automatically created
    * **Free email domain:** No customer is created (see [Free Email Domains](#free-email-domains))
    * **Internal domain:** No customer is created

## Customer Identification with Domains and Individual Emails <a href="#why-adding-domains-to-customer-is-important" id="why-adding-domains-to-customer-is-important"></a>

Domains are the primary method ClearFeed uses to identify which customer a request belongs to. You can also associate individual email addresses with a customer, including addresses from free email domains (e.g., `gmail.com`, `yahoo.com`).

### How Domains and Email Addresses identify Customers

* Each customer can have one or more email domains (e.g., `acme.com`, `acmecorp.com`) and/or individual email addresses
* When a request arrives, ClearFeed extracts the domain from the sender's email address
* If the domain or the email address match those assigned to a customer, the request is automatically linked to that customer
* This enables:
  * Automatic customer linking of tickets
  * Forwarding to the correct Customer Collection (for Customer Centric Inbox only)
  * Portal access for users with matching domains

**Example:** Customer "Acme Corp" has domains `acme.com` and `acmecorp.com`. Requests from `john@acme.com` and `jane@acmecorp.com` both link to Acme Corp automatically.

### Multiple Customers, Same Domain/Email-Address

**Important:** A domain can only be assigned to one customer at a time. If you try to add a domain that's already used by another customer, you'll receive an error. Similarly an individual email address can only be assigned to one Customer.

### Customers Without Domains or Email Addresses

If a customer has no domains or individual email addresses assigned:

* New tickets from email or web chat cannot be linked automatically
* Routing of emails and web chat tickets to the corresponding Customer Collection will not work for that customer (in Customer Centric Inbox)
* You can still manually link tickets to the customer
* Portal access is unavailable
* Slack Connect channels can still be linked to the customer and requests/tickets from Slack Connect channels will be automatically linked to the customer.

**When to skip domains:** For customers who only contact you via Slack Connect or whose requests are always manually created.

### Free Email Domains

New tickets from free email providers (received over email or web chat) are handled differently:

**Free email domains include:** gmail.com, yahoo.com, outlook.com, hotmail.com, and similar consumer email services.

**Behavior:**

* Such tickets do **not** automatically create customers
* Unless the email matches individual email addresses configured for a customer:
  * The ticket are **not** linked to any customer
  * Are **not** routed to a Customer Collections (in Customer Centric Inbox)
  * They remain in the Source Collection (like Email Collection or Web Chat)

**Why?** This prevents cluttering your workspace with one-off consumer requests that don't represent ongoing customer relationships.

**Workaround:** If you need to track a consumer email as a customer, add their email address to a customer for linking and routing to that customer.

### Individual Email Addresses

As indicated above, in addition to domains, you can associate **individual email addresses** with a customer. This is useful for identifying customers who use free email providers (e.g., `gmail.com`, `yahoo.com`) or whose email domain doesn't match any domain assigned to a customer.

**How it works:**

* Add one or more individual email addresses to a customer record
* When a request arrives from one of these addresses, it is automatically linked to the customer and routed to the corresponding Customer Collection (in case of Customer Centric Inbox)
* This works even for addresses from free email domains that would otherwise not be linked to any customer

{% hint style="warning" %}
**Important limitations:**

* The **same email address cannot be added to multiple customers** — each address can only belong to one customer
* Email addresses whose **domain matches another customer's domains are rejected** — for example, if Customer A has the domain `acme.com`, you cannot add `john@acme.com` as an individual email to Customer B
  {% endhint %}

### Internal Domains

Your company's own email domains are treated as internal domains.

**To configure internal domains:**

1. Navigate to **Settings** → **Organization**
2. Add your company domains to **Internal Domains**

Requests from internal domains will not create customer records automatically.

## Managing Customers

When you add a Slack Connect channel to ClearFeed (manually or automatically):

* ClearFeed identifies the external workspace's email domain
* Removes any free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.) or internal domains
* Checks if a customer already exists with the remaining domain(s)
  * **If yes:** The Slack channel is linked to the existing customer
  * **If no:** A new customer is created and the channel is linked to it When you add a Slack Connect channel to ClearFeed (manually or automatically):
* ClearFeed identifies the external workspace's email domain
* Removes any free email domains (gmail.com, yahoo.com, etc.) or internal domains
* Checks if a customer already exists with the remaining domain(s)
  * **If yes:** The Slack channel is linked to the existing customer
  * **If no:** A new customer is created and the channel is linked to it

### Viewing Customers

Navigate to **Customers** to see all customer records.

### Searching Customers

You can search by:

* Customer name
* Email domains
* Individual email addresses
* Slack channel name

### Filtering Customers

You can filter the customer list by any custom field you've created (e.g., Account Tier, Region).

### Editing Customers

To edit a customer:

1. Navigate to the customer's page
2. Click **Edit** or modify fields directly

**You can update:**

* Customer name
* Email domains
* Individual email addresses
* Associated Slack channels
* Custom field values
* Portal access settings
* Collection assignment (Customer Centric Inbox only)

**Changes take effect immediately** for future requests. Past requests remain unchanged.

### Adding/Removing Domains

When you **add a domain** to a customer:

* Future requests from that domain will link to this customer
* Past requests from that domain are **not** retroactively linked

When you **remove a domain** from a customer:

* Future requests from that domain will not link to this customer (they may create a new customer or remain unlinked)
* Past requests remain linked to this customer

### Moving Customers Between Collections

**Available in:** Customer Centric Inbox only

When you move a customer to a different Customer Collection:

* All past requests move with the customer
* All future requests route to the new collection
* The customer inherits the new collection's rules:
  * SLAs
  * Assignment rules
  * Workflows and automations
  * AI behavior settings
* If the Customer Owner is set to **Inherit from Collection**, changing the Collection will automatically update the Customer Owner to the new Collection’s Owner. No manual update is needed.

**Common use cases:**

* Customer upgrades from Trial to Paid tier
* Account ownership transfers to another team
* Reorganizing collections by region or customer segment

**To move a customer:**

1. Open the customer's page
2. Click **Edit**
3. Change the **Collection** field
4. Click **Save**

### Merging Customers

If you have duplicate customer records that should be a single customer, you can merge two customers together.

**Requirements:**

* Both customers must belong to the **same collection**
* Only **two** customers can be merged at a time

**To merge customers:**

1. Navigate to the **Inbox** page
2. Click the **`...`** menu next to a customer
3. Select **Merge Customer** from the dropdown

<figure><img src="https://3455705434-files.gitbook.io/~/files/v0/b/gitbook-x-prod.appspot.com/o/spaces%2FE2O2wTaNovd6fXpEuLKz%2Fuploads%2Fgit-blob-ce1d75568328dcfe4ce116c83903da4378c14716%2Fmerge-customer-menu.png?alt=media" alt="" width="563"><figcaption><p>Merge Customer option in the customer menu</p></figcaption></figure>

4. Select the second customer to merge with
5. The merge interface lets you **compare and configure** field values for the resulting customer (name, domains, email addresses, custom fields, etc.)
6. Confirm the merge

**What happens after merging:**

* All requests, channels, and other related attributes are transferred to the merged customer
* The other customer object is **deleted**
* The merge cannot be undone

{% hint style="info" %}
**Tip:** Merging is especially useful when automatic customer creation (e.g., from Slack Connect channels) creates duplicate customer records for the same organization.
{% endhint %}

### Deleting Customers

**To delete a customer:**

1. Open the customer's page
2. Click the **3-dot menu** → **Delete Customer**
3. Confirm the deletion

**What happens to requests:**

* Past requests are **not deleted**
* Past requests become **unlinked** (no customer associated)
* You can manually link them to a different customer if needed

## Customer Data Enrichment

**Available in:** Customer Centric Inbox only

When a customer is created using a recognized business domain, ClearFeed automatically enriches the customer profile with company information.

### Auto-Enriched Fields

<table><thead><tr><th width="161">Field</th><th>Description</th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><strong>Country</strong></td><td>Country where the company is primarily based</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Founded</strong></td><td>Year the company was founded</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Industry</strong></td><td>Primary industry or business category</td></tr><tr><td><strong>LinkedIn URL</strong></td><td>LinkedIn company page URL</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Locality</strong></td><td>City or neighborhood location</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Region</strong></td><td>State or region where the company operates</td></tr><tr><td><strong>Size</strong></td><td>Approximate employee count range</td></tr></tbody></table>

### Editing Enriched Data

All auto-enriched fields are **editable**. You can update or correct any value at any time.

If no data is available for a domain, fields remain blank and can be filled in manually.

## Custom Fields

Custom fields let you store additional business-specific data on customer records.

### Common Use Cases

* Account Tier (Free, Trial, Pro, Enterprise)
* Geographic Region
* Sales Owner
* Renewal Date
* Annual Contract Value (ACV)
* Customer Success Manager
* Health Score
* Industry Segment

### Creating Custom Fields

1. Navigate to **Customers** → **Custom Fields**
2. Click **Create New Field**
3. Configure the field:
   * **Field Name:** What the field is called (e.g., "Account Tier")
   * **Field Type:** Choose from:
     * **Single Select** - Choose one option from a list
     * **Multi Select** - Choose multiple options from a list
     * **Text** - Free-form text (max 255 characters by default)
     * **Date** - A calendar date
     * **Number** - Numeric value
   * **Options:** For Select fields, define the available choices
   * **Default Value:** Optional default for new customers
4. Click **Save**

#### Field Naming Restrictions

You cannot use these reserved names:

* Customer ID
* Customer Name
* Slack Channels
* Email Domains

#### Using Custom Fields

**Set values:**

* During customer creation
* By editing an existing customer
* Via CRM Sync (if configured)

**Use for:**

* Filtering the customer list
* Reporting and analytics
* Automation rules
* Assignment rules

#### Modifying Custom Fields

* You can edit the field name
* You can add new options to Select fields
* You cannot change the field type (e.g., from Single Select to Text)
* Removing options from Select fields may affect existing data

## Customer Verification

Customers must be **verified** before their users can access the Support Portal. This is only applicable for Standard Collections

### Verification Status

A customer is **verified** when:

* Created with a single, unambiguous business domain, **or**
* Created from a portal user registration

A customer is **not verified** when:

* Multiple domains are detected during creation without clear ownership
* Created manually without any domains
* Domain conflicts exist (domain is already used by another customer)

### Portal Access Requirements

For a customer's users to access the Support Portal:

1. The customer must be **verified**
2. Portal access must be **enabled** for the customer
3. The user's email domain must match one of the customer's domains

### Enabling Portal Access

1. Open the customer's page
2. Navigate to **Portal Access** settings
3. Toggle **Enable Portal Access** to **On**
4. Configure additional portal settings as needed
5. Click **Save**

**Note:** Users can only access the portal if the customer is verified **and** portal access is enabled.

## CRM Sync

**Available only in Customer-Centric Inbox**

CRM Sync automatically populates and keeps customer custom fields in sync with Company and Deal properties. Learn more about [CRM Sync](https://docs.clearfeed.ai/clearfeed-help-center/clearfeed-helpdesk/customers/crm-sync)

## FAQs

1. **How does ClearFeed determine the customer name?**\
   **Answer:** ClearFeed uses this priority order:

   1. **If created manually:** The value entered manually
   2. **If created on automatic addition of new Slack Connect channels:** The external workspace name if available
   3. **If domains exist:** The first domain (e.g., `acme.com` → "Acme Corp")
   4. **Otherwise:** The Slack channel name

   You can always edit the customer name after creation.
2. **Why do some customers show logos?**\
   **Answer:** Logos appear when customers are created from Slack Connect channels. The logo is fetched from the external Slack workspace's profile.\
   Manual logo upload is not currently supported.
3. **Can a customer have multiple domains?**\
   **Answer:** Yes. A customer can have multiple email domains assigned.\
   Requests from **any** of those domains will link to the same customer and appear in one unified conversation history.\
   **Example:** Acme Corp has `acme.com` and `acmecorp.com`. Requests from both domains appear under the same customer record.
4. **Can the same domain be assigned to multiple customers?**\
   **Answer:** No. Each domain can only be assigned to one customer at a time.\
   If you need to reassign a domain:

   1. Remove it from the current customer
   2. Add it to the new customer

   Be aware this affects how future requests are linked.
5. **What's the difference between "Owner" and custom fields like "CSM"?**\
   **Answer:**

   1. **Owner:** A built-in field intended for the primary account owner or point of contact
   2. **Custom fields (like CSM):** Additional fields you define for your specific workflow

   Both can be used for assignment rules and filtering. Use what makes sense for your team's structure.
6. **Can I bulk import customers?**\
   **Answer:** Currently, customers must be created individually within the ClearFeed product (or automatically through integrations).\
   For bulk import and creation is possible externally via APIs or via a Google Sheets plugin. Contact ClearFeed support.
7. **What happens to requests when I move a customer to a different collection?**\
   **Answer:** All requests (past and future) move with the customer to the new collection. The customer immediately inherits the new collection's SLAs, assignment rules, and automations.
8. **Can I associate a free email address (e.g., Gmail) with a customer?**\
   **Answer:** Yes. You can add individual email addresses from free email providers (e.g., `john@gmail.com`) to a customer record. Requests from that address will be automatically linked to the customer, even though the domain itself is not linked to a customer.
9. **Can the same email address belong to multiple customers?**\
   **Answer:** No. Each individual email address can only be associated with one customer at a time. If you try to add an email address that's already assigned to another customer, you'll receive an error.
10. **Why is an individual email address being rejected?**\
    **Answer:** An individual email address will be rejected if its domain matches a domain already assigned to another customer. For example, if Customer A has the domain `acme.com`, you cannot add `john@acme.com` as an individual email address to Customer B.
11. **Can I merge customers from different collections?**\
    **Answer:** No. Both customers must belong to the same collection to be merged. If you need to merge customers across collections, first move one customer to the other's collection, then merge them.
12. **What happens to requests when I merge two customers?**\
    **Answer:** All requests, channels, and other attributes from both customers are transferred to the merged customer. The other customer object is deleted. The merge cannot be undone.


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