Creating a contact

Do you want to easily and quickly create new contacts with an individually adjustable user interface, for example during a phone call? First of all, set up a new view according to your needs.

1. Creating a view

The user interface to create a new contact allows a high degree of flexibility for positioning content and data. This works by intuitively positioning sections for content and elements on the dashboard via drag-and-drop. Each section and each element can be further edited by clicking on Edit view () in the top right of the contact data record. Table 1 contains an overview on the functions available in the editing mode of the contact data record.

Table 1. Available functions when creating a new contact
Element	Symbol	Explanation
Edit view		Opens the contact data record for editing. *Note:* The standard view comes with the Company, Address details and Contact details sections. Furthermore, you can move the components to a different place with drag-and-drop and adjust the size of the components.
Undo		Undoes the last change, unless this change has already been saved.
Redo		Restores the previously undone change.
Default view		This section displays the view that is currently opened. Click on to switch to another view or to create a new view.
Restoring the previously saved state		Resets the contact data record to the state that was last saved.
Save		Saves the changes made to the contact data record. By doing so, you can save as many different views as you like. When you want to manually create a contact data record the next time, you can open your preferred view via the drop-down list in the top right and start creating a new contact. Also via this drop-down list, you can create a new preset by clicking on Create new preset.
		Click on this symbol between the components to add or remove columns and lines or to reduce or enlarge the column sizes.
Edit		When you edit the component, you can see in the Elements section on the right side which elements have not been used yet and are therefore still available. Elements that are already in use are disabled and cannot be used a second time.
Delete		Deletes the component.
Close		Closes the editing mode. If you have not saved the changes yet, a security inquiry appears.

2. Creating a contact

Proceed as described below to create a new contact.

The following instruction describes the default view with the 3 components Company, Address details and Contact details with all available fields. Depending on how you later adapt your user interface, the settings described in Table 2 may vary from the view in your system.

Creating a contact:

Go to CRM » Contacts.
Click on New contact.
→ The default view appears. The default view consists of 3 sections: Company, address details and contact details.
Carry out the settings. Note Table 2 and the information about the fields that are already preselected.
Save () the settings.
→ The contact is created.

Once the contact has been created, you will be forwarded to the contact data record. You are then able to further edit the contact. Note also the information about the logic for unsaved changes.
In the contact data record in the side navigation on the bottom left, you can click on the contact ID () to copy the ID of the contact to the clipboard.

Table 2. Creating a contact
Setting	Explanation
Toolbar
Save	Click on to save the settings.
Reset	Click on to remove all previous entries before saving. The automatically preselected fields will remain.
Company Click in the Search company field to search for existing company data records that you have already created in the CRM » Companies menu. Enter at least 3 letters of the name, town, street or country of the company. Once you have selected a company from the suggestion list, this company is automatically taken to the Company (Name 1) field in the Address details section.
Address details
Invoice address / Delivery address	Select () whether the address is an invoice address or a delivery address or both. *Note:* Both address types are automatically preselected (). You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record.
Form of address	What’s the contact’s form of address?
Company (Name 1)	What’s the name of the company? This is a mandatory field if there is no entry for First name (Name 2) and Last name (Name 3). *Note:* If you select the company from the suggestion list in the Company section, it is automatically taken to this field.
First name (Name 2)	What’s the first name of the contact? This is a mandatory field if there is no entry for Company (Name 1) and Last name (Name 3).
Last name (Name 3)	What’s the last name of the contact? This is a mandatory field if there is no entry for Company (Name 1) and First name (Name 2).
Address 1 (Street)	What’s the street of the contact? This is a mandatory field if you don’t enter values in the Address 2 (House number) and Address 3 (Additional address information) fields. *Tip:* Note the explanations in this chapter if the delivery address is a DHL Packstation or DHL post office.
Address 2 (House number)	What’s the house number of the contact? This is a mandatory field if you don’t enter values in the Address 1 (Street) and Address 3 (Additional address information) fields. *Tip:* Note the explanations in this chapter if the delivery address is a DHL Packstation or DHL post office.
Address 3 (Additional address information)	Do you want to enter an additional address information? For example: Apartment 12a. This is a mandatory field if you don’t enter values in the Address 1 (Street) and Address 2 (House number) fields. *Tip:* Note the explanations in this chapter if the delivery address is a DHL Packstation or DHL post office.
Address 4 (Free)	You can enter whatever you want.
Email address	What’s the contact’s private email address?
Phone	What’s the contact’s telephone number?
VAT number	Do you want to save a VAT number for the contact?
Contact person	Do you want to save a contact person for the contact?
Personal number	Does the contact have a personal number?
Post number	Does the contact have a post number?
Date of birth	What’s the contact’s date of birth?
Postcode / Town	What’s the postcode and town of the contact? Town is a mandatory field. This data is used for the invoice address, for example. The order of the postcode and the town is reversed for certain countries, e.g. Germany. *Tip:* Note the explanations in this chapter if the delivery address is a DHL Packstation or DHL post office.
Country Region/County	Select the values from the drop-down list. *Note:* The drop-down list Region/County is not available for all countries. Note:The country that you saved as default location in the Setup » Client » [Select client] » Settings menu is automatically preselected. You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record. *Note:* If you want to have other countries shown here, you have to activate the countries of delivery first. To do so, go to Setup » Orders » Shipping » Options and open the Countries of delivery tab.
Contact details
Form of address	What’s the contact’s form of address?
Title	What’s the title of the contact?
First name	What’s the first name of the contact?
Last name	What’s the last name of the contact?
Email private	What’s the contact’s private email address? *Note:* If you save both a private and a business email address, the private email address has priority over the business email address.
Email business	What’s the contact’s business email address? *Note:* If you save both a private and a business email address, the private email address has priority over the business email address.
Phone private	What’s the contact’s private phone number?
Phone business	What’s the contact’s business telephone number?
Mobil private	What’s the contact’s private mobile phone number?
Mobile business	What’s the contact’s business mobile phone number?
Fax private	What’s the contact’s private fax number?
Fax business	What’s the contact’s business fax number?
Web page private	What’s the contact’s private web page?
Web page business	What’s the contact’s business web page?
eBay user name	What’s the contact’s eBay user name?
Customer number	Do you want to save a customer number for the contact? Customer numbers can be assigned for internal purposes. They are not saved automatically. You decide whether and how you would like to use customer numbers.
External number	Do you want to save an external number for the contact? External numbers can be used for internal purposes and are not saved automatically.
Rating	Do you already want to save a rating for this contact? This settings serves for internal purposes only. Select 5 red stars for the worst and 5 yellow stars for the best rating.
Guest account	You don’t want to create a contact data record, but a guest order instead? If so, select () this option.
Debtor account	Do you want to save more separate customer numbers? Generally, this number corresponds to the customer number or the debtor number in your financial accounting. It can be helpful to you or your tax accountant when further processing your receipts. This field can also be filled in automatically, if required. For further information about the debtor account, refer to the Accounting page of the manual.
Date of birth	What’s the contact’s date of birth?
Type	Which type should be assigned to the contact? *Note:* The type Customer is automatically preselected. This is the type with the lowest ID in the Setup » CRM » Types menu. You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record.
Class	Which class should be assigned to the contact? *Note:* The class with the lowest position that you saved in the Setup » CRM » Classes menu is automatically preselected here. You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record.
Client	Which client should be assigned to the contact? *Note:* The standard client is automatically preselected here. You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record.
Language	Which language does the contact speak? *Note:* Depending on the selected default setting in the system, the system language is automatically preselected here. You can of course adjust the setting before saving the contact data record.
Sales representative that is assigned to the contact	Here, you can assign a sales representative to the contact. Enter the first 3 characters of the name to see a suggestion list of all sales representatives that are already saved in your system. By clicking on the name or the ID of the sales representative, the sales representative is assigned to the contact.
Block contact	Select whether or not the contact should be blocked for the specific client. If the option is activated (), the contact is blocked and can no longer log into your plentyShop. If the option is not activated (), the contact is allowed to log into your plentyShop.
Owner	Which owner should be assigned to the contact? Enter at least one letter of the owner name. Your system then suggests owners that have already been saved. Select a name from the drop-down list. *Important:* The drop-down list only shows users (owners) that have a role assigned in which the setting See or Edit is activated for the rights CRM or CRM » Contacts.
Tags	Do you want to assign tags to the contact? Select the tags from the suggestion list. In this list, all tags are shown that you created in the Setup » Settings » Tags menu and are activated for the Contacts section.
Allow invoice / Allow debit	If you have already allowed the two payment methods Invoice and Debit in the class, you don’t need to carry out any settings here. Because: The settings in the class have priority over the settings in the contact data record. = The contact can pay using this payment method, even if you do not offer this payment method in your plentyShop. *Example:* A contact who has bought in your online shop multiple times, should be allowed to buy items on invoice. Necessary settings: - Make sure that the payment method is activated and the plugin is set is deployed so the payment method is available in the order. For further information, refer to the manual pages Invoice and Debit. *Important:* Make sure that no countries of delivery were saved in the settings of the payment method. Otherwise, the payment method would be available to all customers in your plentyShop, which is not desired in this case. - The payment method Invoice or Debit has to be available in at least one shipping profile, i.e. the payment method may not be blocked in the shipping profile. - Activate the shipping profile for the items. Check the necessary settings that are listed here and activate () the payment method. This allows the contact to use the payment method.

3. Automatically preselected fields

When you create a new contact, some fields are already preselected. You can of course adjust these fields before saving the new contact data record. The following lists the preselected fields:

In the address details:
- the address type Invoice address
- the country that you saved as default location in the Setup » Client » [Select client] » Settings
In the contact details:
- the type Customer (this is the type with the lowest ID in the Setup » CRM » Types menu)
- the class with the lowest position that you saved in the Setup » CRM » Classes menu
- the default client (shop)
- the language German (this depends on the selected default setting in the system)

4. Duplicate check for contact data records with identical email address

When creating new and updating existing contact data records, the email address is checked in order to avoid duplicate entries in the system.

The logic works in the following way:

When creating a new contact, the system searches for an existing regular contact with identical private email address. If a contact is found, an error message is displayed. If no contact is found, a new regular contact is created.
When updating the private email address of an existing regular contact, the system searches if another regular contact with the same private email address exists. If this is the case, the private email address of the current contact is not updated.

5. DHL Packstation or DHL post office as delivery address

Should the delivery address be a DHL Packstation or DHL post office? If so, note which information you have to enter into which fields in this case to ensure that the parcel can be correctly delivered to your customers.

Figure 1. DHL Packstation (Source: DHL website)

create contact dhl post office parcel shop

Figure 2. DHL post office/parcel shop (Source: DHL website)

For further information, refer to the following DHL pages:

Creating a contact

1. Creating a view

2. Creating a contact

3. Automatically preselected fields

4. Duplicate check for contact data records with identical email address

5. DHL Packstation or DHL post office as delivery address

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