People & Profiles

What it is

People (also called Profiles or Contacts) is the central directory of every customer in your BotBat CDP. Each profile represents a single individual and serves as the unified record that ties together all known information about that person. A profile contains identity keys (email, phone, external ID), standard properties (name, company, country), custom attributes you define, and a full chronological timeline of every interaction and event across all channels.

Beyond just storing data, profiles are living records that update in real time as customers interact with your business. When a customer opens a WhatsApp message, clicks a link in an email, or submits a form on your website, those events are automatically appended to their profile timeline. Segment memberships recalculate, labels can be applied by automation rules, and consent status is tracked per channel. This makes the People view both a lookup tool for individual customer data and a diagnostic tool for understanding exactly what each customer has experienced.

When to use

• Finding a specific customer: When you need to look up a customer by name, email, phone number, or any custom property to review their data or troubleshoot an issue. The search function indexes all identity keys and standard properties for fast retrieval.

• Reviewing customer history: When you want to see the full timeline of a customer's interactions across all channels. This includes messages sent and received, page views, link clicks, form submissions, and any custom events. The timeline is invaluable for understanding the customer's journey and diagnosing issues.

• Manually creating a profile: When you need to add a customer who does not yet exist in the system, such as a VIP contact provided by sales or a lead from an offline event. Manual profiles require at least one identity key so they can be matched with future interactions.

• Editing profile properties: When customer data needs to be corrected or updated manually. Common scenarios include fixing a typo in an email address, updating a phone number after a customer contacts support, or adding a custom field value that cannot be captured automatically.

• Merging duplicate profiles: When the same customer appears as multiple profiles (for example, one created from WhatsApp and another from email) and you need to consolidate them into a single unified profile. Merging transfers all events, sessions, and segment memberships to the primary profile.

• Deleting a profile: When a customer requests data deletion (GDPR right to erasure) or when you need to remove test or spam profiles from the system. Deletion is permanent and removes all associated data including events and session history.

Profile detail sections

When you click on a profile, the detail page is organized into several sections. Each section provides a different view of the customer's data.

Section	Contents	Key actions
Properties	All standard and custom profile fields, including name, email, phone, company, country, and any fields you have defined.	Edit individual fields, view field history.
Timeline	Chronological log of every event associated with this profile, across all channels and sessions.	Filter by event type, expand event details, jump to related session.
Sessions	List of interaction periods grouped by channel, showing start time, duration, and event count.	Click to view all events within a session.
Segments	All dynamic segments this profile currently belongs to, displayed as badges.	Click a segment badge to navigate to the segment definition.
Labels	Manual or rule-applied tags used for organizing and quick filtering.	Add or remove labels directly from the profile.
Consent	Per-channel opt-in/opt-out status with timestamps showing when consent was granted or revoked.	Update consent status manually if needed.

Steps

1. Navigate to People: Click "Customers" in the main sidebar, then select the "People" tab to view the full profile list. The list shows all profiles in your CDP sorted by most recently active.

2. Search for a profile: Use the search bar at the top to find profiles by name, email, phone, or any indexed property. Results update as you type, and the search supports partial matches.

3. Apply filters: Click the filter icon to add conditions such as segment membership, label, channel, creation date, or custom property values. Combine multiple filters with AND logic to narrow results precisely. The filter panel displays the number of matching profiles in real time.

4. View profile details: Click on any profile row to open the detail view. The detail page is organized into the sections described in the table above. Use the tabs to switch between Properties, Timeline, Sessions, Segments, Labels, and Consent.

5. Create a new profile: Click "Add Profile" (or the plus icon) and fill in the required fields. At minimum, you must provide one identity key such as email or phone. Add any additional properties as needed and click Save.

6. Edit profile properties: On the profile detail page, click "Edit" next to the properties section. Modify fields as needed and click "Save" to apply changes. All edits are logged in the profile's audit trail.

7. Merge duplicate profiles: From a profile detail page, click "Merge" and search for the duplicate profile. The merge preview shows both profiles side by side, highlighting any property conflicts and indicating which values will be kept. Confirm the merge to consolidate. The secondary profile's events, sessions, and segment memberships are all transferred to the primary profile.

8. Delete a profile: On the profile detail page, click the actions menu and select "Delete Profile." Confirm the deletion in the dialog. This action is irreversible and removes the profile along with all associated events, sessions, and data.

Common pitfalls

• Merging without reviewing: Always review the merge preview before confirming. Once merged, the operation cannot be undone and the secondary profile's distinct property values may be lost if they conflict with the primary. Take time to verify which record should be the primary profile, especially when both profiles have rich data.

• Missing identity keys: Creating profiles without at least one identity key (email, phone, or external ID) makes it impossible to match them with future interactions. Always include an identifier when creating profiles manually. Without an identity key, the profile becomes an orphan that cannot participate in identity resolution.

• Bulk operations without filters: Performing bulk edits or deletions without proper filters can affect unintended profiles. Double-check your filter criteria and preview the affected set before executing any bulk operation. Consider exporting the filtered list first as a safety measure.

• Ignoring the timeline: The profile timeline is the most valuable diagnostic tool in the CDP. Before escalating a delivery issue or customer complaint, review the timeline to understand exactly what the customer experienced and when. Most questions about "why didn't the customer receive my message" can be answered by examining the timeline.

• Confusing profile properties with session properties: Profile properties persist permanently on the customer record. Session properties only exist for the duration of a browsing or interaction session and are not carried forward. Make sure you are editing or referencing the right type when building segments or automation rules.

tip

Use the profile timeline view as your first stop when debugging campaign delivery issues. It shows every event in chronological order, making it easy to trace whether a message was sent, delivered, opened, or failed for a specific customer.

• People
• People List
• Profile Detail
• Create Profile
• Merge Profiles
• Filter Profiles