The key to CRM accelerating your business growth is by obtaining more VIP customers. To do this, Channel.io is identifying customers and unifying customer information.
By understanding the concepts of users, leads, and members defined in Channel.io, you can discover leads, potential customers, and convert them into members.
Anonymous User
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Users who have visited the site or app but have no registered information
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Includes an unspecified number of people who have never had a chat conversation nor entered their information.
Lead
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Users with previous chat history or have contact information
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Includes customer information transferred from external messenger integration without creating a new chat.
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This does not include users who have not replied back after receiving messages from the marketing or support bot.
Member
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Users who have member ID(memberId) information on the website or app.
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After an anonymous user or lead logs in or signs up, they will become a member.
ContentsAnonymous User
How to identify anonymous users in Channel.io?
When an anonymous user visits our site, we store information in the browser's cookie and local storage and identify each anonymous user.
Each user's cookie has a veil ID (key) and unique value information. A cookie value called ch-veil-id is used to identify users individually.
Do you also collect events, detailed data, and session information from anonymous users?
Yes, we collect anonymous user information.
However, anonymous user information cannot be viewed on the Channel.io desk (Admin). When an anonymous user starts a chat conversation, enters contact information to become a lead, or logs in and becomes a member, the previously collected information is saved and viewed.
Is it possible to clear the cookie value of anonymous users? (reset)
Anonymous users can reset cookie values directly in their browser settings at any time if they wish. (Clear Browser History menu)
It is automatically reset after 90 days from the boot of the last page when the user was active on the website.
Lead
When do anonymous users become leads?
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When you start a conversation and have a chat history
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When a user responds to a marketing message
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When a user makes a chat inquiry without entering any information on the site
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When a user makes a chat inquiry through external messengers (Line, Instagram) without contact information
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When customer contact information is entered
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When a user enters a mobile phone or email address in the follow-up notification box
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When the user has linked information with external messengers (Instagram messenger and others)
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When the user logs in by clicking the external messenger icon in the chat lounge (even without user chat)
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When the manager inputs user information into the Contacts(via open API, CSV upload, etc.)
Why are leads important?
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Lead is another word for a potential customer.
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From the moment of contact, anonymous users begin to have a connection with your business and this becomes an opportunity to turn them into customers that can lead to actual purchases.
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Turning anonymous users passing by our service into leads is the starting point for finding VIP customers.
Why is it good to have more VIP customers?
80% of consequences come from 20% of the causes, asserting an unequal relationship between inputs and outputs.
- Pareto Principle -
Why do I need to get the customer's contact information (mobile phone number, email address)?
The cost of acquiring new customers is increasing. That is why each anonymous user who voluntarily visits your site is very precious. You need to convert them into leads and turn them into repeat customers!
Channel.io provides a chatbot function that helps you collect customer contact information easily.
What can you do with the contacts of these leads?
If your leads have left their contact information, Channel.io’s powerful follow-up feature allows you to send a message back to customers who have left your site, encouraging them to come back.
Are all contact information equally important?
Channel.io classifies customer contact information into verified information and unverified information, giving priority to reliable (verified) information.
Unqualified Information not verified
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Contact information entered by the user
E.g.) Collecting information from Follow-up notifications or information directly entered by the user in the support bot form
Qualified Verified information
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All customer profile information except information entered by the user
E.g.) Contacts directly edited by the manager in customer information, CSV uploads, API input, etc.
Why do we need verified information?
If the verified information matches the existing member information, it can be unified immediately. Click here to learn more about Unification
Click here to learn more about UnificationIf the lead turns out to be the same person as the existing member, does Channel.io unify them or save the two separately?
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Channel.io unifies both profile information into one profile.
How long is the lead's information kept?
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It will be deleted two years after the last contact with the lead.
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Contact point: chat, site visit, marketing message reception, information update in Contacts, etc.
Can I delete leads directly from the Contacts?
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Yes, you can delete saved lead information if needed.
Can I upload lead customer information to Channel.io as a CSV file?
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Yes, it is possible. It is scheduled to open as a beta service at the end of this year.
If there is no member ID(memberId) information in the CSV file, it is saved as a lead in the Contacts. Customers with member ID(memberId) information are immediately saved as members.
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To do this, when uploading a file, the system checks whether the member ID(memberId) is included in the data.
If there is information that matches the existing member among the uploaded information, the manager can confirm and unify it.
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Yes, you can install it in the app and track leads using Channel.io mobile SDK (iOS, Android, React Native).
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However, even if the lead saved on the web and the lead saved on the mobile app are the same person, Channel.io cannot automatically recognize the same user.
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If different leads log in with the same member ID, they are viewed as one member and unified.
Member
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Members are identified through memberId value in customer information.
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memberId is a value given if the customer is logged in when Channel.io is booted.
This is the value used as the member ID in most websites and mobile apps. If a user has member ID information, the user is recognized as a specific member.
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For web builder websites, it is installed to identify members by default. Developer guide
Developer guide◦
For custom websites, please install it by referring to the developer guide. Developer guide
Developer guide What if an anonymous user or a member who browsed the site as a non-member first and logs in to his account later?
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When a user or lead registers or logs in, memberId information is identified as a member.
How long is member information kept?
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It will be deleted two years after the last contact with the member.
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Contact point: chatting, site visit, marketing message reception, information update in Contacts, etc.
If only memberId is used to identify users, there seems to be security issues such as manipulation. How can I solve this?
To protect customer information safely, we provide customer information encryption (Member Hash) function.
For custom websites, you can encrypt and secure customer information by referring to the developer guide.
Even if you log out of the homepage, member information remains in Channel.io. I'm worried about security, can I reset the channel.io log-in information after logging out of the website?
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In an environment where security is important, use the following method(requires developer’s assistance)
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If you look at the cookie value in your browser, there is a cookie that includes ch-session If the customer deletes this cookie when logging out of the website and reboots without memberId information, the Channel.io information is reset.
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However, this method is not the default setting for Channel.io and is not recommended.
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If you reset immediately, when a customer logs out, they are immediately identified as a new anonymous user, which may increase the MAU level unnecessarily.
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Channel.io customer information is maintained for a 30-minute session after logging out and this provides a natural experience for customers.
