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Documentation

Everything you need to get started with Rich Contact.

Installation

  1. Click this installation link or find Rich Contact in the Crisp marketplace.
  2. Select the workspace where you want to install the plugin.
  3. Confirm the installation. That's it.

Rich Contact starts working immediately with default settings. All messaging channels are enabled out of the box.

How it works

Crisp natively creates CRM contacts only when a conversation arrives via email. Conversations from messaging channels (WhatsApp, Aircall, Instagram, etc.) bring phone numbers and names but don't create a CRM contact.

Rich Contact listens to your Crisp workspace in real-time. When a new conversation arrives from a messaging channel:

  1. Detects the channel — identifies the origin (WhatsApp, Aircall, Instagram, etc.)
  2. Collects visitor data — gathers phone number, name, and optionally geolocation
  3. Checks for duplicates — searches your CRM by phone and email to avoid creating duplicate contacts
  4. Creates the contact — adds a new profile to your Crisp CRM with all available data and a channel tag

The entire process happens within seconds of the first message.

Configuration

Access plugin settings from your Crisp dashboard: Settings → Plugins → Rich Contact.

Enable Rich Contact
On
Master toggle. Turn off to pause all contact creation without uninstalling.
Channels to monitor
All integrations
Choose which channels trigger contact creation. Select "All integrations" to cover every non-email channel, or pick specific ones (WhatsApp, Aircall, Instagram, etc.).
Auto-assign segments
Empty
Custom segments added to every auto-created contact. For example: "lead", "inbound". The channel name (e.g. "whatsapp") is always added automatically.
Skip if email exists
On
When enabled, the plugin won't create a contact if the session already has an email address. This avoids duplicating contacts that Crisp would create natively.
Enrich with geolocation
Off
Adds the visitor's country and city to the contact profile when available.
Enrich with device info
Off
Adds the visitor's OS and browser information to the contact custom data.

Supported channels

Rich Contact works with any messaging channel integrated with Crisp:

Aircall Instagram Messenger Telegram SMS Line Viber Twitter / X

Any future Crisp integration that uses the urn: origin format will be automatically supported when "All integrations" is selected.

How contacts are created

Each auto-created contact includes:

  • Email — real email if available, otherwise a synthetic email
  • Phone number — from the messaging channel
  • Name — visitor's display name or nickname
  • Segments — channel name (e.g. "whatsapp") + any custom segments from settings
  • Geolocation — country and city (if enabled in settings)

Deduplication

Before creating a new contact, Rich Contact checks your existing CRM profiles:

  1. By email — if the visitor has an email, checks if a profile with that email already exists
  2. By phone — searches existing profiles by phone number

If a match is found, no new contact is created. This prevents duplicates when the same customer contacts you through multiple channels.

Synthetic email addresses

Crisp requires an email address to create a CRM contact. When a visitor doesn't have a real email (which is common for WhatsApp and Aircall), Rich Contact generates a synthetic email in this format:

phone_number@channel.nomail

For example:

  • WhatsApp contact: 351925923040@whatsapp.nomail
  • Aircall contact: 351925923040@aircall.nomail
  • Instagram contact: 351925923040@instagram.nomail

These are not real email addresses. The .nomail domain makes it obvious they are placeholders. You can filter contacts by this domain to find all phone-only contacts.

If a real email is later discovered (e.g. the visitor provides it in conversation), you can update the contact's email manually in the Crisp CRM.

Auto-segmentation

Every auto-created contact is tagged with the channel name as a segment:

  • WhatsApp contacts get the whatsapp segment
  • Aircall contacts get the aircall segment
  • Instagram contacts get the instagram segment

You can add additional custom segments in the plugin settings (e.g. "lead", "inbound", "auto-created"). These are added to every contact alongside the channel segment.

Use these segments in Crisp to filter, organize, and create campaigns targeting specific channel audiences.

FAQ

Does Rich Contact store my data?

No. The plugin processes data transiently in memory and writes it directly to your Crisp CRM. No data is stored on our servers. See our Privacy Policy for details.

Will it create duplicate contacts?

No. The plugin checks for existing contacts by phone number and email before creating a new one. If a match is found, the creation is skipped.

Does it work with existing conversations?

Rich Contact processes new incoming messages in real-time. It does not retroactively create contacts for past conversations. However, when an existing contact sends a new message, the plugin will detect it and skip creation since the contact already exists.

What happens if I uninstall the plugin?

Contact creation stops immediately. All previously created contacts remain in your Crisp CRM — they are not deleted.

Can I use it with multiple Crisp websites?

Yes. Each website gets its own configuration. Install the plugin on each website and configure channels and segments independently.

The synthetic email looks strange. Can I change the format?

The @channel.nomail format is fixed and intentionally designed to be clearly identifiable as a placeholder. This prevents confusion with real emails and makes filtering easy.

How fast are contacts created?

Typically within 3-5 seconds of the first message. The plugin uses Crisp's real-time WebSocket API for instant detection, with a brief collection window to gather all available visitor data before creating the contact.

Still have questions? Contact support or chat with us via the Crisp widget.