How contacts are created in Zeffy
Contacts are automatically added to your Zeffy database when supporters interact with your forms. You can also create contacts manually or import them from a spreadsheet.
Automatic contact creation
Any purchase, donation, or transaction through Zeffy automatically creates or updates a contact profile. When someone completes a donation, buys a ticket, purchases from your store, signs up for a membership, or creates a peer-to-peer fundraising page, their contact profile is created or updated using the information they provide at checkout.
The profile includes their name, email, address, and any other details collected during the transaction.
Newsletter sign-up forms
Contacts can also be added through newsletter sign-up forms. When someone submits a sign-up form on your website, they are automatically added to your contacts and can be assigned to a specific list. See Create a newsletter sign-up form to set one up.
Email as the primary identifier
Email address is the primary identifier for contacts in Zeffy. If someone completes multiple transactions using the same email address, all activity is linked to a single contact profile.
If someone uses different email addresses for different transactions, separate contact profiles are created. You can merge duplicate profiles later if needed—see Managing and editing contacts.
Manual contact creation
You can also add contacts manually:
Go to Contacts.
Click Add contact in the top right.
Choose Add a single contact or Import contacts.
Single contacts are useful when you need to add a board member, volunteer, or other supporter who hasn't yet completed a transaction through Zeffy.
Imported contacts
Imported contacts are added to a list named with the import date so you can find them easily.
For step-by-step instructions, see Import contacts from a spreadsheet and How will imported data appear in Zeffy?
What happens next
Once contacts are in your database, you can:
Create lists and segments for targeted outreach
Send emails to specific contacts or audiences