How Contacts Are Identified In OnceHub

OnceHub automatically checks your contact records whenever a contact is created or updated. This verification process occurs when information is submitted through Booking Calendars, Routing Forms, Chatbots, phone calls, bulk CSV imports, manual updates, or the OnceHub API. This process ensures your contact data stays accurate and prevents duplicate entries.

---

Contact Identification Logic

When incoming data is processed, OnceHub checks incoming information in a specific order to match it to an existing contact record before creating a new one:

1. Email address (Primary identifier): If an email address is provided, it serves as the primary identifier. OnceHub searches for a matching email address across existing records. If a match is found, the incoming information or activity is automatically linked to that contact record.
2. Mobile phone number (Secondary identifier): If no email address is provided, OnceHub uses the guest’s mobile phone number to look for a matching record. This ensures that information identified by a mobile phone number is correctly associated with the same contact record.
3. Name only (New contact creation): If a guest provides only their name without an email address or mobile phone, OnceHub cannot identify them. In this case, a new contact record is created to prevent incorrect data merging.

To learn how contact records are used for email and SMS notifications, see the Booking Calendar Guest Notifications article.