The Contacts section brings together your whole WhatsApp audience. Contacts are added automatically (Shopify, chat widget, automations, inbound messages), and you can also add them yourself, one by one or by importing a file.
At the top of the page, counters sum up your database: the total number of Contacts, then the number of Opted-in, Opted-out, Unknown and In conversation contacts.
The table then lists your contacts with their name, number, email, status, creation date and last interaction. You can:
search for a contact by name, phone number or email;
sort the table;
click a contact to open their conversation in the Inbox.
To target your contacts with more precise criteria, use lists and segments in Lists & Segments (segments require the Scale plan or higher). See Understanding and using lists on Kanal and Understanding and using segments on Kanal.
Opted-in: the contact agreed to receive your WhatsApp messages.
Opted-out: the contact unsubscribed. They no longer receive any message, neither campaigns nor automations, transactional messages included.
Unknown: Kanal does not know their consent status. This is the case for contacts created from Shopify or added by hand.
In conversation: contacts you are currently exchanging with.
Campaigns are sent to all your contacts except Opted-out ones: an Unknown contact receives them. Meta requires customer consent for marketing messages. Only add contacts who agreed to receive your WhatsApp messages, otherwise your account risks being blocked by recipients, which lowers its quality. Unsubscribes are covered in Managing unsubscribes (opt-out) on WhatsApp.
Click New contact at the top right of the page, then enter the phone number in international format (with the country code) and the name. The contact is created with the Unknown status.
Click Import at the top right of the page.
Choose a CSV or XLSX file. A file template is available for download to help you prepare it.
Confirm the import.
Good to know:
The import automatically creates a list with the imported contacts. You will find it in Lists & Segments, ready for a campaign.
Extra columns in your file become contact variables.
An unsubscribed contact (Opted-out) is never re-subscribed by an import.
The consent checkbox sets all imported contacts to Opted-in. To keep some contacts as Unknown, add an opt-in column to your file and fill it with the value "inconnu" for these contacts.
The number cleanup option puts your numbers in international format. Numbers without a country code get the +33 (France) code by default.
If not all your customers are in France, add the country code to every number in your file before importing. Otherwise, a foreign number entered without a country code will be treated as a French number.
Delete a contact.
Export your contacts. To export, use a list or a segment in Lists & Segments.
Kanal World shows your contacts on a globe, grouped by country. You can see at a glance where your audience is, for example before scheduling a campaign by time zone.
