In order to avoid duplicating constituent records, it is recommended you search for a constituent prior to adding one. Make sure you save your information updates frequently.
If you need to import more than one constituent at a time, see the instructions for using Advanced Import.
Add a Constituent
- Click the Add button on the Navigation Bar at the top of the screen.
- Select the Constituent menu item.
- By default, the Individual option is selected. This identifies this record as being that of an individual person and not a company, organization, foundation, etc.
See the article: Adding an Organization Type Constituent to add an organization. - Check the VIP checkbox if necessary. The VIP checkbox allows for quick identification of those constituents who your organization has determined is VIPs. When you perform a constituent search and a list of possible matches is returned, any record that has been selected as a VIP record will appear in red.
- It is recommended that you accept the default Access Level. The Access Level works in conjunction with the Security Level of a Salsa CRM user. As long as the Security Level of a Salsa CRM user is higher than the Access Level of a constituent record, that user can access the constituent record. If a Salsa CRM user has a lower Security Level than an Access Level, the user cannot access that constituent record. NOTE: See the Access Level section in the Configuration and Security section of this document for further instructions.
- At the very least, you must enter the individual's First and Last Names.
When entering the name of the constituent be sure to enter as much information as possible in the Title, First Name, Last Name, Name Suffix (Esq., III, Jr., etc.) and Nickname fields. These fields are used by Salsa CRM to configure the Smart Formal and Smart Informal Salutations for labels, form letters, and in the Advanced Query Wizard. For example, Mr. Jonathan Miller II, whose nickname is Jon, would be displayed in a Smart Formal Salutation as "Mr. Miller", and a Smart Informal Salutation as "Jon". - Select the drop-down arrow in the combo boxes to choose from a list of available items or type the first letter of the desired choice. Configure the drop-down boxes that appear within the Constituent screens in the Configuration screen.
- To enter the current date in a date field, double-click in the text box. To enter a date other than today, choose the Calendar button associated with that field or type the address in the format MM/DD/YYYY (or DD/MM/YYYY in a country other than the US that commonly uses that format).
NOTE: When a deceased date is entered on a Constituent record, the Preferred Contact Method will automatically change to Do Not Contact.
Add an Address
A constituent may have multiple physical addresses, for home, business, vacation home, etc. Only one address may be marked as their Primary Address at which they would consistently receive your postal mailings.
Constituents may have their address automatically formatted by either NCOA or by Engage's Smarty Streets integration. This formatting includes the standardization of street names, city spellings, and state abbreviations as required by the US Postal Service.
To add the constituent's address...
- Click the Other Contact Info link, just below the constituent's photo.
- Click the Add button at the bottom right of the Address panel.
- Select the Home and/or Business checkbox(es) to designate the type of address.
- Select the Primary check box if this is the constituent’s primary address.
- The Prefix fields may be used to enter up to two lines of information that may typically appear between the addressee’s name and address. For example, you can enter the following types of information: C/O, job title, business name, etc. Any information entered into the Prefix field will appear in any letters that contain the {{Smart Address}} variable. This information will also appear on labels and envelopes generated through Salsa CRM.
- Enter the street address in Line 1
- Enter the ZIP code in the Postal Code field. If the ZIP code and its associated city are not already stored in Salsa CRM then the Add City dialog box will open. Enter the appropriate city, county and state information, and then select the Save button.
NOTE: The Zip field on the address panel recognizes your selected country set on the My Settings screen. If the selected country is “United States,” Salsa CRM will perform the city lookup after the 5th character has been entered. If the country is Singapore, the lookup will happen after the 6th character. If your database is set to use date, address and phone standards of Great Britain, you may enter a minimum of two characters for the postal code.
To enter addresses for countries outside of the chosen country, use the magnifying glass button to the right of the Postal Code field. You may also select countries that do not have zip codes (for instance, Hong Kong and Ireland). Enter "N/A" in the zip field, and then select the magnifying glass to the right of the field. "N/A" may be entered as upper or lower case. The popup will return all cities with a zip of "N/A" from which you can select one. "N/A" will not be displayed on labels or addresses within letters. - Address data on the Constituent screen includes National Change of Address (NCOA) fields. The Salsa CRM team provides NCOA processing as a service. Salsa CRM includes a number of features to support NCOA processing. Please contact your Salsa CRM Customer Care team if you are interested in having Salsa Labs run NCOA updates against your database. New addresses have not had an opportunity to have NCOA updates applied to them. As depicted in the image below, the image demonstrates how an address that has not been submitted for NCOA processing appears. The NCOA Select for Export checkbox lets you select specific addresses to be exported during the next NCOA update, though typically Salsa CRM runs all primary addresses.
- The Reason field or Correspondence Reason allows you to set the reason this address is part of the constituent’s file. A Reason could be set for All Correspondence to be sent to this address, or just Newsletter only, Solicitations only, etc.
NOTE: This is one of the configurable drop-down fields on the constituent screen. To customize for your needs, select Manage > Configuration > Constituent > Contact tab under the Explorer panel on the left. Choose to add, edit, or delete items that appear in the Correspondence Reasons box. - Make sure to save your address.
Select the Add Address button to add another address to this constituent’s record.
Seasonal Addresses
Some constituents live at different addresses during the year. You can designate the time frame in which they live at that address. Set the From/To months and days when adding or editing the constituent's address. For example, a constituent resides in Homestead, FL, from November through April, as seen in the image below. They have a second address in the database for Wexford, PA, from May 1 to August 31. Make sure that those From/To designations are consistent and do not overlap with each other.
The checkmark to the right of the NCOA verification symbol in the Address panel on the Constituent Dashboard indicates if the address is Seasonal.
NOTE: In order to query on constituents' seasonal address that is appropriate for the current date, use the Address table in the Advanced Query Wizard, and not the Addresses table. Addresses returns all addresses for a constituent. Address and Addresses are mutually exclusive - you won't be able to select entries from both tables.
Address Functions
Please see this article on managing Address functions.
Add Contacts
In the Other Contact Info screen in the Contacts panel, you are able to add multiple Phone, Email, URL, and Social types of contact. If the Contact entry has a Usage field, this indicates whether the Contact is a personal or business contact, like a company email or phone number.
Move your mouse over the Add button below and to the right of the Contacts list to begin adding a new Contact.
Add an Email Address
If this is the first email you have entered for this constituent, the Primary field will be checked, designating this email address as the primary email contact for this constituent.
Only one email address per constituent can be labeled as primary. If you enter another email address and wish that one to be the primary email, just check the Primary box of the new email contact.
The Email Status field indicates whether the constituent has actively opted-in to receive your email messages (for example, through an Engage email campaign), or they have explicitly opted-out from receiving them (for example, by unsubscribing from an Engage email campaign), or whether it is unknown if they have opted-in (for example, they have been added to Salsa CRM but never synced to Engage or contacted via an Engage email campaign).
Add a Phone Number
When adding a phone number, the Country Code field is automatically populated with the appropriate Phone Country Code you selected in the My Settings screen.
Salsa CRM automatically displays formatting for the United States, Singapore, Malaysia and Canada. Note: All other countries are supported, but the number is displayed without extra formatting characters. Enter only numbers in the Country Code, Area, Number, and Extension fields.
- Select other desired options.
- Choose the Link Address drop-down arrow, choose the address with which this phone number is associated, and then select OK.
- The Notes section is available for any comments you wish to add related to the phone number.
- Save your work.
Continue entering phone numbers as necessary.
Add a Social Media Contact
The Social option allows you the opportunity to store Social Networking names for applications such as AIM, GTalk, Skype, Twitter, etc. When you select the Add button, select the type of contact information you would like to enter: Phone, Email, URL, and Social.
Add a URL
When adding a URL, you can also select the ‘type’ of URL (Blog, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc.).
NOTE: If you select Social or URL, you will have the option to choose the ‘type’ of Social Networking names or URL that you have set up on the Configuration screen.
Preferred Contact
The Preferred Contact Method allows you to set the method by which the constituent prefers to be contacted:
- Do Not Contact
- Standard Mail
- Phone
- Email
The default value is Unknown.
NOTE: the value of this field does not affect the Email Address Status opt-in or opt-out setting.
The Preferred Contact Reason gives you the option of setting the preferred reason a constituent would like to be contacted:
- All Correspondence
- Solicitations only
- Non-Solicitations only