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ShingleAI provides three ways to organize the people and companies you work with: Contacts, Customers, and Businesses. Each serves a different purpose, and understanding the distinction helps you get the most from the platform.

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Overview

TypeWhat It RepresentsExample
ContactAn individual person you communicate withJohn Smith, jane@example.com
CustomerA business relationship with a personJohn Smith as a buyer
BusinessA company or organizationAcme Corporation

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Contacts

A contact represents an individual person. Contacts are the core of ShingleAI’s data model — they’re the link between people and the messages you exchange with them. Every contact can have multiple email addresses and phone numbers, each with labels like “work” or “personal.” When ShingleAI receives a message, it matches the sender’s email to an existing contact, linking the message to that person’s history automatically. This means you can open any contact and see every conversation you’ve had with them, across all channels. Contacts are also created automatically when you receive emails from new senders, so your address book grows organically as you communicate.

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Customers

A customer represents a business relationship. While a contact is just a person in your address book, a customer indicates they have a commercial relationship with you — they’ve bought something, signed up for a service, or are in your sales pipeline. Customers can have transactions associated with them — records of purchases, payments, or other financial events. This gives you a financial history tied to a person, separate from your communication history.

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When to Use Customers

  • Someone makes a purchase or payment
  • You want to track an ongoing client relationship
  • You need to record transaction history
  • You’re building a sales pipeline

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Businesses

A business represents a company or organization. Where contacts track individuals and customers track financial relationships, businesses track company-level information: industry, offerings, online presence, and physical locations. Businesses can be connected to contacts (people who work there) and customers (commercial relationships), giving you both the company-level and individual views.

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How They Work Together

These three types form a hierarchy that mirrors real business relationships: 
Business: Acme Corporation
├── Contact: John Smith (Sales Manager)
│   └── Customer: John Smith (purchased in 2024)
├── Contact: Jane Doe (CEO)
└── Contact: Bob Wilson (Support)
In this example:
  • Acme Corporation is tracked as a business with its company information
  • John, Jane, and Bob are contacts (individuals)
  • John is also a customer because he’s made purchases

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Choosing the Right Type

The general rule:
  • Start with contacts. Every person you communicate with should be a contact. ShingleAI creates these automatically from email senders.
  • Add customer records for buyers. When someone makes a purchase or becomes a client, create a customer record to track the financial relationship.
  • Add businesses for companies. When you need to track company-level information — their products, locations, or team — create a business and link relevant contacts to it.

Managing Contacts

Add, edit, and organize your contacts

Messages & Threads

How contacts link to your communications