How to create and manage customers

Last updated October 8, 2026

Who can use this feature?
Admins and Agents.

Overview

The "Customers" page is where you view and manage every customer and visitor linked to your support conversations. From one list you can browse all contacts, filter them by customer segment, preview a customer's profile and account information in a side panel, and add new customers manually with the "Add customer" button.

Each customer record holds the person's name, email, phone number, linked account and an optional user ID from your own system. Linking a customer to an account groups every person from the same company together, so your team always sees who a customer works for and which other contacts belong to the same organization.

Related articles:
• How to configure customer segments: Read this to group customers into filtered views (for example, by city or visitor status) that appear as tabs across the top of the "Customers" list.
• How to create and manage accounts: Read this to create the company accounts that you link customers to.
• How to auto-assign customers to accounts by email domain: Read this if you want Atlas to link new customers to the right account automatically.

Key Features

Complete customer list: See all your customers and visitors in one table.
Segment tabs: Filter the list with one click using the customer segments shown across the top of the page. Click "Show More" to reveal more segments and the segment tools.
Side panel preview: Hover over or click any row to see the customer's profile and account information in the right side panel.
Manual creation: Add a customer with first name, last name, email, phone, account and user ID from the "Add customer" form.
Account linking: Link a customer to an existing account from the "Account" dropdown, so all people from the same company are grouped together.
External user ID: Store the customer's ID from your own system in "User ID" to keep Atlas in sync with your records.
Optional additional fields: Expand "Show additional fields" to capture more details. None of the additional fields are required.

Core Concepts & Components

Term	Definition
Customer	A registered person linked to your support conversations.
Visitor	Someone who is browsing your site rather than an actual registered customer. The "Customer.IsVisitor" property flags the difference and can be used in segment filters.
Account	The company or organization a customer belongs to. Customers linked to the same account are grouped together.
User ID	The identifier of the customer in your own system, stored in Atlas to keep records in sync.
Segment	A saved, filtered view of the customer list. See How to configure customer segments.

How to create a customer

Use this guide to add a customer manually. Only the fields you need have to be filled in; the fields under "Show additional fields" are optional.

Requirements:
If you want to link the customer to an account, the account can already exist or you can create it from the "Account" dropdown. For instructions, read: How to create and manage accounts.

Click the main menu button and select "Customers".
Click "Add customer".
Complete the customer fields:

"First Name": Enter the customer's first name (placeholder "Enter first name").
"Last Name": Enter the customer's last name (placeholder "Enter last name").
"Email": Enter the customer's email address (placeholder "Enter email address").
"Phone": Select the country code from the country selector (for example, "United States: +1") and enter the phone number (placeholder "(###) ###-####").
"Account": Open the "Select account" dropdown, start typing the company name in "Search..." and select the account. If the account does not exist yet, you can create a new one from the dropdown. You can also leave this field empty.
"User ID": Enter the customer's ID from your own system (placeholder "Enter user ID").

Optional: Click "Show additional fields" to display more fields, and fill in only what is useful. A second "Show additional fields" option reveals extra account-level details.
Click "Create Customer".

Atlas adds the customer immediately and opens the new customer's page. The customer also appears in every segment whose conditions they match.

Important:
Linking the customer to an account is how Atlas groups every person from the same company together. If you want new customers to be linked automatically based on their email domain, read: How to auto-assign customers to accounts by email domain.

FAQs & Troubleshooting

Which fields are required to create a customer?

The demo shows that the fields under "Show additional fields" are optional.

Can I create an account while adding a customer?

Yes. In the "Account" dropdown, search for the company. If it is not in the list, you can create a new account from the dropdown.

What is the "User ID" field for?

It stores the customer's identifier from your own system, so the Atlas record stays connected to your internal profile without a separate spreadsheet.

Why doesn't a new customer appear in my segment?

A customer appears in a segment only when they match all of the segment's conditions (when the segment uses "All"). Check the customer's details, for example their city or visitor status, against the segment's filters.

Where do I see a customer's account information?

Hover over or click the customer's row in the "Customers" list. The right side panel shows the profile and account information.

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