What is the difference between Contacts and Members?

Understanding the difference between Contacts and Members in cirQulate is essential for managing your audience, sending targeted campaigns, and maintaining clean communication lists. While both represent people in your system, they serve different purposes and behave differently within the cirQQles platform.

This article explains what Contacts and Members are, how they are used, and when to work with each.

What Are Contacts?

Contacts are individuals stored in cirQulate specifically for communication purposes. They are used for sending email and SMS campaigns and are managed directly inside cirQulate.

Key Characteristics of Contacts

• Contacts exist specifically within cirQulate and are managed through the Contacts section.

• Used for email and SMS campaigns

• Can be imported manually or added through forms and integrations

• Organized using Categories and Folders

• Can receive one-time or recurring campaigns

• Appear in cirQulate analytics and reporting

Contacts are ideal for marketing, announcements, promotions, and ongoing communication.

What Are Members?

Members are users who belong to your cirQQle ecosystem. They typically interact with your business through cirQQles features such as loyalty, promotions, check-ins, or rewards.

Key Characteristics of Members

They are managed primarily outside cirQulate, through the broader cirQQles platform.

• Actively engage with your cirQQle

• May earn points, rewards, or benefits

• Can send and receive Incoming SMS

• Their data is tied to activity and engagement within cirQQles

• Managed primarily outside cirQulate

Members represent active participants rather than just message recipients.

How Contacts and Members Work Together

In many cases, Members are automatically synced as Contacts so they can receive campaigns. However, not all Contacts are Members.

• A Contact may only receive emails or SMS

• A Member may engage with rewards and loyalty and also receive messages

• Campaigns in cirQulate are sent to Contacts, not directly to Members

This separation keeps communication tools flexible while maintaining clean engagement data.

When to Use Contacts

Use Contacts when you want to:

• Send marketing or announcement campaigns

• Manage email and SMS subscriptions

• Segment audiences using categories

• Import or manage external contact lists

When to Use Members

Use Members when you want to:

• Track engagement, visits, or loyalty

• Offer rewards or incentives

• Interact through two-way SMS

• Build long-term customer relationships

Best Practice

Think of Contacts as your messaging audience, and Members as your engaged community. While they often overlap, they are managed separately to ensure campaigns remain targeted and engagement data remains accurate.