Organising Customers

10 minutes

Tutorial 3.4: Organising Customers

Introduction

Luminate provides several ways to organise and categorise your customers: status (active/inactive), badges for quick identification, and search and filtering tools. This tutorial covers how to use these features to keep your customer database organised and easy to navigate.

Who this is for: Owner, Admin, Manager, Staff, Receptionist What you'll learn:

Filter customers by active/inactive status
Use search to find customers quickly
Understand how badges help identify customers
Use the customer list effectively
Keep your customer database organised

Time to complete: 10 minutes

Prerequisites

Logged in with at least Staff permissions
Complete Tutorial 3.1 (Adding and Managing Customer Profiles)
Some customer profiles in the system

Step-by-Step Instructions

Step 1: Understanding Customer Organisation Tools

Luminate offers these methods for organising customers:

Tool	Purpose
Active/Inactive Status	Archive customers who no longer visit
Badges	Visual indicators for quick identification (VIP, allergies, etc.)
Search	Find customers by name, email, or phone
Filters	Filter by status, upcoming birthdays, or skin test requirements
Preferences/Notes	Record information for reference when viewing profiles

Step 2: Using Customer List Filters

The customer list includes several filters to help you find customers:

Navigate to Customers in the sidebar
Use the filter dropdowns to narrow results:

Status Filter:

All Customers - Shows everyone
Active Only - Shows active customers (default)
Inactive Only - Shows deactivated customers

Birthday Filter:

All Birthdays - No birthday filtering
Upcoming (7 days) - Customers with birthdays in the next week

Skin Test Filter:

All Skin Test Status - No skin test filtering
Needs Test (Upcoming Appts) - Customers with colour appointments who need testing

When to deactivate customers:

Customer has moved away
Customer hasn't visited in over 12 months
Customer requests removal from your system

To deactivate a customer:

Navigate to Customers
Click on the customer's name to open their profile
Click the Details tab
Scroll to the Customer Status section at the bottom
Toggle the switch from Active to Inactive

Inactive customers:

Don't appear in default search results
Don't appear in dropdown selections (appointments, POS)
Retain all their history

Step 3: Use Search Effectively

The customer list search bar matches against:

First name
Last name
Full name (first and last combined)
Email address
Phone number (with or without formatting)

Search tips:

Search by partial name: "Thom" finds "Thompson"
Search by phone to find customers quickly at check-in
Search by email to find customers who book online

Note: The search does not match against Preferences or Notes content. To organise customers by custom categories, use badges instead (see Tutorial 3.5).

Step 4: Understanding Customer Badges

Badges provide visual identification on customer profiles. See Tutorial 3.5 for full details.

Built-in badges:

VIP - High-value customer
Prefers Silence - Prefers quiet during appointments
Often Late - Pattern of late arrivals
Often Early - Pattern of early arrivals
Frequent Visitor - Regular customer
New Customer - Recent first visit

Badges appear on:

Customer profile header
Customer list (for selected badges)
Appointment views

Note: Allergies are displayed separately as a warning indicator, not as a badge. When a customer has allergies recorded, you'll see "⚠️ Allergies noted" in the customer list and a red "Has Allergies" indicator on their profile header.

Step 5: Using Notes for Organisation

You can use Preferences and Additional Notes fields to record useful information about customers:

Examples:

Add "Corporate account" for business clients
Add "Referred by Sarah" for tracking referrals
Add styling preferences or service history notes

Note: These fields are for reference when viewing individual customer profiles. The customer list search does not match against notes content. For categorising customers that you can filter or identify at a glance, use badges instead (see Tutorial 3.5).

Step 6: Keeping Your Database Organised

Regular maintenance tasks:

Monthly:

Review recent customers - are profiles complete?
Check for duplicate records

Quarterly:

Review customers who haven't visited - consider outreach
Deactivate customers who have moved or churned
Update outdated notes and preferences

Annually:

Full database review
Verify contact details are current
Archive long-inactive customers

Step 7: Finding Inactive or At-Risk Customers

To identify customers who may need attention:

Open individual customer profiles
Check the Visit Insights section on the Appointments tab
Look for "Overdue" warnings

Customers who haven't visited within their typical interval are flagged for follow-up.

For customers who haven't visited recently:

Review their profile
Consider a re-engagement message
If they've churned, deactivate their record

Common Pitfalls

"I can't find a customer in search"

Check the status filter. If set to Active Only, inactive customers won't appear. Switch to All Customers and try again.

"I have duplicate customer records"

Search by phone and email to find duplicates. Unfortunately, there's no automated merge - consolidate information manually and deactivate the duplicate.

"The customer list is too long to browse"

Always use search instead of scrolling. Type the customer's name, email, or phone to filter instantly.

"I want to segment customers for marketing"

Use the Promotions & Offers communication preferences to control who receives marketing. For targeting, use the Reports section to identify top customers or customers by spending patterns.

Tips and Best Practices

Keep profiles complete - Full profiles with phone and email enable better communication
Use notes consistently - If you add organisational keywords, use the same terms across all relevant customers
Deactivate, don't delete - Deactivated customers retain their history for reporting
Search by phone at check-in - Fastest way to pull up a customer profile
Review badges regularly - Ensure badges like VIP are still accurate
Clean up quarterly - Regular maintenance prevents database bloat

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I create custom categories for customers?

Luminate uses badges (not tags) for customer categorisation. Badges include built-in options (VIP, Often Late, etc.) plus custom badges you can configure. See Tutorial 3.5.

How do I find all VIP customers?

VIP is a badge applied to individual customers. To identify high-value customers systematically, use the Top Customers report in the Reports section.

Can I bulk-update customer status?

Currently, status changes are made one customer at a time. For large-scale updates, consider using the data export/import features.

What's the difference between inactive and deleted?

Inactive: Customer hidden from default views but history preserved
Deleted/Anonymised: Personal data removed (GDPR compliance), but transaction/appointment history preserved

Can I search by notes content?

No, the main search bar searches name, email, and phone only. Notes and preferences content is not included in search. To categorise customers for quick identification, use badges instead (see Tutorial 3.5). To find customers by notes content, you would need to use data export to search externally.

How do I identify customers from a specific referral source?

When creating customers, record their referral source in the "How did they hear about us?" field. You can then export customer data and filter by this field.

Last Updated: January 2026