CRM for WhatsApp sellers in Kenya

Your Saturday drop fills Feed with forty live chats — but by Monday you need to find everyone who asked about size M, everyone who came from last week's ad, and everyone who paid but never reordered. Scrolling the inbox does not scale. Timi's CRM (/crm) is the contact home for your whole WhatsApp customer base: search, tags, notes, automatic segments, a Ready / Nurture / Skip heat view, and CSV import — separate from the live conversation view in Feed.

For qualification signals in active chats see how to spot serious buyers. For setup basics see WhatsApp Business setup.

Feed vs CRM — two views of the same buyers

• Feed — live conversations: reply, pause Timi, mark sold, hand off
• CRM → Contacts — full table: filter, tag, export, open any chat later

Every person who messages your shop becomes a contact automatically. You do not need a separate spreadsheet unless you are importing historic numbers.

Automatic segments (no manual upkeep)

Timi keeps these segments updated as chats progress:

• Ready for you — hot leads Timi handed over so you can close
• Timi is working — warm leads still being answered and followed up
• Skip — cold / thin chats that are not worth chasing tonight
• New contacts — first-time messagers
• From ads — Click-to-WhatsApp attribution
• Waiting to pay — quoted but not closed
• Waiting for stock — asked about an out-of-stock item
• Paid customers — closed sales
• Repeat buyers — came back for a second purchase
• Cold / inactive — quiet after follow-ups
• Handed to you — Timi paused, seller owns the thread

Open CRM → Segments to apply a segment to the contacts table — or use it as the audience for a template campaign.

Tags and notes

Use tags for seller-defined groups — VIP, Wholesale, Karen delivery, Complaint resolved. Add tags from the CRM Tags tab or a contact's profile panel.

Notes stick to the contact — "Prefers Saturday pickup", "Corporate account — 30-day invoice". Notes show when you open the chat from CRM or Feed so your team does not re-ask the same questions.

Custom smart segments

When automatic segments are not enough, save your own rule-based group:

• Filter by status, payment stage, source (ads vs shop link), repeat buyer, checkout stalled, or first-seen date window
• Edit rules later — the segment refreshes as contacts match

Example: "Ad chats, no sale, last 14 days" for a win-back template campaign after you have an approved marketing template. Another: "Waiting to pay + From ads" — your ad spend's ready-but-unclosed queue, the segment worth a same-day human nudge.

CSV import and export

Import: Upload a file with a phone column (name and notes optional). Useful for historic buyers from an old notebook — they stay imported-only until they message you.

Export: Download the current filter or segment as CSV for your accountant or media buyer.

Timi does not blast imported numbers. Meta requires an existing WhatsApp relationship before structured outbound.

Import gotchas

CSV import fails or produces junk when the phone column is messy. A few rules save the cleanup:

• Use the international format for any number that could be imported from outside Kenya (+2547…) — Timi normalises what it can, but a clean file imports clean.
• Keep one phone column; duplicate rows create duplicate contacts. If a number already exists, Timi adds or updates the existing contact rather than creating a copy — deduplication happens on the phone field.
• Name and notes are optional; a file with just numbers is fine for a records-only archive.

If a row does not import, check the phone format first — it is the column everything else hangs off.

Data protection basics

An imported list is still personal data, and Kenya's Data Protection Act applies. Only import numbers you have a lawful basis to hold, tell people what you are using the list for if that is required, and respect opt-outs. Importing is records-only — Timi never messages imported numbers, so an old notebook list stays a list until those buyers message you. Keep that line clean and you avoid both spam complaints and the awkward "where did you get my number?" conversation.

Weekly CRM rhythm (15 minutes)

1. Open Waiting to pay — hand off or nudge the top five by value
2. Check From ads vs Paid customers — are ad chats closing?
3. Review Waiting for stock — message back when inventory lands
4. Tag repeat buyers for your next drop announcement (via Campaigns, not personal spam)

Common mistakes

• Treating Feed scroll as your only customer list
• Importing numbers and expecting Timi to message them — import is records-only
• No tags on wholesale or complaint contacts — team repeats mistakes
• Ignoring Waiting for stock when new inventory arrives — easy win-back list

FAQ

Is CRM included on all plans? Yes — contacts, tags, segments, and import are part of Timi for subscribed sellers.

Does /leads still exist? Older links redirect to CRM → Contacts with the same filters preserved.

Can I message a whole segment? Yes — via Campaigns with an approved WhatsApp template. See template campaigns guide.

Do segments sync to Meta Ads? Customer-list audiences (Customers, Qualified leads, etc.) are separate — see Audience Autopilot.

Can I delete a contact? Manage from the contacts table and profile; exported backups help before bulk cleanup.