Skip to main content
A source records where a contact first joined your list. One contact, one source — usually set at the moment they enter your database and rarely changed later.

Source record

Each source has:
  • Name — the label shown in dropdowns and filters. Required, up to 255 characters, unique within your workspace.
That’s it. Sources do not have a colour or description field — they are a simple name tag.
Xobito does not ship pre-seeded sources. You define them to match the channels you actually use.

Why sources matter

Without sources, you know you have thousands of contacts — but not whether they came from your website, a trade show, Facebook ads, or word-of-mouth. Sources answer:
  • “Which channel brings me the best customers?”
  • “Is our social ad spend actually working?”
  • “Which referral partner sent us the most leads this quarter?”
Once sources are in place, you can filter the contact list and split campaign analytics by channel.

Typical source examples

SourceWhat it represents
WebsiteOpted in from a form on your site
Landing pageA specific campaign page
Facebook AdMeta paid ads
Instagram AdIG paid ads
Google AdSearch or display ads
ReferralIntroduced by an existing customer
PartnerShared by a business partner
Walk-inIn-store or event pickup
Trade showEvent or conference
WhatsApp click-to-chatClicked a wa.me link
Manual entryAdded by a staff member
Resist making a source for every single ad. Keep the list at the channel level. Use custom fields or groups to track specific campaigns or keywords.

Source vs. Status vs. Group

Quick refresher:
ConceptAnswers the questionPer contact
Source”Where did they come from?”One — usually fixed
Status”What stage are they at now?”One — changes over time
Group”Which segments do they belong to?”Many

Open the Source library

In the sidebar, go to Contacts → Source. This is where you create and manage the list of sources your team can pick from.

Create a source

1

Click 'Add Source'

Opens the source form.
2

Give it a name

Short, channel-focused — “Website”, “Facebook Ad”, “Referral”. Must be unique within your workspace. Consistent naming is crucial for accurate reports.
3

Save

The source is immediately available in the contact form and CSV imports.

Edit or delete a source

1

Open the Source library

Contacts → Source.
2

Edit or Delete

Renaming a source updates every contact that uses it. Deleting leaves the contacts with no source — reassign them first.
Before deleting a source, bulk-update every contact using it to a different source. Otherwise you will lose that tracking data.

Assign a source to a contact

When adding a single contact

Pick a source from the dropdown on the add-contact form. The source field is required. See Add a Contact.

During CSV import

Include a source_id column in your CSV with the numeric ID of an existing source. See Import from CSV.

From automations

A Bot Flow can set a source when a contact interacts — for example, a contact who starts a chat via a specific wa.me link can be auto-tagged with a matching source. See Bot Flows.

Reporting on sources

  • Filter the contact list — show only contacts from one specific channel.
  • Campaign analytics — split delivery and read rates by source to see which channels engage best.
  • Dashboard — new contacts can be grouped by source over time.

Best practices

An untagged contact is a wasted marketing-spend signal. The source field is required, so you can’t skip it — just make sure you pick the most accurate one.
“FB Ad”, “Facebook Ad”, “facebook-ad”, and “Meta Ad” will all create separate reports that are hard to reconcile. Write down the exact list of approved source names.
Remove sources you no longer use. Merge duplicates. Add new channels as you launch them.
A contact’s source should reflect how they first entered your database. Use status or custom fields for anything that evolves over time.

Statuses

Track each contact’s lifecycle stage.

Groups

Segment contacts for campaigns.

Custom fields

Store any extra data you need about a contact.

Bot flows

Automate source-tagging when contacts reach out.