People
People are the foundation of everything in Bento. They represent everyone who interacts with your business, whether they've signed up for your newsletter, purchased a product, or simply visited your website.
What is a Person?
A Person in Bento is anyone whose information you've collected and stored. This includes:
- Subscribers who signed up through your forms
- Customers who made a purchase
- Visitors who browsed your website (once identified)
- Leads imported from other systems
Each person has a unique profile that stores their email address, name, custom fields, tags, and a complete history of their interactions with your brand.
The Person Profile
Every person in Bento has a profile that contains:
- Contact Information: Email address, first name, last name
- Custom Fields: Any additional data you collect (phone, company, preferences)
- Tags: Labels you've applied for organization and targeting
- Events: A timeline of all their actions and behaviors
- Emails: A list of all the emails they have received
How People Get Into Bento
People enter your Bento account through several channels:
- Forms: When someone submits a Bento form or a connected form (such as WPForms, OptinMonster, Thrive Leads, etc.)
- API: When your application sends subscriber data via the API
- Integrations: When syncing from Shopify, Stripe, or other connected platforms
- Imports: When you upload a CSV or migrate from another platform
- Bento.js: When a visitor is identified on your website either by signing in or by filling out a form that we're tracking
People created through forms and the API can trigger Flows, while imported contacts do not trigger automations by default.
Working with People
From the People section in Bento, you can:
- Search and filter your entire audience
- View individual profiles and their complete history
- Manually add or edit tags and fields
- Export segments for use in other tools
- See real-time activity as events come in
How People Connect to Other Concepts
People are at the center of everything in Bento:
- Tags are applied to people to categorize them
- Fields store custom data on each person
- Events track what people do
- Segments group people based on shared characteristics
- Emails are sent to people based on their profile and behavior
- Flows automate actions when people do specific things
Understanding People is the first step to using Bento effectively. Everything else builds on this foundation.