Best Way to Organize Contacts: A Simple 4-Step Guide That Works

Searching for the best way to organize contacts? We’ve got you. Whether you’re managing a growing network for work or just tired of losing track of who’s who in your phone, this guide breaks down a simple, repeatable system to keep your contact list clean, organized, and stress-free.

We love an easy hack to be more productive and organized, so we will share with you the best way to organize your contacts, whether they are business or personal. We’ve got the ultimate management guide for you to not get lost in the weeds.

More importantly, having your contacts organized will save you time.

4 Steps Toward the Best Way to Organize Contacts

With the evolution of technology, meeting and finding people comes a bit easier than it did even just a few years ago. You meet people at work functions, social gatherings, vacations, etc. You may be someone who has a ton of phone numbers in your phone but couldn’t find a specific person’s contact information if it killed you. 

Depending on the type of person you are, meaning, digital, paper, or just want it to be easier, we’ve got four steps to lead you toward the best way to manage contact details for people you want to stay in touch with. 

Step 1: Centralize Your Directory

Like keeping your clothes in the closet, books on your bookshelf, and money in your wallet, recording all your contacts in a central place is paramount. The worst thing you can do is have some in your Google account, some on business cards in your wallet, and some in the contacts list on your phone. Decide what will work for you and stick to it. 

Let’s set the scene so you have a better understanding as to why this matters. 

Let’s say you are in a work setting, and just met a potential client or sales vendor. Not only do you need to make sure you are adding your new contact somewhere, but you also want to add everything about him/her so you can remember details about how you met this person.

I (Shannon) learned this early on when I worked in pharmacy sales. When you don’t have contact management tools, you have to work with what you do have but stick to that process. 

Your Phone is Your Friend

Your phone will always be the best option. Even if you use a contact platform app, have it on your phone. Why? Because you will always have it, and you are more than likely going to use your cell phone to reach out to this person, either by email or by calling. 

According to 2024 Consumer Affairs Cell Phone Statistics, Americans spend an average of 4 hours and 30 minutes on their phones with over 80% of that time with emails. 

Whether you have a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) platform or are relying on a contacts app, just decide which you will use and do it.

If you are a solopreneur or in any kind of business and need a great way to keep track of business email addresses and phone numbers, Zoho CRM is a great option. They have a free version, so you can use it for all contacts or just business. They have an app you can use on your phone for easy access, keeping updated contact records in the moment, or directly after the encounter happens. 

2. Create Contact Labels

Let’s say you are using a contact management system or you are even using any kind of digital address book, there are best practices you should use to have the ultimate contact database. The first step is to add the contact immediately. This is when it is fresh in your brain and when you can capture relevant information about your encounter. 

Creating contact labels for the types of contacts is an excellent way to be organized with your network. For example, let’s say I am at a conference, and I meet a potential client. As soon as I add their information to my phone or CRM app, I have a label that says, “personal” or “business”. 

Here are some other information you should make sure you capture in your contact list:

• First name
• Last name
• Email address
• Phone number
• Company name
• Social media profiles (if applicable)
• Important information in the description or notes section of the contact, such as, “Met at BlogHer conference, wants to talk about collaborating on the adventure campaign.” 

All business connections should have some information that makes the encounter memorable. The worst thing to have happened is scrolling through a lot of contacts to find the person you had a great conversation with about a future connection and you cannot remember if it was Sara or Jill, and which one you met and had the discussion with. 

When it comes to other labels, you can have important contacts listed as such. You can further subdivide personal contacts into family and relatives, friends, acquaintances, etc.

Business contacts can be classified as suppliers, co-workers, customers, new leads, etc. 

3. Declutter to Organize Your Contacts

If you haven’t gone through your contact list in a while, do that right now. Take the time to delete the contact information of those who are unnecessary, irrelevant, or perhaps toxic to your life. Yes, we mean those people, too. We call that mental clutter and there isn’t room for them anywhere. 

If you haven’t had phone calls with these people in the past 3 years, you don’t need them taking up the space. Even if you have unlimited data space, again, it is about the digital clutter. You’d be surprised at the feelings of relief you will get just by clicking “delete contact”. Then you know, it was the right decision. 

If you are not comfortable decluttering for good, you can also archive them. If you have a Google account, you can use their system to archive contacts without having to see them constantly. Google Contacts also allows you to hide people.

The following steps will allow you to backup your contacts to Google using an Android phone:

• In Google, go to your settings. 
• Click the settings for Google apps 
• Go to the Google Contacts sync, sync device contacts 
• You will also want to set up the automatic backup & sync device contacts so you never have to worry about this again.
• Pick the Google account you’d like your contacts to be saved in. 

The following steps will allow you to backup your contacts to Google using an iPhone:

• Go to the Google One app 
• At the top left, click menu.
• Go to settings, then sync settings. 
• Click iPhone contacts 
• Give Google access to your Apple contacts by clicking Allow.
• Click Set up sync, then upload contacts. 

4. Merge Duplicates

Among the best ways to organize contacts is by merging duplicate contacts. Usually, these contacts show up in your phone as their name and phone number. The duplicate contact for the name probably has their email account information. Most phones have a setting to merge duplicate entries. If yours does not, you can do it manually or by finding the right tools like a merge duplicate phone app. 

Easy Contact Cleaner is an app you can use as an Android user. It can be found in the Google Play store. If you are an Apple user, search for the apps available to you. 

Implement a Contact Management Strategy

Whether you choose to use our 4-step method, or you want to have a list of everyone in a Microsoft Excel sheet, just having an organized manner for your contacts will make your life so much easier. 

There are different ways to organize contacts. Using the easy way for you, and the one that works is the best. Just use one. 

If you are looking for other productive things to do on the computer, check out this blog post.

FAQs | Frequently Asked Questions