A contact is a single person; a household, called an account in PreciseFP, is the record that groups a client with their spouse or partner under one profile. This distinction matters because most CRMs track people individually while PreciseFP organizes data collection around the family unit an advisor actually plans for. Confusing the two during import or export is a common source of duplicate or missing records.
How Contacts and Households Work in PreciseFP
An account in PreciseFP is built around a primary client, with an optional co-client section for a spouse or partner. All the data collected through fact finders and other engagements for that couple lives under the same account, rather than as two separate profiles you have to cross-reference. You can view and manage the relationship as one unit, which matches how most advisors think about a client household in the first place.
CRMs like Wealthbox or Salesforce structure things differently, tracking contacts as individual records. To bridge this, integrations use specific rules to determine which contact represents the household when searching for a record. In Wealthbox, for example, a contact only appears in the import or export search if it’s marked Head of Household with a Household Name on file, has a Primary email address, is listed as Active and has both a first and last name entered. A contact missing any one of these, even if it’s clearly a client, won’t show up in the search.
This matters most during export. When you send completed PreciseFP data back to the CRM, you choose whether to create a new contact record or match it to an existing one. Getting the household designation right on the CRM side beforehand helps you avoid ending up with a duplicate contact for someone who already exists in the system.
Co-client data adds another layer. PreciseFP keeps the primary client and co-client’s information within the same account, but the export mapping to the CRM still depends on how that CRM structures its own contact and household fields, which varies by integration.
PreciseFP Value: How We Organize Contacts and Households
PreciseFP structures records around the household while still working with CRMs that track individual contacts.
With PreciseFP, you can:
- Keep one account per household: House both the primary client and co-client under a single profile
- Add co-client fields: Include a spouse or partner’s data without creating a separate account
- Filter imports automatically: Use rules like Wealthbox’s Head of Household, Active status and Primary email requirements to keep incomplete records out of the search
- Match on export: Choose to create a new CRM contact or sync with an existing one to avoid duplicates
- Send household-level engagements: Let one fact finder collect input from both partners
- Track one shared timeline: See activity for the household as a whole rather than piecing together two separate logs
To learn more about how account and household structures work in practice, visit the PreciseFP accounts help article.
FAQs About Contact vs. Household in PreciseFP
Is a household the same thing as an account in PreciseFP?
Yes, PreciseFP uses the term account to refer to what most advisors think of as a household: the primary client together with any co-client, such as a spouse or partner, under one record.
Why doesn’t a client’s CRM contact show up when I try to import it into PreciseFP?
Most integrations only surface a contact in the import search if it meets several conditions at once. In Wealthbox, for example, the contact needs a Head of Household designation with a Household Name, a Primary email, Active status and both a first and last name. A contact missing any one of these won’t appear even if the record otherwise looks complete.
Can two people in the same household have separate PreciseFP accounts?
They can, but PreciseFP is built to keep a primary client and co-client under one account rather than splitting them into two. Using a single household account keeps their shared financial data together instead of duplicated across records.
What happens if I export a household to a CRM that only tracks individual contacts?
You choose during export whether to create a new contact or match the data to an existing one, which helps avoid duplicates. How the household maps to individual contact fields depends on the specific CRM’s structure and the integration’s mapping rules.