---
title: How people join your list
sidebarTitle: How people join
description: >-
  Every way someone lands in People, what Source they get, and when a lead
  becomes a customer or subscriber.
audience: luminary
feature: people
type: guide
availability: live
last_verified: '2026-10-13'
keywords:
  - lead source
  - acquisition source
  - where do leads come from
  - how contacts are added
  - lead to customer
  - duplicate contacts
url: >-
  https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people/how-people-join-your-list
---

# How people join your list

> Every way someone lands in People, what Source they get, and when a lead becomes a customer or subscriber.

You don't have to keep [Audience → People](https://portal.bringsoul.life/audience/people) up to date by hand. Soul adds people as they interact with your portal, merges them when they come back another way, and moves them from Lead to Customer when they pay.

## When to read this

- Someone you expected isn't in People, or someone you didn't expect is.
- You want to know what a Source means, or why someone is a Lead and not a Customer.
- You're planning a funnel and want to know where sign-ups will show up.

## Every way in

| What the person does                                                                                         | Source in People                        | Relationship                                 |
| ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------- | -------------------------------------------- |
| Fills in a [lead form](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/build-a-lead-funnel) (sign-up, freebie, launch list)             | Form                                    | Lead                                         |
| Submits a [custom form](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/build-an-intake-form) with their name and email                 | Form                                    | Lead                                         |
| Registers for an [event](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/events/introduction)                                          | Event Registration                      | Lead if free, Customer if they paid          |
| Books a [session](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/sessions/introduction)                                               | Session                                 | Lead if free, Customer if they paid          |
| Enrolls in a [course](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/courses/introduction)                                            | Course Enrollment                       | Lead if free, Customer if they paid          |
| Buys content or a collection from your [Content Library](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/content-library/introduction) | Content Purchase or Collection Purchase | Lead if free, Customer if they paid          |
| Buys a [pass](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/passes/introduction)                                                     | User Pass                               | Customer if they paid                        |
| Joins or buys a [chat space](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/offerings/chat-spaces/introduction)                                 | Chat Space Member                       | Lead if free, Customer if they paid          |
| Subscribes to your [membership](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/business/membership-pricing)                                     | Creator Subscriber                      | Subscriber                                   |
| Joins your [community](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/community/introduction)                                                   | Community                               | Lead (unless they also pay)                  |
| You add them, or they're in a list you import                                                                | Manual                                  | Lead, or Customer if you chose Add customers |

People arrive when the registration, booking, enrollment or payment goes through, so the list shows people who completed something, not everyone who opened a checkout page.

### AutoDM and landing pages

[AutoDM](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/autodm) followers stay anonymous until they act. When someone opens the link you sent them in a DM and then signs up or buys, they're matched to their person in People and their purchases count toward your campaign. [Landing pages](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/landing-pages/introduction) collect people through the forms you embed in them, so those sign-ups arrive with Source Form.

## Source is set once

Source records the first way someone reached you and never changes. A person who first downloaded your freebie and later subscribed keeps Source Form, which is exactly what tells you your freebie works. To see everyone who did something, whenever they did it, filter by Activity instead. See [Find and filter people](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people/find-and-filter-people).

## One person, many ways in

Soul matches people by email address or phone number. When someone already in People comes back through another door:

- They stay one person, with their new activity added.
- Their name in People isn't overwritten by what they typed on a form, so a name you corrected stays corrected.
- If they were a lead you added or imported and they later buy with the same email, their record is linked to their Soul account. From then on their Purchases, Sessions and Forms tabs fill in.

**Note:** 
Someone who uses a different email each time can end up as two people. Search for their name to
spot this.

## From Lead to Customer to Subscriber

**Step 1: Lead**

They're in your audience but haven't paid you yet. Free registrations, free bookings, free
downloads, form sign-ups, community joins, imports and manual adds all start here.

**Step 2: Customer**

The first time one of their payments succeeds, Soul makes them a Customer. You don't do
anything. A $0 checkout with a 100%-off code doesn't count as a payment.

**Step 3: Subscriber**

While they have an active membership, their pill reads Subscriber and they appear under
Customers & subscribers → Active subscribers. If the membership ends, they move to Past
subscribers and their pill shows Customer again (or Lead, if they never paid).

You can also add someone as a Customer yourself with Add/Invite → Add customers, for example a client who paid you in cash. See [Add a contact](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people/add-a-contact).

## Who isn't added

- Someone who abandons a checkout before paying.
- An Instagram follower who never clicks through and signs up.
- A custom form response without a name and email address, or a lead form response with neither an email nor a phone number.

## Related

- [People](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people)
- [Find and filter people](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people/find-and-filter-people)
- [Forms & Funnels](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/forms)
- [Reach people from your list](https://help.bringsoul.life/luminaries/audience/people/reach-people-from-your-list)
