Best way to return constituent id with name, email, address and phone?

Nathan Wells

What's the best way to try and get the correct constituent id if I have a person's first name, last name, email, address, and phone number?

Is there a way to return the best guess from the Constituent API?


I see I can search by name or by email - but is there a way to search using multiple datapoints so I can try and find the correct constituent (like maybe they have the same name, but different email address)?


I feel like just using their name, or just using their email might give me the wrong constituent id in some cases (like if the husband and wife share an email - or if two people have the same name, but are different people).


Thanks!

Michael Tims

Hi Nathan Wells.‍ From what I tell Constituent (Search) is probably the best, and yeah unfortunately you can't provide multiple data points to search (unless it's a "First Last" name search). Perhaps you might have to make multiple requests if you can't narrow down with a single call. So for example, start with a search by email, and if multiple constituents are found with the same email, then try a "First Last" search to narrow down further. You'd go with the constituent that came back for both calls.


If you had a UI available, you could present a dialog to the user to choose the correct constituent to continue with.