> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.theymes.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Customers and channels

> How Theymes identifies a customer by identifier, email, and device, and how chat, email, and Messenger tickets are tied to that identity.

A ticket is a support conversation with a customer. Theymes records who the customer is, which channel they used, and whether that identity was confirmed.

## Who the customer is

A ticket needs a customer identifier, an email address, or both. It cannot be created without one of those.

| Identifier | What it means |
| - | - |
| Customer identifier | The identifier your app sends for this customer. The customer can reply in the in-app chat. The ticket does not need an email. |
| Email | An address the customer can reply from. The ticket does not need a customer identifier. |
| Both | The ticket has a customer identifier and an email. The customer can reply in the in-app chat and by email. |

The same email address can belong to two customers. A ticket that only has that email stays separate from a customer who also has an identifier.

## Channels

| Channel | What the ticket is tied to |
| - | - |
| Chat | The customer identifier. When [customer verification](#customer-verification) is not enabled, the ticket is also tied to the device. |
| Email | The email address. A logged-in customer on the web support portal sees only [verified email tickets](/product/tickets/verified-email-tickets.md). |
| Messenger | The customer's Facebook Messenger account. |

## Device

The SDK stores a device identifier on the device. Chat tickets use that device identifier when [customer verification](#customer-verification) is not enabled, so the customer sees those tickets only on that device.

## Customer verification

Customer verification answers a different question from which channel was used: can you trust the customer identifier on the ticket?

Customer verification is a confirmation your app sends with the customer identifier, and optionally their email and other details. Theymes checks that confirmation.

* With customer verification, the customer identifier can be trusted. The customer can also see their in-app chat tickets across all devices.
* Without customer verification, the customer identifier cannot be trusted and chat tickets stay on the device that created them. You can allow or block customers who contact support without customer verification in your app settings. That block does not apply to customers who have no identifier and contact support via email.
* A customer identifier confirmed with customer verification can still have a different email on the ticket, for example when the customer types an email into a form. Customer verification still applies to the identifier. That email is not the confirmed one.

Set this up with the [customer verification](/developers/player-metadata/player-verification.md) guide.

**Email verification** is separate. It currently only applies on the web support portal, when a logged-in customer creates a ticket with the same email they logged in with. Read [verified email tickets](/product/tickets/verified-email-tickets.md) for when that happens and which tickets the logged-in customer can see.


This documentation is built and hosted on [Mintlify](https://mintlify.com), a developer documentation platform.