# Link responses to contacts (https://www.getfounderhq.com/docs/journeys/link-responses-to-contacts)

A response can stand alone, or belong to a contact in Analytics. You
choose per Journey.

## Choose the rule

Open the **Journey** tab of the panel on the right, find **Responses**,
and set **Contact for a response**. Save the Journey first: the setting is
available once it exists.

| Choice | What happens | Use it for |
| --- | --- | --- |
| **No contact** | Each response is saved by itself | An anonymous survey or quiz |
| **A contact you have** | The response joins a matching contact. No new contact is made. | Asking your existing customers |
| **A contact, new if needed** | The response joins a matching contact. With no match, a new contact is made. | Lead capture and onboarding. New Journeys start with this. |

A Journey never changes a contact you already have.

## How a person is matched

FounderHQ matches by email, phone, or your own user ID, within the brand.

### From the answers

FounderHQ reads these from the Journey's Input fields:

| It finds | In |
| --- | --- |
| An email | A field of type **Email**, or one whose answer name contains `email` |
| A phone number | A field of type **Phone**, or one whose answer name contains `phone` |
| Your user ID | A field whose answer name is `externalid` |

So a Journey with an email field links its responses with no more work.

### From your app

When the Journey runs inside your product, your app already knows who the
person is. Pass that to the SDK and FounderHQ uses it instead of what the
person typed. See
[Embed on the web](/journeys/embed-on-the-web) and
[Mobile](/journeys/mobile).

A Journey opened by public link or iframe has no app around it, so it
matches from the answers only.

## What you see on a response

Open [Journeys → Responses](https://app.getfounderhq.com/journeys/responses). Each completed response has a
contact status.

| Status | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| **Linked** | Joined a contact you had |
| **Created** | Made a new contact |
| **Not Linked** | No match, and the rule did not allow a new contact |
| **Not Requested** | The Journey is set to **No contact** |
| **Contact Conflict** | More than one contact matched, so FounderHQ linked none |

## Verify

1. Complete the Journey with an email address you can recognize.
2. Open [Journeys → Responses](https://app.getfounderhq.com/journeys/responses). The response shows
   **Created** or **Linked**.
3. Open the contact in [Analytics → People](https://app.getfounderhq.com/analytics/people). Their
   **Journeys** tab lists the Journey.