# See and change a customer’s stage from their contact, and edit your stages

> In SkedX Flow a stage (New, Qualified, Purchased, Lost, or your own) belongs to a chat. A contact shows and edits the stage of their most recent chat: in the inbox contact panel, as the pill under their name and as the Stage row in the Conversation card (on a phone, a stage badge in the header), and in the Contacts page pop-up, where the Stage picker sits under the name. Click the stage and pick another; a stage marked “solves the chat” also solves it, and Mark as solved solves the chat but keeps the stage. A contact with no chat yet shows “No chat yet — the stage is set on a conversation” and a Message them button. The list — up to 12 stages, each with a colour and an optional “solves the chat” — is edited in Settings → Contacts → Stages (Edit stages… in the picker goes there); saving it needs the settings permission, others see it read-only. Stages are switched on per account; where they are off, the contact keeps its lifecycle as before.

Product: SkedX Flow · Topic: Inbox · Draft — steps not yet re-verified in the live product

A stage tells your whole team where each customer is — just asked, ready to buy, bought, or lost — right on the contact, wherever you open them. The stage belongs to their chat, so the contact always shows the stage of their latest one.

## Step 1: Change the stage in the inbox

Open a chat and the contact’s panel. Click the stage under their name and pick another — for example **Purchased**. A stage marked solves also solves the chat; **Mark as solved** solves it and keeps the stage. **Edit stages…** opens your stage list in Settings.
Open it directly: https://flow.skode.ai/inbox

## Step 2: Choosing Lost asks why — in one tap

Pick **Lost** and the menu asks why: tap a reason like **Price**, or **Other…** to write a short line. **Set Lost without a reason** is still one tap. On a chat that is already Lost, the same menu adds or changes the reason. The chat shows it — set the stage to Lost · Price — and the Team scorecard in Analytics counts Lost chats by reason. The reasons are your own: edit them under **Settings -> Contacts -> Stages**, below the stage list. They stay on the chat’s record and are not sent to Meta.

## Step 3: Or from the Conversation card

On the panel’s **Activity** tab, the **Conversation** card has a **Stage** row beside Status and Priority — the same stage, changed the same way. On a phone, the stage shows as a badge in the contact’s header.

## Step 4: Change it on the Contacts page

On **Contacts**, open a contact. Under their name, **Stage** shows the stage of their latest chat; click it to pick another. **Edit stages…** opens Settings.
Open it directly: https://flow.skode.ai/contacts

## Step 5: A contact with no chat yet

A stage is set on a conversation, so a contact you have never chatted with shows No chat yet — the stage is set on a conversation. Click **Message them** to start one; the stage can be set as soon as the chat exists.

## Step 6: Edit your stages

Go to **Settings -> Contacts -> Stages** (the same list as Settings -> Conversation Lifecycle). Each stage has a colour and a name; tick **solves the chat** for a stage that ends the conversation, like Purchased or Lost. **+ Add stage** adds one — up to 12. Drag the handle to reorder. You start with New, Qualified, Purchased and Lost. Saving needs the settings permission; without it you see the list read-only.
Open it directly: https://flow.skode.ai/settings

## Common questions

### Why does the stage belong to a chat, not the contact?

Because one person can buy today and ask about something new next month. Each chat keeps its own stage; the contact shows the stage of their most recent chat.

### What does “solves the chat” do?

Moving a chat to that stage also marks it solved, in one click. **Mark as solved** does the opposite job: it solves the chat and leaves the stage as it is.

### Where did the lifecycle on my contacts go?

Where stages are switched on for your account, the stage takes the lifecycle’s place on the contact. Where they are not, the contact keeps its lifecycle as before.

### I can’t save changes to the stage list

Saving the list needs the permission to change settings. Ask an admin of your workspace; until then you see it read-only.

### Can an automation set the stage?

Yes — with the **Set Stage** step, and another automation can start when the stage changes. See [Set a stage from an automation](https://skode.ai/help/flow/automation/set-a-stage-from-an-automation/).

### Can a message we send mark the chat as a sale?

Yes. Your account can list a few lines — for example the first line of your order confirmation. Any message your team, an automation or your website sends that contains one of them moves that chat to your sale stage (Purchased), once. Case, emoji and spacing don’t matter, so an edited confirmation that keeps the line still counts; a message the customer sends never does. If the chat began from a Meta ad and the Meta Conversions API app is on for that stage, Facebook is told about the sale. To set your lines, ask SkedX support.

### Where do I change the reasons a chat can be lost for?

In **Settings -> Contacts -> Stages**, under the stage list: add a reason, remove one (at least one stays), then **Save reasons**. You start with Price, Not interested, Went elsewhere, No reply and Spam; **Other** is always offered. See how each team’s chats ended on the [Team scorecard](https://skode.ai/help/flow/insights/compare-your-teams-in-analytics/).

## Useful links
- Inbox in SkedX Flow — the stage on the contact panel: https://flow.skode.ai/inbox
- Settings in SkedX Flow — Contacts → Stages: https://flow.skode.ai/settings

Videos and screenshots © 2026 SkedX, with sample data only. Share and link to them freely; copying the SkedX product or its design is not allowed. Terms: https://skode.ai/terms/

## Related guides
- What you see in a Flow conversation: every message as your customer saw it: https://skode.ai/help/flow/inbox/what-you-see-in-a-flow-conversation/
- Build an automation step by step in SkedX Flow: https://skode.ai/help/flow/automation/build-an-automation-step-by-step-in-skode-flow/
- Write a team note in a chat — only your team sees it: https://skode.ai/help/flow/inbox/write-a-team-note-in-the-flow-inbox/
- Compare your teams in Analytics — the Team scorecard: https://skode.ai/help/flow/insights/compare-your-teams-in-analytics/

Source: https://skode.ai/help/flow/inbox/set-a-customers-stage/