How Buddi and Cova connect Customer Profiles

How Buddi automatically matches customers and sends order details to Cova, so your team stops entering them by hand.

Overview

Buddi can communicate customer information directly into your Cova POS. Because of this enhancement, your team benefits immediately from reduced manual entry and more accurate customer records.

When an order is placed in Buddi (online menu or Kiosk), the customer is automatically matched to an existing Cova profile (or a new one is created), and the order arrives in Cova with the customer's details already attached. This eliminates the manual data entry that used to be required, and it makes your Cova reporting accurate because every order is attributed to the right customer.

Key Benefits

Automatic customer matching: 

• Orders placed in Buddi automatically link to existing customer profiles in Cova.

No manual entry: 

• You no longer manually enter customer information or delivery addresses into Cova.

Accurate reporting: 

• Customer purchase history and lifetime value are properly tracked and attributed in Cova.

Faster fulfillment: 

• Orders arrive in Cova with customer details already attached, ready to process.
   

How customer matching works

When a customer places an order, Buddi checks your Cova customer database in this priority order:

1. Email address (checked first): Email is a unique identifier, so it is checked before phone (phone numbers can be recycled or reassigned over time). If a matching email is found, the order links to that existing Cova profile.
2. Phone number (checked next): If email finds no match, Buddi checks the phone number. If a matching phone number is found, the order links to that profile.
3. Create a new profile: If neither email nor phone matches, Buddi creates a new Cova customer profile using the checkout details (name, email, phone, and delivery address if applicable).
    

What else flows into Cova?

• Order reference:
  • Kiosk (guest): shows the order number.
  • Kiosk (signed in): shows the customer's Cova profile name instead of the order number, so staff can identify the customer at a glance.
  • Online: linked to the customer profile when available, with a fallback to customer name and order ID.
• Delivery window: If you use Buddi's Delivery Windows, the selected time slot appears in Cova; express deliveries are marked EXPRESS!
• Order notes: Any notes the customer adds at checkout are included with the order in Cova.
• Payment: For credit-card orders (any processor), the last 4 digits of the card are included with the order in Cova, so staff can verify payment without switching systems.
    

BEST PRACTICE: Buddi already captures both email and phone at checkout. Keeping both on file gives the most accurate matching and minimizes duplicate profiles, so returning customers are recognized correctly.

Known Behaviours and Limitations

Delivery address is overwritten, not appended:

• Cova does not support submitting a specific address with a delivery order. To make sure the correct address shows in Cova, Buddi overwrites the existing address on the profile with the most recent one on file. A returning delivery customer's prior address will be replaced by their newest one.
   

Buddi can't add a missing email to an existing profilex:

• When Buddi matches an order to an existing Cova profile, it can't automatically add a missing email to that profile. To add it, edit the customer profile in Cova and enter the email.
   

Matching is by email and phone, not name: 

• If the customer's Cova profile name differs from what they typed in Buddi, the order still links correctly, but the displayed name may not match until the Cova profile is updated.
   

Generic/shared emails match whoever owns them:

• If a customer uses a shared email that already exists in Cova, the order matches that existing profile and shows its registered name.
   

Shared household phone + no email match = ambiguous:

• If several Cova profiles share one phone number and email doesn't resolve it, Buddi cannot determine which profile to use. Encourage customers to use unique email and phone details.
    

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Why am I seeing a customer name instead of an order number in Cova?

• This is the enhancement working. Orders are now linked to customer profiles, so the customer's name shows instead of a bare order number, making it easier to identify who ordered. The order number is still available in the Buddi order details.
    

A customer used a generic email and the wrong name appeared in Cova. What happened?

• That generic email already exists in your Cova database, so Buddi matched the order to that existing profile and showed its registered name. Verify the customer's real details in the Buddi order and update the Cova profile if needed.
    

The name in Buddi doesn't match the name in Cova. Why?

• Matching is by email and phone, not name, so Buddi correctly linked to the existing profile even though the names differ. Check the name in the Buddi order queue (what the customer just entered) and update the Cova profile to match for consistent future orders.
    

The Buddi order has both phone and email, but the Cova profile only has a phone number. Why wasn't the email added?

• Cova's API doesn't allow Buddi to update existing customer records, so we can't add the missing email automatically. Add it manually by editing the customer profile in Cova.
    

A customer entered a new email (not in Cova) but a phone number that matches an existing customer. What happens?

• Buddi matches on the phone number. Email is checked first but found no match, so the system moves to phone lookup and links to the existing profile , preventing a duplicate.
    

Multiple customers in a household share a phone number. Will this cause issues?

• If several Cova profiles share one phone number and email doesn't resolve it, Buddi can't tell which profile to use. Encourage unique email and phone details per customer.
    

Why was a customer's previous shipping address overwritten when they placed a new delivery order with a new address?

• Cova doesn't support submitting a specific address with a delivery order, so the only way to ensure the correct address appears is to overwrite the address on file with the most recent one.