A person object in Salesforce consolidates information about individual people by merging specific account and contact fields into a single record.
A Person Account is not an independent object. It possesses object features such as page layouts, compact layouts, and record types.
In Salesforce, Person accounts store details about individual people, differentiating them from contacts used for individuals involved in business interactions. While contacts are typically associated with an account, they can also be linked to other records like opportunities.
The adoption of Person accounts in Salesforce combines selected account and contact fields. By creating a record type that represents individuals rather than companies. This hybridization blends characteristics of both the Account and Contact objects.
Person Account records have limitations in terms of field options for hierarchy and relationships. Features like Parent Account and View Hierarchy are unavailable. Person Accounts are primarily designed for individual consumers rather than entities with complex organizational structures.
Salesforce Person Object Benefits
Person accounts offer specific benefits such as enhanced duplicate management and simplified sharing processes. By using the Person Account record type, individual constituents can be represented, while business accounts can represent businesses.
Enabling Person accounts in Salesforce results in the storage of information about individuals in records, These records combine specific account and contact fields.
Conversion to Person Object
The conversion of contacts to Person Accounts in Salesforce, facilitated by Flows, enhances B2C customer management processes. This conversion allows businesses to adopt an individual-centric approach, consolidate customer data, and gain insights for improved marketing and engagement strategies.
Person Accounts can’t be included in account hierarchies. They lack direct relationships with other accounts or contacts. Salesforce administrators can use “Contacts to Multiple Accounts” to establish indirect relationships between Person accounts and other Person accounts, business accounts, or contacts.
Content updated August 2023.