Since Campaigns allow you to pull in fields from a contact list spreadsheet to personalize each text message, this step precedes the step of creating a Campaign. Each Campaign will be sent to a list of contacts in a spreadsheet that you upload into the system.
Looking for a way to automate your contact list import? Review our SFTP for Contact Upload process.
Formatting Phone Numbers
To ensure the phone numbers in your contact list are recognized properly, review these formatting tips and guidelines.
Upload Your Contact Lists
First, navigate to the Contact Management > Contact Lists area using the Navigation Pane.
Click on the plus sign icon at the bottom-right corner of the Contact Lists page.
Create Contact List
Follow the four steps on the Create Contact List page to create a new contact list that can be used with your Campaign.
First, export a list of contacts from your student information system into a CSV file. Ensure that you have pulled at least the following information into your file:
First Name
Last Name
Phone
Include additional data fields for your CSV file when necessary to contribute to the context of the Campaign.
Examples include:
- Program
- Refund Amount
- Admissions Advisor/Counselor
- Last Date of Attendance
- Missing Information Documents
Then follow the steps below to create your contact list:
Choose File
Choose the CSV file that you have exported from your student information system.
Click Next.
Assign Columns
Assign fields to your data so that the system knows which columns contain which type of data (first name, last name, phone). The first name and last name fields are not validated on import (i.e., they can be blank). The phone number and email (if included) fields are validated on import (can not be blank and values are checked).
Use the buttons on the top right to indicate whether your file has a header row.
The phone number is the minimum required field to make a Campaign work.
Advanced Mode:
If you would like to customize your mapping even further (i.e. include/exclude columns/fields that are available on your CSV contact list file), click on the Advanced Mode button. A distinct mapping area will drop down.
The “Field Name” field will populate based on the contact list headers.
The "Machine Name" field will be what you reference in your text to "call up" that merge field in your message. You will want to make note of what that machine name is listed as here in order to use it later. The Machine Name text will need to be referenced inside of two hash marks to become functional as a merge field. For example, in this case, you'd put #First_Name# or #state# into your message to reference the values from your CSV.
Select your preferred Field Type (email, name, text, etc.).
Indicate whether the new field should be required.
A required field means that the cell must have content in order for the message to be sent to that applicable row. This can be a helpful way to exclude certain rows that don’t contain information that might be vital to your message.
Indicate whether the new field should be unique.
A unique field means that the content of the cell must be unique from other cells in that column in order for the message to be sent to that applicable row. This can be a helpful way to remove duplicates in the contact list (i.e. duplicate phone numbers).
Map the new field to the existing column in your CSV contact list file.
Click Next.
Save
Name your list and add a few tags with keywords of related content so that if needed you can search for this list in the future.
Click Next.
Finish
If your list is successfully created, you will receive a message that the contacts have been successfully imported into the system.
During the import process, there may be some rows/data that did not get successfully imported. In this case, the user will be presented with a screen after the import indicating that some of the data imported (e.g., Successfully imported 78 out of 100 contacts).
If there are contact errors, you will be given the option to download a CSV file of any errors. The CSV file will be downloaded with the filename:"rejectedContacts".
Click Finish.
5. Fix Import Errors
To fix the Import errors, review each row of the "rejectedContacts" CSV file. The CSV file will have a note of why it was rejected (e.g., no phone number provided, etc). Manually correct the downloaded CSV file to make the data accurate.
On the Contact Lists page, click the down arrow next to the Contact List you just created and select "Bulk Add."
Select the "rejectedContacts" list
Click Next.
Assign Columns
Use the buttons on the top right to indicate whether your file has a header row. The error column does not need to be assigned a heading.
Click Import Contacts.
If your list is successfully created, you will receive a message that the contacts have been successfully imported into the system.
Please note that before a Contact List has been used in a Campaign, it can be deleted.
Once a Contact List has been used in a Campaign, it can not be deleted. This is because the contact list information is used in quotas.