What is a contact list?

A contact list is used when creating a campaign to send out a mass text to a group of people. The campaign list includes the name, phone number, and any additional information you want associated with the contact list or used within the message.

To automate the contact list, review the SFTP for Contact Upload article.

Who can create a contact list?

The ability to create a contact list is available to individuals with the following permissions: 

	Administrative	Standard	Limited	View Other Offices
View
Create/Edit/Clone
Delete

For more information on user permissions, review the User Roles & Permissions article.

How do I create a contact list

1. Create a CSV file that includes the following:
   • First name
   • Last name
   • Mobile phone number
   • Additional data fields can be included for reference or included in the outgoing message, such as:
     • Program
     • Refund Amount
     • Admissions Advisor/Counselor
     • Last Date of Attendance
     • Missing Information Documents
       

       
       

2. Under the Contact Management section, select Contact Lists.
   
3. In the lower right-hand corner, select the plus icon to open the contact list wizard.
4. The first step in the contact list wizard is to Choose a File. This is where you will upload a CSV file
   1. Select the Choose File button.
   2. Select the CSV file from your computer to upload, and select Open.
   3. Select Next.
      
5. Step two in the contact list wizard is to Assign Columns.
   1. Use the Header Use toggle to indicate if your CSV file has a header row.
      
   2. Map each field of your CSV file. 
      1. Use the Advanced Mode toggle to map additional fields in your CSV file.
         
         
         • Field Name -  This is the name that describes the content in the column. 
         • Machine Name -  This is the merge field that you will reference in your message. Make note of the machine names listed to use in your message later. 
         • Field Type -  The field type indicates what the field is. If you are mapping a field type that is not already listed, select Text.
           
         • Required - 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.
         • Unique - 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 To -  Select the column that is associated with the field.
   3. Select Next.
6. The third step of contact list wizard is to Save the contact list.
   1. In the List Name field, create a name for the contact list. The name must be unique from any other contact list created.
      
      

      Best Practice: Create a contact list name that is descriptive to make it easier to differentiate from other contact lists later. 

      
      
   2. In the Tags field, enter any tags you would like to associate with the contact list. These tags can be used later when searching for contact lists.
   3. Select Create Contact List.
7. Finish
   1. If the list was successfully created, a message will display that the contacts have been successfully imported into the system.
   2. If there are contact errors, a message will display how many contacts were successfully imported and you will be given the option to download a CSV file of any errors. The CSV file will be downloaded with the filename: "rejectedContacts".
      
8. Fix Import Errors
   1. 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). Update the downloaded CSV file with the correct data.
   2. On the Contact Lists page, select the down arrow next to the Contact List you just created and select Bulk Add.
   3. On the Choose file page of the contact list wizard, select Choose File, and select the updated rejectedContacts list. Select Next.

      
      

      
      

   4. On the Assign Columns page of the contact list wizard, map each column to its associated field name. Use the header row toggle to indicate if there is a header row. Select Import Contacts. 
      
      

      Note: The error column does not need to be assigned a heading.

      
      

      
      

   5. If your list is successfully created, you will receive a message that the contacts have been successfully imported into the system.
      
      

      
      

      Note: A contact list that has never been used in a campaign 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.