Complete general information
Now that your file is ready, you can import your data.
Here's the general information you need to fill in:
Import/File name: Indicate the name of your file so that you can identify it once imported in the list of imported files.Tags: If you wish, add a tag to filter specific types of imports in the view with the history of imported files.Choose from existing tags: You can select one of the tags already used in the platform.Send email when import is complete: Indicate whether or not you wish to be notified when data import is complete.Import contacts already in the database?: Indicate whether you wish to complete the data for contacts already in the database. For example, in the case of a competition, if you wish to identify all participants by using a custom “COMPETITION” field (whose value would be “Merry_Christmas”, for example), it's preferable to import contacts already in the database to complete this field.Empty all lists before downloading: ⚠️ We recommend that you always indicate "No" for security reasons.
Import into database
When importing contacts into Data , you can either import them into the database.
Database
When importing into the database, you will need to choose a list to which your contacts will be subscribed. Contacts can be subscribed to multiple lists. For example, a contact can be subscribed to both the "Newsletter" and the "Partner Offers".
The Target Engine can target contacts in the database who are subscribed to one or more lists.
It is always recommended to upload your contacts to the database (existing or new) when importing a new file.
Mapping your fields
Once your file has been uploaded, you must establish the mapping of the fields by assigning the columns in your raw file to the columns in your Splio database. You can choose to import all the columns from your file or just a few.
Here is an example of raw data, as it looks when opening the file in Excel.
lastname | first name | address | Zip | date of birth | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Martin | Michel | 4 rue des plantes | 75015 | 1984-05-02 | |
Bell | Ben | 5 rue des coquelicots | 75015 | 1982-02-12 | |
Elise | Durand | 6 rue des acacias | 75015 | 1978-03-07 |
The image displays the mapping form. Select or create the fields in your database. If the field already exists with the same name, the mapping will be done automatically. For manual imports, system fields must use the language of the universe.
To create a field, click the new field icon and enter the name (do not use accents or special characters).
Subscribing imported users to lists
After uploading the file, you can select one or more lists to which your contacts will be subscribed. You can select and de-select lists by clicking on the names.
A single contact can be subscribed to as many lists as you want to. In the example below, we subscribe our imported contacts to "Weekly edition" and "Monthly edition".
If you enter a name in the Create a new list field, Splio will create a list under this name during import and subscribe your contacts to it.
You must select at least one list for your contacts, otherwise they won't be usable, as Target only takes into account contacts who are subscribed to at least one list. If you forget to select any list, you will see a pop-up message to remind you of this step.
Uploading history
To view your upload history and log files, go to Data > Uploads. All your previous uploads will show, along with the number of lines imported and the success rate.
This page provides a full history log of all files uploaded to the platform and the various operations made on each new file.
For every new upload, Splio creates a report, which contains the lists of rejected addresses and/or telephone numbers and the reason why.
Splio can reject an email address for different reasons, such as:
Non-compliant email syntax
Wrong or unknown encoding
Duplicate, already found in the database
Phone numbers will be rejected if they are:
Incomplete
If the number contains characters other than numbers
Troubleshooting manual contact imports
In some cases, you may have some difficulties to import contacts manually. These are the two most common cases:
Contacts already in the database
In order to avoid issues with contact updates, by default the platform does not import contacts who are already in the database.
If you want to import a contact file including contacts already in DB, a configuration must be done to override this security.
To do this, follow the usual process and go to the main form. In the Upload options, select Yes for the Import contacts already in the database? button.
The universe uses a custom unique key
The universe database uses a specific field, usually email, to identify and deduplicate contacts.
Some Splio users choose to use a custom unique key to identify their contacts, such as the customer ID or the phone number.
In this case, any data import must always be carried out using a file containing the data and a column referring to the unique key. Otherwise, the application can not identify the contacts, and the data import will fail.
I need to update phone numbers in a universe that uses a unique key other than email
In this case, any data import must always be carried out using a file containing the phone number and the unique key.