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Formatting a List of Contacts for Import

Learn how to format the information about your contacts to get ready to import them to Listrak.

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Written by Support
Updated over a year ago

When importing a list of contacts to a list in Listrak you may want to include information beyond a contact's email address. A contact import is different than the customer file import, which is specific to the customers who are making a purchase. The contact file import can be used in Listrak's List Import Wizard to import subscribers, typically to your marketing list, that are not automatically sent to Listrak. For example, if you collect email addresses in store or at a trade show you can later import them into Listrak.

When importing information it will be saved into a profile field. The profile fields can be formatted to hold different types of information. In the table below you'll find the accepted characters for a list import and the format of the cells when creating a .xlsx or .csv file.

Text Type

Use

Format

Text

The text option can be used to hold both text characters and numeric values that aren't use to calculate information (example: zip code)

Standard alphanumeric characters are accepted in text inputs.

Cell Formats:

  • General

  • Text

Numeric

Numeric values can be used when calculating options, such as greater than or equal to (example: order total)

Numeric characters are accepted up to 2 decimal points.

Cell Format:

  • General

  • Number

Date

Date fields can be used to hold date values where you may want to target things that happened before or after a certain time

(example: birthday or order date)

Dates should be formatted in the American date format (Example: 12/31/2020).

Cell Format:

  • Date

Radio Button

A radio button can be used if a contact should only be able to select one option out of the choices.

To indicate that a radio button is selected, include on, true, or 1 in a field in your import file. To indicate a radio button is deselected include off, false, or 0. If no value is indicated the radio button will remain deselected in a contact's profile.

Cell Format:

  • General

Check Box

A check box can be used if a contact should be able to select multiple options from a list of choices.

To indicate that a check box is checked, include on, true, or 1 in a field in your import file. To indicate a check box is unchecked include off, false, or 0. If no value is indicated the check box will remain unchecked in a contact's profile.

Cell Format:

  • General

Comment

The comment option can be used when a contact can free-input larger amounts of text (example: Contact Us forms)

Standard alphanumeric characters are accepted.

Cell Format:

  • General

  • Text

Contact Content Block

The contact content block allows you to include HTML that can be added directly into an email. This is an uncommon data type to include in a contact import.

The full HTML should be formatted as it would be added to the email HTML.

Cell Format:

  • General

Phone Numbers

Phone numbers should use the text type for an import and be used to add phone numbers for both imports into the email or SMS channel.

Note: When importing phone numbers into an SMS list, if country codes are not included in the import file Listrak will automatically append the country code based on where a short or long code is provisioned.

Accepted format: Phone numbers in a string; separated by spaces, dashes, or parenthesis.

Eg: 18005551212
1 800 555 1212, 1-800-555-1212, 1 (800) 555-1212

Preferred format: Include country code and phone numbers not separated by spaces, dashes, or parenthesis.

Eg: 18005551212


Cell Format:

  • General

A few tips when formatting the file:

  • Adding headers can make importing data cleaner

  • Import files must be under 250 KB in size

  • If a contact is currently unsubscribed from a list they will not be resubscribed if they are in the file

Once you have formatted your import file, use the list import wizard to add the contacts to Listrak. You can also add additional profile fields to a contact's profile if they are included in your file, but not in Listrak, by following this guide. Once you have imported a list of contacts you can view a summary of the import.

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