Importing Contacts – Advanced

This article covers the advanced features of the Import tool. If you are unfamiliar with the basics of importing contacts, please review the Importing Contacts – Simple article first. Each of the sections in the article covers a different feature of the import tool; you can skip to the section you need.

What if your import includes contacts that already exist?
The import tool checks if a contact exists by matching the phone number (or email if there is no phone number). If a contact is found to exist already, the import tool will replace the contact’s details with the values from the import file. However, an existing contact’s Opt-In/Opt-Out status will only be changed if Unsubscribe All is selected.

Section	Description
Select Import Account	If you are importing to an account with Primary Subaccounts, select the account into which you want to import the contacts.
Subscription Options	Explains the available Opt-In/Opt-Out options.
Contact List Options	Explains how to create a contact list based on the import.
Import Contact Attributes	Explains how to add contact attributes to the import file.
Unrecognized Column Handling	When a column in the import file is unrecognized, the import tool can map the column to a contact property or attribute.
Import Failed	Explains how to troubleshoot a failed import.

Select Import Account

If you are importing contacts into an account that has Primary Subaccounts (see Creating a Subaccount to learn about the types of subaccounts), you will need to specify which account the contacts are imported into.

Due to a Bug, you must select your root account to perform the import.

1. Click the Add contacts to the following account dropdown.

   

2. Select the root account; this should be the first account on the list.

   

Subscription Options

The Import tool has several options for handling the Opt-In/Opt-Out status of the imported contacts.

See the table below for details on how the different subscription options affect the contacts.

	New Contact	Existing Contact
Unsubscribe All	Opt-Out	Opt-Out
Text Messages Opt-In	Opt-In	No Change
Text Messages Opt-Out	Opt-Out	No Change
Email Messages Opt-In	Opt-In	No Change
Email Messages Opt-Out	Opt-Out	No Change

The Opt-In type of your account’s subscription affects how imported contacts are opted into it. To check your subscription opt-in type, see the Editing Subscriptions article.

• For Double Opt-In subscriptions, a Handset Verification message will be sent out to all contacts.
• For Single Opt-In subscriptions, the contact will be automatically subscribed without any action required.

Contact List Options

The Create contact list based on this import section allows you to create a contact list that includes the contacts you import.

1. Click Create List.

   

2. (Optional) Click Created Only to include new contacts and exclude existing contacts from the list.
3. Enter a name for the contact list in the List Name textbox. It is recommended that the name be descriptive to help identify the import later, such as Import 2024-06-29.

   

Import Contact Attributes

This section shows you how to import contact attributes not covered in the Importing Contacts – Simple article. The import file must include the contact attribute name as a header column name. Follow the instructions below to find the attribute name. If the attribute you wish to import doesn’t exist, it can be created during import by following the instructions in the Unrecognized Column Handling section below or before importing by following the instructions in the Creating a Contact Attribute article.

1. Expand Contacts in the left sidebar and select Contact Attributes.

   

2. Find the Name of the attribute to include in your import.

   

3. Add the Name to the first row of your CSV import file.
4. Include the attribute data for each contact in your CSV import file.

Unrecognized Column Handling

If the import file contains column header names that the import tool does not recognize, you must specify how to handle these columns. There are three available actions for an unrecognized column: Map, Create, and Ignore. The following example will demonstrate how each action can handle unrecognized columns. The figure below illustrates the import file used in this example and the action taken for each unrecognized column. This example assumes you have already followed the instructions in the Importing Contacts – Simple article to upload your import file.

Map

This action will Map the values from the selected column in the import file to the chosen contact attribute. This is used when the contact property exists, but the column name in the import file doesn’t match the attribute name.

1. Click the Action dropdown and select Map.

   

2. Click the Map To dropdown and select the attribute to map.

   

Create

This action will Create a new contact attribute and then import the selected column data into the new attribute. This is used when the contact property doesn’t exist, but you still want to import the data.

1. Click the Action dropdown and select Create.

   

2. Enter a Name for the attribute.
3. Select the attribute data Type. The most common type is Text.

   

4. (Optional) Enter a Description for the attribute.

Ignore

This action will Ignore the selected column data when importing. This is used if there are properties that you don’t want to import.

1. Click the Action dropdown and select Ignore.

   

Finish Import

Once the correct actions are selected, the import can be completed.

1. Click Finish to import the contacts.

   

Import Failed

The following instructions will show you how to check the cause of a failed import. For assistance troubleshooting your error, contact TrueDialog’s knowledgeable support team: email support@truedialog.com or call 1-877-501-4276.

Common Causes of Failure:
● Invalid area code
● Invalid phone number
● Duplicates in the import file.

The Import tool may not detect all errors in an import file. For instance, if a letter is entered in the PhoneNumber column for a contact, the Import tool will not include the phone number but will still import the contact without generating an error. Therefore, ensuring that the data in your import file is valid is advisable before attempting the import.

1. Once the Status shows Complete, check the Successfully Completed percentage.

   

2. If the percentage is not 100%, some or all of the imported contacts failed to import correctly.
3. Click why? to the right of the percentage of Successfully Completed.

   

4. Click Download Report to get a report of each error for your import.

   

5. Open the report file and read the errors. The screenshot below shows some common errors.