To import contacts, go to DATA > Uploads, and select New upload.
Here is a video showing you the different steps:
To configure an automatic data flow to synchronize your database daily or hourly, speak to your Splio contact.
Preparing your file
Improper fields
Try to avoid naming your fields with names already taken by Splio's database or variables. Using the same names can interfere with proper personalization and conditional blocks.
Avoid words such as:
- md5email
- cellphone
- firstname
- lastname
- lastclickcateg
- lastclickdate
- lastopendate
- mirrorUrl
- fbshareUrl
- unsubUrl
- etc…
File type & encoding
The supported file formats are CSV, TXT, ZIP or RAR files. While we strongly recommend using the UTF-8 base encoding (without BOM) which supports the widest types of characters and languages, all of these formats are supported:
- ASCII
- LATIN1
- UTF-8 without BOM (recommended)
- UTF-16BE
- UTF-16LE
- UTF-32BE
- UTF-32LE
- SCSU
- UTF-EBCDIC
- BG2312
- HZ
Importing an excel file
When importing a file coming from Excel, .xls and .xlsx are not supported. The preferred formats are the following:
Windows users: Save as "Tab Delimited Text" file format (TXT).
Mac users: Save as "Windows Comma Separated" file format (CSV).
If your database contains dates (birth dates for instance), the recommended format is YYYY-MM-DD. All other formats will be treated as regular text. Regular text fields for dates will not allow you to use date variables (to learn more on these, read the variables section.)
Zipping your database is possible and recommended for faster synchronization.
Make sure that the zip archive is not password protected, and that you have only one file in the zip.
• Using the right date format is important to work properly with Splio Segmentation and to use date variables.
• The primary key in Splio is either an email address or a cellphone number. Each new email addresses and cellphone numbers that are not linked together will create a new user profile.
• Each user in the database can have 1 email address and/or 1 telephone number.
• When a new file is uploaded, if the email or the cellphone number is already found in the database, the profile will be updated with the new data.
Importing an export from another platform
If your data is an export from another platform (CMS, ERP, or another email marketing platform), you will need to "clean" your file.
Open your database into EXCEL, and select "Save As" in the "File" menu:
- Type in your database name
- Select the proper file format* in the "type" scroll list
- Save and close Excel
*Windows users: The "Tab Delimited Text" file format (TXT) is preferred.
*Mac users: The "Windows Comma Separated" (CSV) or Tab Delimited Text (txt) formats are preferred.
Supported delimiters are: comma ( , ), semicolon ( ; ), tab, and pipe ( | ).
Database vs. temporary file
When importing contacts into DATA, you can either import them to the database, or store them as a temporary file.
Database
When uploading to the database, you will have to choose a list to which your members will be subscribed to. Users can subscribe to multiple lists. For instance, a user could be subscribed to both "Newsletter" and "Partner offers".
TARGET's engine will be able to filter contacts in database, that are subscribed to a list.
Temporary file
The temporary files are completely separated from the global database. TARGET cannot access data from temporary files.
To upload contacts as a temporary file, select either "Add new temporary file".
Uploading to database or as a temporary file?
It is always recommended to upload your lists into the database (existing or new) when uploading a new file. However, if you are uploading data from a partner, client or any unknown source and don't want to erase / edit your own clients' information, use the temporary file option to avoid overwriting your database.
Supported mobile numbers format
Splio supports several formats for mobile phone numbers in order to be able to host foreign and local phone numbers from any country.
Here are the guidelines to upload mobile numbers on the platform:
| Format level | Preference | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Level 1 format | Preferred format | 33626440150 |
| Level 2 format | Accepted format | 0033626440150 |
| Level 3 format | Accepted and completed according to your account language | 0626440150 Example, if the account is set as "English (UK)", the telephone number will become:+44626440150 |
| Level 4 format | NOT SUPPORTED | 626440150 In that case, Splio will try to complete the phone number but errors might occur |
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.
You need at least an email column or a cellphone number column.
Here is an example of raw data, as it looks when opening the file in Excel.
| lastname | first name | address | Zip | date of birth | optin | gender | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| mmartin@splio.fr | Martin | Michel | 4 rue des plantes | 75015 | 1984-05-02 | Yes | M |
| bbell@splio.fr | Bell | Ben | 5 rue des coquelicots | 75015 | 1982-02-12 | Yes | M |
| ehosemans@splio.fr | Elise | Hosemans | 6 rue des acacias | 75015 | 1978-03-07 | Yes | F |
The picture below 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.
To create a field, click the "new field" icon and enter the name (do not use accents or special characters).
One of the fields available for mapping is "memberships" and requires specific values that can be provided when downloading data from the platform.
Subscribing imported users to lists
After uploading the file, you can select one or more membership lists to which your contacts will be subscribed. You can select and de-select lists by clicking on the names.
A single user can be subscribed to as many lists as you want to. In the example below, we subscribe our imported users 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 can create up to 64 lists.
You should select at least one list for your contacts or risk making them difficult to handle. If you forget to select any list, you will see a pop-up message to remind you of this step.
Upload 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 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.
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
- Hard bounce, already detected as invalid
Phone numbers will be rejected if they are:
- Incomplete
- If the number contains characters other than numbers
If the country code is missing, Splio will try to complete the phone number with the universe's country code, but errors might occur.
Only the manual file uploads are logged in the history.