Creating a CSV file
Most solutions where you have contacts stored will allow you to export your data to a CSV file. The resulting file will contain your data in the order determined by the application, separated by commas (comma separated values = CSV).
The easiest way to edit or create a CSV file is using Excel. If you are working in a normal spreadsheet, to create a CSV file:
- When saving your CSV file choose File, Save As
- Select the .CSV format. NB: when using Excel, only the data in the first worksheet will be saved to your CSV file.
- Choose the location to store your file, and give your file a name.
- Click the Save button.
Minimum Information for your CSV file
You can just have all of your contact’s email addresses in the first column, and import that into eNudge, however, the more information you add about your contacts, the more eNudge features you can use, and the more engaging you can make your communications.
We recommend that your CSV file contain the following information as a bare minimum:
- Email address and or mobile number
Each contact record in eNudge must have either an email address or mobile phone number. Obviously, you must have an email address if you are going to send emails to your contacts, and a mobile number if you are going to send text messages. - First name
Including a first name allows you to implement basic personalisation of email subjects and email & sms messages. - Surname
Also including a surname will help you more easily find and select contacts, and know who took what action when viewing the results of campaigns, survey submissions etc. - Category/s
Including at least one category for each contact you upload is highly encouraged; it makes it easier for you to attach this set of contacts to your campaigns. Categories have many purposes; read more about that in Self-Service Management of Preferences.
Number of Rows in your CSV
Important note: An upload may fail if the file is very large, which is why we recommend uploading a maximum of 30,000 contacts per csv file. For example, if you have a database of 120,000 contacts, you can split them up between 4 csv files, where each contain 30,000 values.
Preparing your CSV file for import into eNudge
There are just a few things you need to be careful of to ensure that your data ends up in the right place after your upload:
Add eNudge field names into your heading row
Including a heading row will help eNudge to match the contents of your CSV file to the right fields when you upload. You get the opportunity to re-order your field names before you import, but it’s quicker for you if you include them in your file. For a list of contact fields in eNudge, check out: What can I store for each contact in eNudge?
Remove commas
Because a CSV (comma separated values) file separates information using a comma, you can’t use a comma inside a value (i.e. cell, if you are using Excel to create your CSV file). For example, if the street value is “Level 1, 105 Walker Street” then you need to remove the comma otherwise “Level 1” will be treated as the street, and “105 Walker Street” will be treated as the next field value, and so on… shifting each field along one which will create havoc in your upload, or cause that record to fail.
Remove any empty columns
Do not leave any empty columns in your CSV file as this will cause your information to end up in the wrong eNudge fields; remove the whole column instead.
Remove any carriage returns / line feeds / new line breaks
A new line break left inside a value in your CSV file will cause the information after the line break to be treated as a new contact record (new row in your spreadsheet), and likely produce errors in the contact creation.
Remove any empty rows
Empty rows will result in errors when you upload your contacts.
Year of birth
If you supply the year of birth for your contacts, it must be a four digit number.
Gender
If you supply a gender for your contacts, enter either m or f for a particular contact.
Add a Category to your Contacts
Adding one or more categories to your contacts as you upload them makes it super quick to attach your contacts to a particular campaign later. To add a category, simply put the name of the category in a separate column. You can add up to 5 categories during an upload, and eNudge will create the category as you upload, if it doesn’t already exist.
Uploading your Contacts CSV File
Once you have prepared your CSV file and are ready to upload your contacts, choose Contacts from the main navigation, then choose Upload Contacts, and browse to find your file. After uploading your CSV file you will then need to re-arrange the field names to match the order those fields are found your file. Lastly press the ‘Process Field Order’ button to add the contacts into your Enudge account.
For more information, read the article re: Uploading your Contacts via a CSV file.