Contact Lists refer to data that has been imported into your Guest Database, usually containing guest contact information. Contact Lists are typically used to add new records to the Guest Database, but there are other ways you can utilize this tool.
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You can add a group of new contacts to the Guest Database from a source other than your Property Management System. For example, visitors to your restaurant, spa or even your website!
- You can add or update User Defined Fields on existing contacts. A User Defined Field, UDF, is a specific characteristic or value that is associated with each contact. UDFs allow you to segment data to generate your target audience for your campaign. How to add a UDF here
- You can upload unsubscribes or make a mass adjustment to your existing contacts.
You will be able to easily segment visitors to your restaurant or spa, sending them the same targeted communications you can to overnight guests. Your guest database contains all guest profiles from your property management system as well as your manually uploaded contact lists. Contact lists are simple to upload via an API connection or CSV. To learn how to link to Revinate’s API, visit this article.
Instructions for uploading your list using a CSV file.
For a successful list upload, we first must prepare our data.
File Type: The file MUST be a csv file and have the delimiter as a "comma". In Excel, ‘Save As’ CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv)
Hot Tip: to easily locate your data file, save to your Desktop!
If the delimiter is anything but a comma, then you will need to update your file. For example, if the delimiter is a semi-colon, run a find and replace function to find any semicolons and replace with a comma.
Data: Clean up the data before uploading your contact list. Remove any columns you will not be using.
File: Close the data file before attempting to upload.
Now our data has been prepared to be uploaded, now let’s get those contacts into our Guest Database!
Adding a contact list
1. Hover over "GUESTS AND SEGMENTS" at the top of the dashboard. Then select the, "CONTACT LIST":
This page will display all the current lists you have uploaded to Revinate Marketing. Here you can also create a new contact list or update older ones; for example, a list of your recent spa guests in order to send targeted campaigns with a specific spa-themed offer for their next visit.
2. To upload a new list, select the option in the upper right-hand corner of the page labeled CREATE CONTACT LIST:
To search for an existing contact list use the search bar to the left of the create contact list button.
3. In creating a contact list upload you will need to choose if this will be an automated API connection or a manual CSV upload. Click the ‘I have a CSV’ block, give your list a name, then click ‘next’.
4. The next page is where you will choose your spreadsheet from your desktop.
For opting in purposes, click the box if you have permission to send campaigns to members on the list. After you choose your file, your page will now show the name of the file. Then, click upload.
5. If your contact list has headers in the data file, check the box that says “My list has headers”. This will eliminate the top row from being entered in as a contact. If the column does not have any data, select ‘not mapped’ for that column. Once your columns are mapped, click “Test Mapping” in the lower left corner.
6. Once the mapping test is complete, the headers will go away. Next, click “Complete List Import”.
7. Once uploaded, the Contact List page will look like this, as the list continues to process the contacts, the ‘Total Contacts’ and ‘Total Reachable’ numbers will increase.
Uploading Contact Lists are not immediate. Larger lists with 100,000 contacts can take up to four hours to complete.
- The following email addresses will be skipped from being imported "test@", "no-reply@", "noreply@". If any email address in the first five columns includes one of these email addresses, or an undeliverable email, the file will not import.
- The maximum number of contacts you can upload in one csv file is 100,000. A contact list can have more than 100,000 records overtime, but only 100,000 contacts can be added per upload.
- Max file size is 5 MB. If your Contact List is larger than 5 MB, separate your data into two separate files. Upload one file first, then upload the next. Note: there is no error message when the file is too big!
- Revinate's system will enforce some rules to make sure you can get a successful import. First, you need to save your mapping. You can't click "save mapping" for a Contact List until all issues in red are corrected. For example, there is a header row which requires that "header" option to be checked before the mapping can be saved. In addition, the mapping must be saved before "complete list import" can be clicked.
- You will receive an email once the Contact List has been successfully uploaded.
How to video
For more on how to add more contacts to an existing list, please see Contact List: Upload FAQ.
If you have any questions regarding this feature, please contact support@revinate.com.