One of the first things you must do when setting up your edrone account is importing this contacts database you already have.
Probably already you have a contacts database stored in your eCommerce platform, in a Marketing tool you have used in the past, or even a simple spreadshe.
Here you can find informations, how to prepare file for import.
The edrone system automatically collects data from each visitor on your website, creating a Customer Profile that is continuously updated over time.
Keep reading to know all about it, or click on the links below to jump straight to the section you need:
Downloading the contacts database you already have
This is the only step that depends only on you, since each eCommerce platform or Marketing tool will have a different way of storing and providing an existing contacts database. The important thing here is that you get a spreadsheet containing, at least, a column with email addresses.
Please note that there are no limits to how many contacts you can have on your database.
Formatting the file
OK, now it's time to format the spreadsheet in such a way that it will be processed correctly by the edrone system.
Once your spreadsheet is organized, you will need to save it as a CSV, XLS or XLSX file.
CSV files
If you save the file as a CSV, make sure the values in the file are separated by commas or semicolons and use UTF-8 encoding (no BOM) - if a different encoding format is detected, the import will automatically fail. Also, do not use special characters, including full stops, in the filename.
NOTE: Avoid characters such as ' (apostrophe) and " (quote marks) because they may create problems when importing.
Below is a table showing the mandatory and optional fields to be filled in the CSV file and how each field must be filled out.
FIELD | HOW TO FILL IT OUT | OPTIONAL / MANDATORY |
Valid email address | Mandatory | |
Name | Text | Optional |
Last name | Text | Optional |
Phone number | Only numbers White spaces and area codes are acceptable | Optional |
Gender | M for male
F for female
REFUSED for "refused to inform"
NIEZNANY for unknown
INNY for other | Optional |
Birth date | YYYY-MM-DD | Optional |
City | Text | Optional |
Country | Text | Optional |
Language | ISO 639-1 code (2 letters, e.g. EN for english) | Optional |
Email subscription status | 1 for subscribed If this field is left empty, it will be considered "unknown" | Mandatory |
SMS subscription status | 1 for subscribed If this field is left empty, it will be considered "unknown" | Optional |
Email subscription request date | YYYY-MM-DD | Optional |
Email subscription confirmation date | YYYY-MM-DD | Optional |
Tags | Text | Optional |
XLS and XLSX files
If you save a file as an XLS or XLSX file and decide to import files in one of these formats, you must remember that NO column or NO row can be left blank. If any column or row is left unfilled, you will see an error and your import will fail.
Database formatting best practices
Put first and last names in separate columns. That way, you will be able to send out personalized messages using only the person's first name ("Hello, Mary!") instead of their full name ("Hello, Mary Ann Smith!").
Delete all columns that won't be imported into your CRM (e.g. address, social security number).
Remove all duplicates. While importing, our system will automatically detect duplicate emails and ignore them, therefore this is not a requirement. However, it helps keep files as light as possible.
All good? Great, now we just need to upload the file into the edrone system!
Uploading the file into your edrone Workspace
To begin, log into your Workspace and go to SETTINGS > IMPORT. Click on the NEW IMPORT button.
You will be greeted by a very simple, 5-step process.
Step 1: Actions
In this first step, you will be required to specify the purpose of your import:
Add users – select this option add new users who don’t exist in your database.
If your import file contains users who are already in the database, information about them can be overwritten.
Update email subscribers status – update existing users information
Update SMS subscribers status – update existing users information
Add or update tags – update existing users information
Custom update – update existing users information. Use this option for non-standard updates, such as adding birth dates or updating phone numbers for existing clients.
NOTE: If you select any option except Add users and there are new clients in your import file, they will not be added to your contacts database. These options are only for updating existing clients.
Depending on the selected purpose, you will be required to determine additional settings:
Subscription status
Manually (applies to the entire imported database)
From file (see formatting section)
Duplicate clients
Ignore (don’t modify data about existing clients)
Overwrite (use data from the imported file to update clients data)
Tags
Add / update (add new tags to the entire imported file and keep pre-existing tags)
Overwrite (assign tags to the entire imported file, replacing any tags previously assigned to existing clients in the database)
Once you've made your choice, click CONTINUE.
Step 2: File upload
Now you will be required to upload your file. Click on SELECT FILE TO UPLOAD and choose your file.
NOTE: it is not possible to upload more than one file at a time.
As previously mentioned, you can use CSV, XLS or XLSX formats. Here are their constraints:
CSV files must be smaller than 60 MB
XLS files must have less than 65,000 rows and be smaller than 60 MB
XLSX files must have less than 1,000,000 rows and be smaller than 60 MB
For XLS and XLSX files, only the first sheet will be read
The maximum characters per row is 1024
NOTE: If there is a formatting error, the import will fail. Please refer to the formatting section in this article, or click How to format database file before uploading.
Once you've chosen the correct file, click CONTINUE.
Step 3: Fields mapping
Now you will be required to map each column in your file to the corret fields in the edrone system. The system will load the first 10 rows from your file to help you select the correct fields.
Select from the drop-down lists (1) the correct field for each column. If you choose "Ignore" (2), that column will not be imported.
At the bottom (4) the system will display the total number of processed rows, which should be equal to the number of clients to add to the database. Sometimes it is possible that the system will read the file incorrectly. In that case, you should try to fix it by clicking the “show advanced” button (3). The system will then enable you to skip the first line and/or select the separator.
If there are errors associated with the mapping process, they will be displayed at the bottom. It is not possible to go to the next step if errors are displayed.
Once you're done with mapping, click CONTINUE.
Step 4: Tags (optional)
This step allows you to assign tags to the clients from the imported file. You are able to choose existing tags, add new ones, or do both.
NOTE: keep in mind that there is a limit of 62 tags per edrone Workspace.
Once you're done assigning tags, click CONTINUE for the last step.
Step 5: Summary
This step will show you the status of your import. Imports can take from a few seconds to a few hours, depending on the size of the file. If all steps were done properly, the system will display “in progress” status.
Once import is complete, you will receive an e-mail notification.
That's it! Now it's time to engage with all those new contacts :)
Import history
All imports are registered in the Import history section inside Import settings (SETTINGS > IMPORT).
In the Import history table you will see the following information:
Import date: Day and time of import
Please note that the location (e.g. Europe/Warsaw) indicates the time zone
Filename: the name of the imported file
Status:
Completed – import was successful
In Progress – import is in progress or in queue
Canceled – import was canceled by the user
Failed – import was not completed due to errors
Rows: the number of rows that were processed
Import ID: unique code to identify the import inside the edrone system. This is used by edrone's support team to help solve problems.
Whenever there is a need to share the import ID with edrone's support team, click on the copy button to the right of this field.
Withdraw: Click this button to undo your import. You can undo the import for up to 7 days after the file was uploaded. All changes, new rows etc. will be removed.
It is only possible to undo the last import. This means that if you did multiple imports over the previous 7 days, you will only be able to undo the last one.
Dropdown: Click this button to see additional details about the import.
Duplicates – rows with emails that already exists in the database
Added – number of new clients added to the database
Metadata
Invalid – number of invalid data, which weren’t added to the database because of errors (e.g. a column with a phone number mapped to email field).
Updated – number of updated clients who already existed in the database
Deleted – number of deleted clients (deleted by clicking “delete” button in the Customer Profile). It is impossible to import previously deleted clients.
Troubleshooting
When importing your contacts database, you might encounter the following situations:
You've used an invalid separator in the CSV file
Our system only accepts files with values separated by commas or semicolons. If you encounter this problem, you have two options: 1) try downloading the contacts from its source (e.g. eCommerce platform) choosing commas or semicolons as separators; or 2) open the file in a spreadsheet editor and save it again, following the correct formatting.
The field includes an invalid value
For example, in the edrone system, the Email subscription status field should have either "0" or "1" as a value. Any other value, such as "subscribed" or "yes" will generate an error. In this case, change the value according to the table from the formatting section.
The file size is larger than 60 MB
If your contacts database is too large (over 60 MB), please split it into separate, smaller files and try again.
The filename has special characters, such as dots
In this case, the contacts database will not be imported. Remove any special characters from the file name and try again.
The CSV file was not saved with UTF-8 encoding
Save the file again with the proper encoding (Unicode UTF-8) and try again.
Need more help?
Here you can see how to import your databse into edrone.
If you have any further questions about importing contacts into edrone, please do not hesitate to contact us at hello@edrone.me