Before reading ahead in the article to learn more about how you can upload a CSV file to the ContactMonkey Directory and create distribution lists, please see below for any IT effort required to achieve this, and specific user permissions required.
IT Effort Required:
- No IT effort is required for a ContactMonkey user to upload a CSV file to the ContactMonkey Directory. This is done manually by the ContactMonkey user.
Permissions Required:
- Only a ContactMonkey Admin or Owner may upload a CSV file to the ContactMonkey Directory.
List Management allows users to create a directory of contacts within ContactMonkey which is self-managed by our customers. There are several different methods to implement List Management, and one of the easiest is to utilize an uploaded list of contacts from a CSV file.
This feature is currently only available for Office365 clients or Gmail clients. This feature also applies to customers that currently leverage our SMS product.
In this article:
Upload Contacts
-
Once your team has List Management enabled, or if you are an SMS customer, you will already have List Management enabled by default, you can start uploading contacts. Click into the "Directory" tab at the top to get started.
-
From there, select "Sources".
- In this window, you have two options to import your contacts via a CSV upload. You can either import your own CSV, or leverage our sample CSV file by clicking on the cloud icon with the downward arrow next to where it says “Upload a file”.
-
Upload CSV
- Using the sample CSV as a guide, upload your employee directory to sit within the ContactMonkey platform.
- Alternatively, you will also be able to upload your own CSV file, instead of using our sample CSV as a guide. If you are opting for using your own CSV file, please see below for what the column headers in your CSV should be called in order to be mapped to default fields within ContactMonkey.
- After you have clicked on Upload a file and included your CSV file for upload, you should see a screen like the below.
- Click on the Import x Contacts button to import the contacts from your CSV file into the ContactMonkey directory. Continue reading below to see how to import your own CSV (if you opt to use your own vs. our Sample CSV), and what you should name your column headers on your own CSV to be mapped to ContactMonkey default fields.
Create Lists
Once you have uploaded all of your contacts, you can then configure your list based on the attributes (pulled from the CSV upload). To create a list, or create a list using our filtering functionality, please reference this Help Center article, specifically the How To Leverage Advanced List Filtering To Segment Your Lists section for more detailed instructions.
Sending to a Contact List
Once your lists have been created, you or other team members can retrieve those lists from the Outlook sidebar. Open up the sidebar like you normally would, and notice that "Upload CSV" has changed to "Contact Lists". Expand out to choose "Upload CSV" or "Select Contact List".
Once you click into "Select Contact List", your configured lists are available. Click and select which ones you want to send to.
The lists will then sit in your sidebar. From there, you are ready to send!
If you are an SMS customer, please review the Sending An SMS Message article for instructions on how to send an SMS message in ContactMonkey.
If you are a Gmail user, please review the Using Gmail and Contact Monkey Help Center article for instructions on how to send to contact lists using Gmail.
What Should My Column Headers Be Called If I Am Not Using The Sample CSV?
Below is a comprehensive table that includes all of the ContactMonkey default fields that we will map to whenever you are uploading a CSV file in the Directory > Sources section of the platform.
Note: if there is a data field that is not noted in the below table, you will still be able to upload this as part of your CSV upload. We will create a custom field (i.e. a field that is not mapped to any of the below default fields) for your reference in the Directory section of the platform.
Please also note that some fields that are mapped via a CSV upload will be considered "data sets" in ContactMonkey, which will change your list filtering options when selecting those fields. Please see the below table for more information on what fields are considered to be "data sets" or not.
If you map over a field that is not a data set, you would have access to the standard list filtering options:
Whereas if you map over a field that is considered to be a data set, your filtering options would change where you are now allowed to select from all of the values that were synced over:
| Label in ContactMonkey | CSV Column Header | Is Considered a Data Set? | |
| Email Address | No | ||
| Phone Number (CSV) | mobilePhone | No | |
| Display Name | displayName | No | |
| Employee Id | employeeId | No | |
| First Name | firstName | No | |
| Last Name | lastName | No | |
| Postal Code | postalCode | No | |
| Street Address | streetAddress | No | |
| Preferred Language | preferredLanguage | Yes | |
| Time Zone | timeZone | Yes | |
| Business Unit | businessUnit | Yes | |
| City | city | Yes | |
| Company Name | companyName | Yes | |
| Country | country | Yes | |
| Creation Type | creationType | Yes | |
| Department | department | Yes | |
| Division | division | Yes | |
| Employee Type | employeeType | Yes | |
| Employment Type | employmentType | Yes | |
| Exempt | exempt | Yes | |
| External User State | externalUserState | Yes | |
| Job Level | jobLevel | Yes | |
| Job Title | jobTitle | Yes | |
| Location | location | Yes | |
| Office Location | officeLocation | Yes | |
| Preferred Data Location | preferredDataLocation | Yes | |
| State | state | Yes | |
| Status | status | Yes | |
| Usage Location | usageLocation | Yes | |
| User Type | userType | Yes | |
| Birthday | birthday | No | |
| Hire Date | hireDate | No | |
| Termination Date | terminationDate | No |
Referencing the above table, whatever is included in the “CSV Column Header” column is exactly what will need to be included in your CSV upload (unless you are using our Sample CSV). Please ensure you are following the exact formatting and casing referenced in the table above.
You do not need to include every data field, you can upload just the ones you need. Please note, however, that your upload must include either an email address or a phone number that’s tied back to the contact. Both email and phone are what we use as unique identifiers for contacts and must be present on a CSV upload.
See the below video as an example for how to upload a CSV with some of those column headers above included, in addition to some custom column headers that are not included in the above table.
How To Upload A CSV Contact List In The Email Or SMS Products - Watch Video
How Should My Phone Numbers Be Formatted For The Upload If I Am Sending An SMS Message?
All phone numbers included in your data upload need to be formatted in E.164 format if you intend to send an SMS to these contacts.
What is E.164 format?
E.164 is an internationally-recognized standard phone number format that will help to ensure the deliverability of SMS messages.
E.164 numbers are formatted [+] [country code] [subscriber number including area code] and can have a maximum of fifteen digits.
E.164 phone number formatting requires the following:
- International Country Calling code
- Local Area code
- Local Phone number
Ex: +15555555555
Note: ContactMonkey will automatically append a '+' sign to your phone numbers whenever you are uploading contacts in the Directory tab, or using the one-off CSV sending functionality within the Compose & Send section of our SMS product. Users are still required to include a country calling code, and area code in order to ensure SMS deliverability.
If you are an SMS customer, please continue to reference this Help Center article that mentions the current countries that SMS messages are supported for in ContactMonkey, in addition to country codes.
What Are Best Practices To Keep In Mind When I Upload A CSV?
Other than adding the '+' symbol to phone numbers, the below best practices are optional and not completely necessary.
- Remove Duplicates: highlight the relevant column and click Data > Remove Duplicates from the ribbon. You will receive a confirmation pop-up for how many duplicates were removed.
- Remove Spaces: highlight the relevant columns and click Ctrl F > Replace and type a space into the Find section and leave Replace as is. Click Replace All. You will receive a confirmation pop-up for how many spaces were removed.
- Add + to Phone Number: use the steps outlined in this article.