Preparing a file of supporter data for import (front-end)

You can import data into your Engaging Networks account, helping you to get a complete picture of your supporters’ activity. For example, if you’ve collected signatures for a petition offline, you can import this into your account and assign them to a pre-existing campaign action.

Overview

The import file only needs to contain the columns you wish to update as well as an Email Address column which it will use to identify the record. The file should contain a header row so you can use these to map to your Engaging Networks database.

When importing, the system will match supporters via the email address field. If they exist it will update that record. If they don’t exist, a new record can be created.

Here are some pointers:

1. You need to have an CSV (Please make sure that CSV files are UTF-8 encoded!) or XLSX file ready and make sure the file has a ‘header row’ (for example, title, first name, last name etc.)
2. If the header row uses names that are identical to your own supporter data field names or question/opt-in names, then the software will automatically map these for you so you don’t have to
3. An individual import file is limited to 25MB. Please check the size of your CSV or XLSX file before continuing with the import process
4. Unless you want to capture the name in full, your file should contain separate columns for first name and last name
5. If you would like to register an answer to a specific question that already exists in your Engaging Networks account, add an extra column with the question name in the header row and enter the values into each cell. For example, if you want to ‘opt in’ supporters to your campaign newsletter list, enter the value Y in each cell. If you want to ensure that certain supporters aren’t opted in, enter the value N
6. If you want to assign a record to a particular campaign action that already exists in your account, you can do so during the import process. Alternatively, you can include a column for the campaign with cells underneath of value P
7. If the email address exists, then the record can be updated or skipped depending on your import process settings, otherwise a new supporter record will be created
8. To import a record without an email address, you must include their first AND last names. You must also use [AUTO] in the email address field and Engaging Networks will generate a unique, fake email address for the record so it can be added to your database.
   

   The fake addresses will always be @noaddress.ea and will automatically be suppressed from emailing. You should not delete your email suppression list if you wish to keep these types of records in your account

9. If you are importing supporters so that you can query on them later, e.g. to send them an email campaign, you must tag them in some way. For example, you could create a Question and include that in your import, setting it to some value you can query on
10. Blank fields will not update existing supporters’ details. If you wish to blank out a form field on import, use [CLEAR]
11. Check the file for any | characters or double quotes ” in the cells. These can cause the upload to fail. Search for and remove:

12. If you are experiencing problems with importing an XLSX file, save it as a CSV and import the data in this format (making sure the CSV file is saved in UTF-8 format).

Example

Here’s an example file that is ready for upload. Note that this is just an example file, you’ll need to include columns in your file that match up to your own supporter fields or questions. See the separate help file for more details on what the Account data structure is.

Importing data using your file

The next step is to use the file to import the data to your Engaging Networks database. Please see the separate help file on how to use the import tool.