Importing contacts from a file

Before you start

Requirements

Prepare your import document. Make sure it is well organized, with clearly labeled columns for information such as name, email, phone, city, etc.
Check the file format: E-goi accepts Excel (XLS, XLSX), CSV, TXT, and OST.
Make sure to include international prefixes in phone numbers and to follow the date formats supported by E-goi if you include birthdays in your file.

Step-by-step

Importing contacts for the first time

1) Go to the Contacts menu, head to the list you want to do the import on and click Contacts.

2) A page will come up with all contacts in that list. Click the Add/Update button, select Excel/CSV and hit Upload.

3) Select the file with your contacts in your computer (it should be in Excel, CSV, TXT or OST format) and upload it.

4) When done (depending on the file size and your upload speed), just hit Next.

5) If you know the file doesn't use a comma as separator (which is the default setting for Excel or CSV databases), click Advanced and specify the separator character before proceeding.

6) A couple seconds later, E-goi will show a sample of the data in your file.

7) Now you just need to tell E-goi what's in each sample. This is as easy as matching up names! For example, if a data sample contains email addresses, simply match it to Email.

8) If you have other data samples in your file (eg. name, mobile number, etc.), just map them to their matching fields in E-goi (eg. select Mobile for the sample containing your contacts' mobile). Speaking of mobile or phone numbers, make sure your file includes the full numbers, including international prefix (eg. 44-XXXXXXXXXX).

9) If you have a data sample in your file without a matching field in E-goi (say, a column labeled "city")? No problem, just create that field in E-goi right there and then. Map your sample to Create extra field now. Enter the name of the new field (in this case, we'll be typing in "city"), select the field type ("text" is often used, but you can set it as date, number or even a list of entries) and hit Save. The new field has been added to E-goi and you can now use it to map your sample.

10) Once you've mapped all the data you'll be importing, click Next to see your import settings. All set? Hit Begin import.

11) When the import is finished (it usually takes less than a minute, but may take longer depending on your database size), E-goi will email you the import result.

Importing contacts to update an existing list in E-goi

1) Simply repeat the steps for a first-time import with one key difference: in the last step, just before you hit Begin import, tick the Update my existing contacts' data option and choose what to update.

Update existing contacts and import new ones

E-goi will compare the email addresses (or mobile numbers or any other field you've set as a unique field) in your current list with the file you're importing. Any new contacts will be added immediately while existing contacts will be checked for differences. If new data is found (a different name, birthdate, etc.), the contact's information in E-goi will be updated accordingly.

Update existing contacts but don't import new ones

E-goi will compare the data in your current list with the file you're importing and will only update existing contacts. New contacts in your file will not be imported.

Tag imported contacts

1) If you'd like to tag all contacts you're about to upload to later segment them, simply follow the steps for a first-time import with one difference: in the last step, just before beginning import, be sure to click Tag the contacts I'm importing and choose (or create) the tag you want to assign to these contacts. You can then proceed with your import as usual.

Importing contacts with multiple languages

1) Ensure the database file you'll be importing has a column labelled "language" with our language codes for each contact. Then simply match that column to E-goi's Contact language field during your import. You can use these codes:

en = English
fr = French
de = German
es = Spanish
pt = European Portuguese
br = Brazilian Portuguese

Create an import template

Use templates to save time and reduce the risk of making mistakes every time you import contacts under specific settings.

1) Start importing your contact file as usual. Once you reach the last step, select all your options, then enter a name in Template for importing and hit Save these settings as a template. You can now finish your import, if you want to.

2) Finally, every time you want to import contacts using the options saved in the template, open the Advanced options after choosing the file in the first step of the import. Choose the Template for this import and go to the next step. The template settings will be come up automatically to finish the import.

Automatically import a database from my site

If you keep your database file in your own site (web or FTP server) and regularly update its content, you can have E-goi automatically fetch it and update your list as well.

1) You'll need to import your file manually at least once. Make sure to import a database file which has the exact same name and column structure as the file in your web server! Then proceed as usual all the way to the last step and click the Enable recurrent import option.

2) The settings will come up. Under URL for importing contacts enter the full URL of your database file (including the database filename). Now choose how often E-goi will fetch the file (daily, weekly, etc.).

3) Be sure to tick the I am updating my database option and then click Begin import.

4) E-goi will import the file and update your list with any new data it contains. From then on, the whole thing will be automated on the schedule you've set.

Undoing a contact import

If you import a bad mailing list which hurts your sending reputation (or which even gets your account suspended), you can usually undo the import.

1) Head over to the "Contacts" menu in your E-goi account and hit "Actions" of the list you did the import into.

2) Find your import, click the options button on the right-hand side of the page (under the "Actions" column) and choose "Undo".

3) Your import will be undone, with all imported contacts being removed from the list.

Viewing the import results

1) Go to "Contacts" in the top menu, find the list where you made the import, and click on "Actions". Then, locate the import you made and, over the menu on the right side, click on "Result". We'll also email you the results.

Import results

Imported: The number of new contacts actually added to the list.
Updated: The number of contacts which aren't new, but whose profile was changed with new information from your file. This can happen if you tick the "Update my existing contacts' data (instead of simply adding new contacts)" option when doing your import.
Ignored: Contacts which E-goi skipped and didn't import. There are some reasons for this to happen:
- Due to duplicate entries or if they aren't contacts at all (eg. an empty line in your Excel/CSV file).
- If the contact's "email" field (if you're importing emails) or "mobile/phone" field (if you're importing phone numbers) is empty.
- Contacts that don't have information in the unique field.
- Duplicate contacts in the document that have already been imported.
- Email addresses identified as temporary or suspicious.
- Contacts that already exist in the list and don't need to be updated.
- Contacts that have been removed from the list.
Invalid: Contacts which E-goi found not to be valid. This includes mistyped email addresses (missing "@" or ".com") and badly formatted telephone numbers. Keep in mind this is just a formatting check and won't verify whether your valid emails are bouncing.

Frequently Asked Questions

Does E-goi purge invalid emails when importing my contact list?

If those are just misspellings (eg. no "@" symbol) and duplicate addresses, yes, E-go will auto-purge them for you on importing your mailing list. This will help you get rid of some invalid emails (which would damage your sending reputation), but it may not be enough to remove all your undeliverables.

My contacts are valid but they were all marked as "ignored"! Why?

While importing your file, you probably didn't map your "email" column to E-goi's "email" field. Similarly, if you're importing mobile/phone numbers, be sure to map their column in your file to E-goi's "mobile" or "phone" fields accordingly.

Can I find out exactly which contacts are in each status after an import?

Yes. In the import results area. If you want to analyse and adjust the ignored or invalid contacts, you can download the report in CSV or XML and work on it outside of E-goi before importing it again.

To do this, simply go to "Contacts" in the top menu, find the list where you made the import, and click on "Actions". Then, find the import you made and, over the menu on the right side, choose how you want to view the results.

What is the maximum size of databases that I can import?

You can import database files up to 30 MB in size. A few tips when importing big files:

If you're importing an Excel file, make sure to save it in CSV format before uploading it into E-goi (CSV files are much leaner and smaller than Excel).
If your CSV file is still larger than 30 MB, you can try to compress it in gzip format in order to keep it up to 30 MB. To do so, simply download and install 7-Zip, archive your CSV file as gzip (make sure its columns are delimited by semicolon) and then import it into E-goi. Also be sure to clear anything in the "Delimiter" option box when uploading your file into E-goi.
Importing a very large file with lots of columns may take a while. You can speed the whole thing up by importing only the columns you need. For example, if your file has dozens of data columns for each contact but you just want to import their email addresses, be sure to map the "email" column to E-goi's "email" field while leaving the rest unmapped.

What date formats can I use when importing?

You can use any of the following formats for date-based fields (eg. birthdays):

yyyy-mm-dd
dd-mm-yyyy
yyyy/mm/dd
dd/mm/yyyy
yyyy.mm.dd
dd.mm.yyyy
yyyy mm dd
dd mm yyyy

If you're importing an Excel file (XLS or XLSX), make sure any dates in it are stored as text:

1) Open your contact file in Excel and right-click on the column containing the dates.

2) Select the "Format cells" option. A window will come up. Click "Text" (on the left-hand side category listing) and then hit "OK".

3) You're good to go! You can now save your file and upload it to E-goi.