From the CSV Contact Upload screen you can upload your CSV contact lists to Ometria.
This article explains how to create a CSV contact file and how to use the upload tool.
See also: How to use a CSV upload as an automation trigger
Subscription statuses
Contacts uploaded via CSV retain their subscription status and timestamp unless:
- you select force subscribe or force unsubscribe from the Subscription mode panel, or;
- they are forcibly opted in or opted out via the Ometria preference centre.
Equally, if you upload contacts via CSV, the subscription value or status doesn't change later if subscription or unsubscription data is sent to Ometria via your importer.
For example, if jane@fashion.com is uploaded via CSV with an ‘unsubscribed’ status, and Jane later re-subscribes through your website, her re-subscription is sent to Ometria through your importer. Jane’s subscription status will not change and will still be ‘unsubscribed’.
Ometria’s standard rules of priority for contact listings are:
- The Ometria preference centre
- API, App, CSV
- Ometria form
- Importer (e.g. Magento or Shopify)
- Third party sync
If there are two contact records with the same priority level, then the varying parameters from the most recent record are used.
For this reason, we recommend that you upload contacts via your importer (Shopify, Magento, or your custom importer).
Navigation
To access the CSV Contact Upload screen, click your account in the far right of the Ometria menu bar and select Contact upload from the dropdown:
Upload a new CSV contact list
Select CSV file
Click Select CSV file to choose a CSV file from your computer.
Upload requirements
File size: Maximum 10MB
Encoding: The following encoded CSV files are supported -
- Windows ISO-8859-1 (latin 1)
- UTF8
Headers
Your CSV file must contain headers in the first row.
The following headers are accepted by Ometria - they are case sensitive and must be written exactly as below.
Be aware that the email field is required for all CSV files.
|
Header |
Example |
Description |
|
|
jane@fashion.com |
Required. |
|
id |
1234abc |
The ID header is the payload ID for your CSV file. Should you choose to include `id`, it must be a unique value for every new upload. Can contain both numbers and letters. |
|
prefix |
Ms |
|
|
firstname |
Jane |
|
|
middlename |
Louise |
|
|
lastname |
Smith-Jones |
|
|
gender |
f |
This value can only be 'm' or 'f'. If unknown or other, leave blank. |
|
date_of_birth |
1990-01-01 |
The date should be supplied in YYYY-MM-DD format. |
|
country_id |
GB |
ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 code |
|
timestamp_acquired |
The date that the contact was first acquired. The date should be either:
|
|
| marketing_optin
|
TRUE FALSE |
Whether or not a contact is opted into receiving email marketing (subscribed). If you leave this field blank, the opt-in status will be 'Unknown'. The marketing opt-in status for contacts with this header will change if you select Subscription mode Unchanged. |
|
timestamp_subscribed |
The date that the contact subscribed to your marketing emails. The date should be either:
|
|
|
timestamp_unsubscribed |
The date that the contact unsubscribed from your marketing emails. The date should be either:
|
|
|
phone_number |
+447123456789 |
Use the international format. See further information on uploading phone numbers below. |
|
properties.custom_field |
You can use this to enter any custom field you have already configured in Ometria by replacing 'custom_field' with the ID of the custom field. E.g. properties.contact_birthday |
|
|
channel_sms_allow_marketing |
TRUE FALSE |
Whether or not a contact is opted into receiving SMS marketing.
|
|
channel_sms_dt_updated_marketing |
YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm:ss |
Similar to the 'timestamp_subscribed' field, but for SMS marketing opt-ins. The date should be either:
If Ometria only receives the 'channel_sms_allow_marketing' preference for a contact and not the timestamp, the timestamp is set to now (i.e. the time of upload). If the contact already has an SMS preference set and changes it (i.e. unsubscribes from SMS marketing) the timestamp and preference are overwritten. If the contact already has an SMS preference set and does not change it, the timestamp is only updated if it is an earlier date than the one currently stored.
|
Uploading and merging phone numbers
Be aware that if you upload a contact with a phone number which matches an existing phone number in your database, then the number will not be merged.
Example, if you upload the following two records, one in January and one in February, with the same phone number:
|
Heading |
Uploaded January 2021 |
Uploaded February 2021 |
|
id |
1234 |
5678 |
|
|
customer1@gmail.com |
customer2@hotmail.co.uk |
|
phone_number |
+447567890987 |
+447567890987 |
...then Ometria will only ingest the following information:
- id = 5678
- email = customer2@hotmail.co.uk
And not the phone number.
This is in order to avoid the duplication of phone numbers.
There is currently no way to move phone numbers across or assign a phone number to the most recent profile.
For more context on how Ometria validates phone numbers, see Google's GitHub library for parsing, formatting, and validating international phone numbers.
ISO 8601 format
Use the following formula to quickly re-format your dates:
=TEXT(A1,"yyyy-mm-ddThh:MM:ss")
Add contacts to static segment?
Choose from any of the following options:
|
Option |
Description |
|
No |
Do not add any of the uploaded contacts to a segment. |
|
Add contacts to an existing static segment |
Select an existing segment from the dropdown list. |
|
Add contacts to new static segment |
Create a new static segment with the uploaded contacts by selecting this radial and entering a segment name in the blank field. |
Merge mode
When uploading CSV data, Ometria uses the contact's email address as the unique identifier.
This means that if a contact already exists in your account with an email address which matches one of the addresses in your CSV file, that contact and their data could potentially be overwritten.
You have the choice to select Only overwrite fields where a non-empty cell is provided.
|
If... |
...then |
|
you select 'Only overwrite fields where a non-empty cell is provided' |
only the non-empty values (i.e. cells with data in them) in your CSV file will overwrite the data which matches those fields in the Ometria contact record. If your CSV file has blank (empty) cells, these will not overwrite the Ometria contact record. |
|
you don't select 'Only overwrite fields where a non-empty cell is provided' |
all of the data in the CSV upload (including blank cells) will overwrite the data which matches those fields in the Ometria contact record. |
In the example below, Jane Smith has an existing record in Ometria, but she has changed her name and her title since the last time her data was uploaded, and her 'id' has been left blank.
The following fields have changed:
- id - left blank ('empty')
- prefix - from 'Miss' to 'Ms'
- lastname - from 'Smith' to 'Smith-Jones'
- Where 'Only overwrite fields where a non-empty cell is provided' was selected, all of Jane's data has been updated, except 'id', as that cell was empty.
- Where 'Only overwrite fields where a non-empty cell is provided' was not selected, all of Jane's data has been updated, including 'id', which is now blank in the Ometria record.
Tip:
Merge mode only works if you are replacing one value with another. This means that if you want to use merge mode to clear data, e.g. to leave 'firstname' blank, you will need to make changes to another field like 'prefix' or 'middlename'.
Subscription mode
Select a subscription method:
|
Option |
Description |
|
Soft subscribed |
Select to subscribe contacts unless they have unsubscribed already. |
|
Force subscribed |
Select to subscribe contacts even if they have already unsubscribed. |
|
Force unsubscribe |
Select to unsubscribe contacts. |
|
Unchanged |
Select to leave contacts' subscription statuses unchanged. |
Data protection information
Before you can upload your CSV file, you must select both of the following checkboxes to confirm that:
- The list you are uploading was not purchased, rented, appended or provided by a third party, and;
- the contacts you are uploading are expecting to hear from you.
Once you have confirmed, you can click Upload to begin uploading your CSV file.
Video guide
Example CSV file
Click the attachment below to download an example CSV file with all headers and four rows of data:
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