Importing to Contacts CRM Overview
In this article we discuss important aspects of the Import Wizard as well as suggestions on how to prepare your .cvs or .txt file as you import contacts and companies into the Contacts CRM solution.
Overview
The Import Wizard built within Contacts CRM allows users a quick and easy way to migrate their list of contacts and companies from previous platforms to Contacts CRM. However because of the wide variety of 3rd party CRM systems, spreadsheets, and database applications it is important that the user properly prepares the records within the .cvs or .txt file they are attempting to import.
Additionally, because of the way each contact's record is structured within Contacts CRM, the user should also have a solid understanding of the differences between a contact's Contact Type and a Group Tag within Contacts CRM before attempting an import.
The information outlined below helps the users to prepare and understand these differences which will ultimately lead to a successful import of your records.
Note - To begin using Contacts CRM, you must have a paid plan.
CVS OR TXT File Preparation
The Import Wizard within Contacts CRM is built to accept two file type extensions during an upload. They are files with the extension type of either .cvs or .txt.
With the vast verities of fields utilized between various systems it is impossible to provide users with a detailed list of how to prepare their specific .cvs or .txt file.
Instead, the Import Wizard provides an analyzation summary after the user has mapped each of the fields within the user's .cvs or .txt file to the Contacts CRM fields. Within the Summary step of the Import Wizard the user can choose to download the list of records that are considered invalid while also continuing with the import process for valid records.
When a user chooses to download the invalid list, the Import Wizard will provide the record that was invalid along with the reason for it was deemed invalid.
By having this method, users can incrementally work with records that may still be considered invalid without delaying the importing of valid records.
To help with this preparation of your .cvs or .txt file prior to attempting an import, we recommend reviewing the records within your .cvs or .txt file for the following items:
- Valid email addresses - Contact records that contain invalid or missing email addresses will be cleaned from the import and marked as invalid. Records containing duplicate email addresses will be merged into one record within Contacts CRM.
- Phone numbers - To ensure phone numbers meet our system's requirements we recommend your record's phone numbers do not contain the leading "1", which indicates a phone number's Country Code.
- Company Names - Each company name should be used uniformly throughout your records. Having multiple variations of a company's name will result in multiple companies being imported to your Companies Tab records.
- State Abbreviations - For consistency with our system all state abbreviations will be automatically converted to the state's full name after it is imported to Contacts CRM.
Contact Type vs. Group Tags During Import
Each contact stored within Contracts CRM is required to be categorized as either a Contact or Lead.
This value is set by utilizing the Contact Type field within each contact's record. The reason for this type of record structure is to assist users as they utilize the various integrations built within Contacts CRM.
However, we recognize that not everyone applies this type of strict structuring to their contact records. Instead, some may choose to formally structure their contacts as Buyers and Sellers, while other's may not have any formal structure. In these cases a user may have chosen to previously utilized some type of tag to help them organize their contact records.
Step 2 of the Import Wizard provides two options to help accommodate the various types of record structing. By allowing the user to specify how the Contact Type values and Group Tag values should be applied during an import, the Import Wizard helps to preserve the user's prior record structuring while also meeting the requirements of Contacts CRM.
To properly understand the differences between a record's Contact Type and Group Tag as they relate to Contacts CRM, please see the following definitions for each.
- Contact Type - A required field within a contact's record that can only have a value of Contact or Lead and is used to structure a contact's record within Contacts CRM.
- Group Tags - A method of categorizing a list of contacts into groups where each contact can be tagged as belong to one or more groups.
Applying a Contact Type to Imported Records
During the times that a user's record does utilize structuring each contact as either a Lead or Contact, Step 2 allows the user to map to the specific field within the .cvs or .txt file to the Contact Type field within Contacts CRM. This allows the user to continue utilizing this same structuring within Contacts CRM.
During those times that a user has not previously relied on structing their contacts as either a Lead or Contact, the user is required to choose if their contact records should be imported as either a Lead or Contact. To do so the user can simply select either the Lead or Contact option within the Mark all Contact Types As field.
Note - To learn more about the Lead and Contact structure as it relates to contact records within Contacts CRM, please visit our article titled Adding a Contact to Contacts CRM.
Warning - While mapping a field within your .cvs or .txt file to the Contacts Type field (within Contacts CRM) the .cvs or .txt field must contain only a value of either Lead or Contact. Any other value within this field will result in the record being invalid.
Applying Group Tags to Imported Records
When the user has not utilized structuring their contacts as either a Lead or Contact, and instead previously used some other type of grouping, the user can choose to map their .cvs or .txt field that stores this grouping, to the Group Tags field.
When a user chooses to map a .cvs or .txt field to the Group Tags field within Step 2 of the Import Wizard, each unique tag is automatically created within the Manage Group Tag settings of Contacts CRM. This way the user can continue managing their structure and grouping methods for future contacts that may be added to Contacts CRM.
Note - To learn more about Managing Group Tags, please visit our article titled Managing Group Tags within Contacts CRM.
Important - During the import, it is acceptable to have multiple group tags within a single field provided they are separated by commas. If no commas are used to separate each group tag value, the wizard assumes it is the full value of the mapped field.
Important - When a single unique email address is recorded multiple times within a .cvs or .txt for the purpose of recording various individual values, the Import Wizard will automatically merge each associated value into one contact record for that unique email address.
Important - Because of the versatile nature of digital records and the manor they may be previously stored before importing to Contacts CRM, it is not possible to import mobile home park records that may be associated with imported contacts. Instead users are required to link their imported contacts to the mobile home parks within our Park Sites solution.
For any questions that you may still have about this, or any other topic in MHParks.com, please contact our Support Team by emailing us at support@mhparks.com.