Learn how to import a contact list into magnews from a file when email is the database key and discover the options available to manage your data during the import.
Before you start
Before uploading a contact list, make sure the file always includes the email field. When email is the database key, magnews uses this value to check whether a contact already exists or is a new entry.
Also verify that the data complies with the magnews terms of service and includes only contacts who have directly provided their consent and their email address. This way, you work with a compliant database that’s ready for sending communications.
Starting the contact import
Contact import starts from Profile studio > Dashboard using the Import button. If your account includes more than one database, you’ll need to select the database where you want to run the import.
Magnews supports several file formats, including:
- Excel
- Text files such as .txt or .csv
- Compressed .zip files. In this case, it’s important to keep the original extension as well, for example “.csv.zip”
The system automatically detects the format and structure of the selected file.
During the import, you can specify whether you’re adding new contacts, updating existing ones or doing both. Magnews compares the file data with what’s already in the database and identifies any existing contacts that share the same key field.
File parameters
At this stage, you define how magnews should read the file:
- You can specify whether the first row contains the column headers, making it easier to match them with database fields
- You can confirm the automatic removal of extra spaces at the beginning and end of text fields
- If you’re using text files, you can specify whether fields are separated by a delimiter or whether the file uses a fixed-width structure, allowing magnews to correctly interpret each value
Field mapping
Field mapping links the columns in your file to the fields in the database.
You can use automatic mapping, which tries to match predefined fields, or step in manually by selecting the most appropriate destination field for each column.
For each column, you can also decide not to import the data.
Remember to always map the email field, since it represents the primary key of the database and allows magnews to distinguish contacts.
If the file contains information that isn’t yet available in the database, you can create new fields directly during mapping by defining the data type and label.
Default values and audience membership
For fields that aren’t present in the file, you can set default values. For example, you can define the subscription status of contacts, distinguishing between confirmed and unconfirmed subscriptions, or specify the source of the contacts.
You can also manage communication preferences, such as email, SMS, or other channels, so contacts align immediately with your sending rules.
At this stage, you can also choose whether to add imported contacts to an audience. This option helps you easily find them in magnews and use them for targeted communications. You can create a new static audience (which is deleted by default after 14 days) or use an existing audience, keeping contact management separate from audience management.
Preferences and actions on contacts
Several options are available to handle special cases during import, but the default settings work well in most situations.
Among the available configurations, you can:
- Decide how to handle data errors, for example by replacing invalid values with empty fields
- Apply an action to contacts with an email address in the blacklist. You can:
- Reject the contacts in the file. These contacts won’t be imported. If this is the first import for the database, this is the only available option
- Unsubscribe the contacts, who will no longer receive communications for that database
- Suspend the contacts
- Apply an action to imported mobile numbers, choosing between:
- Strict validation: all numbers without a valid international prefix or containing characters other than digits and/or the plus sign (+) are discarded
- Automatic cleanup: all invalid characters are automatically removed, and numbers without an international prefix are completed using the prefix defined in the database settings. If no prefix is configured, the one from the general database settings is used
- Apply an action to unsubscribed contacts. You can:
- Avoid importing them (default option)
- Import them by updating all fields except the status, which remains Unsubscribed
- Import them by updating both fields and status, changing it from Unsubscribed to Subscribed. In this case, make sure you’ve met all privacy requirements and have the contacts’ consent to be re-subscribed to the database.
With this option, you can also choose to exclude from the import contacts who unsubscribed for one or more reasons, such as via the unsubscribe link
- Apply an action to suspended contacts. You can:
- Avoid importing them (default option)
- Import them by updating all fields except the status, which remains Suspended
- Import them by updating both fields and status, changing it from Suspended to Subscribed. In this case, make sure you’ve met all privacy requirements and have the contacts’ consent to be re-subscribed to the database
- Apply an action to unconfirmed contacts. You can:
- Avoid importing them (default option)
- Import them by updating all fields except the status, which remains Unconfirmed
- Import them by updating both fields and status, changing it from Unconfirmed to Subscribed. In this case, make sure you’ve met all privacy requirements and have the contacts’ consent to be subscribed to the database
In addition, if you initially chose to update contacts already in the database, you can decide which action to apply to empty (unset) fields in the file, choosing between “Empty the fields on the database” and “Do not update values”.
For example, suppose you start an import choosing both to add new contacts and to update existing ones. If your Excel file contains three contacts and, for one of them, the Region field is empty while the same contact already has a value in the database:
- If you select “Empty the fields on the database”, the Region value is removed
- If you select “Do not update values”, the value already stored in the database remains unchanged
Data validation and import
Before starting the import, magnews shows a summary of the file validation and the selected options. This step lets you confirm that everything matches your expectations.
If you plan to import other files with the same structure, you can save an import template. Templates store mappings and preferences and are linked to a specific database, so you can reuse them without reconfiguring the import each time.
Once the import starts, you can review the final result, distinguishing between new contacts, updated contacts, and rejected contacts.
If errors occur, magnews highlights the records that weren’t imported and lets you review the original file by downloading a file that summarizes the detected errors.
Common error examples include:
- Invalid fields: for example, an incorrectly written email address such as “oliwier@@example.com”
- Duplicate unique fields in the file: for example, if the key field is email and it appears in multiple rows in your file, only the first contact is accepted
At the end of the process, the Dashboard shows the updated number of contacts in the database.