Adding your Contacts

To add new contacts to the platform, you select Add Subscribers under the Subscribers tab.

Consent Dialog

When you initiate an action to add contacts, a Consent Dialog box appears requesting confirmation of adherence to the message delivery terms. The terms are important — confirm compliance with all of them before proceeding.

🚧
ON THE CONSENT DIALOG BOX
If the Consent Dialog is not confirmed, you will not be able to upload contacts to the platform, since it is an essential part of the Terms of Service.

After you confirm the Consent Dialog, the following options for adding contacts are available:

Upload CSV file (Multiple Contacts)
Add a single Contact (Single Contact)
Copy/Paste (Copy Contacts)

Upload CSV file

(Multiple Contacts)

To add multiple contacts,

Select the Upload CSV file tab
Insert the CSV file in the Drag & Drop area on the screen or click Browse Files to select the file from where it is stored.

📘
ON CSV FILES REQUIREMENTS
Only comma-separated value (.CSV) formatted files can be uploaded to the platform. Make sure that the uploaded file is a comma-separated value file that allows you to save data in tabular format. It is mandatory to have a row of headers on the first row of the file including a 'mobile' type header to facilitate the validation process of the file by the platform.

After you upload the CSV file, the platform takes you to the Field Mapping screen. The Field Mapping screen displays a table with:

The column headers of the CSV file under Column Header from File,
The content of the first record of the CSV file under Preview Information,
Three headers identified as Valid, Invalid, and Empty, which establish the state of the attributes of the file that have been matched, and
A Field Name column that presents in each of its rows a drop-down menu, Skip, which is where the actual matching between the CSV file record attributes and the platform fields takes place.

The following example shows how field matching works. The CSV file to be uploaded looks as follows. Although it looks like a spreadsheet, it is an Excel file saved with the .csv extension.

The resulting uploaded file would yield the following matching table in the Field Mapping screen. All entries under the Column Match header are set to the Skipped Column icon. The legend guide in the top right corner shows all possible matching states.

By default, all loaded CSV attributes are in the Skipped state and will not be uploaded as part of the contact entry.

The next column shows the CSV file headers in their original order. These represent the individual attributes for each contact record to be uploaded.

Compared to the sample file header row,

The sequence is the same as the sample file header row, displayed vertically.

The next header, Preview Information, displays the first contact record of the CSV file with its corresponding values. The phone number format in the CSV file must adhere to the ITU E.164 recommendation: a maximum of 15 digits including the Country Code and the national variant.

The Valid, Invalid, and Empty columns start empty. They populate during matching to reflect the validation status of each field.

The platform requires basic contact information such as mobile phone numbers and email addresses. These are the easiest attributes to match first.

In the table, the mobile phone number is identified as cell # (the eighth entry) and the email address as email (the last entry). The other seven attributes — name, company_name, address, city, and others — apply depending on your engagement goals.

So, to match the cell # field in the CSV file with the platform's mobile field, under the Field Name column,

Select Skip in the row of the cell # entry. A dropdown menu appears with two sections:

Actions, with Skip and Create as New Field options. The Skip option is the default state for all fields of a contact record.

The uploaded CSV file may contain multiple fields that may or may not apply to your broadcasts or automations, but are relevant to other processes of your organization. The Create as New Field option adds new fields to the platform. CSV elements relevant to your broadcasts or automations become part of the platform fields and enter the matching process.

For example, you may be targeting fans of different sports teams (soccer, cricket, basketball). Consequently, you add a sport field to the platform if this attribute exists in your contact records.

Select your match column represents the list of all current platform fields to be matched against, which could be the default fields or ones that you have added to the platform. You select other matching headers through the Skip dropdown menu to include them in the Contacts List.

In the Select your match column section, choose mobile from the menu, since cell# corresponds to the mobile number of the contact. This action changes the appearance of this particular entry in the matching table to the following,

The Skipped icon changes to Matched, the Valid, Invalid, and Empty columns change from being empty to reflect the platform's validation of the data present in the uploaded file. In this case, there are seven (7) valid, one (1) invalid, and two (2) empty record elements for the cell # and mobile matches.

Repeat the process for the email entry in the table. This is, in the last row under the Field Name column, select Skip. In it, locate the email field and select it. As before, the entry in the table will be modified to reflect the platform detection of the record elements.

Any attribute of the file records that has a counterpart in the platform fields is added through this procedure.

If a CSV attribute has no matching platform field, you create it using the Create as New Field option. In the Field Name menu,

Select the Create as New Field option on the row of the CSV entry that needs to be added to the platform fields, for example, the zip entry. The platform will display the following,

The Skipped icon changes to Added, the Valid, Invalid, and Empty columns change from being empty to reflect the platform's validation of the data present in the uploaded file. In this case, there are seven (7) valid, zero (0) invalid, and three (3) empty record elements for the zip and mobile matches.

The platform inherits the entry name as the field name. The Type box sets the data format and Default Value.

The resulting table after the matching process has been completed will look as shown in the following figure.

The matching results show two invalid entries: one under cell # and one under email. After you click either entry, you review the invalid records and identify the rejection reason. The figure below shows the cell # case, where the platform identified an invalid mobile number entry.

For this scenario, the number is invalid because of the hyphens used in separating the different portions of the number, in addition to excluding the Country Code. You delete the entry through the trashcan icon under Actions, or correct the number by editing it in the text box.

Multiple reasons explain why a number may be invalid: incorrect digit count, incorrect country configuration, or country prefixes that do not conform to E.164.

Without corrective action, the platform ignores all invalid-tagged fields. These fields are left blank in the contact record.

After completing the matching,

Click Add. The Creation in Progress pop-up window will appear to confirm the total number of new and updated contacts, and the number of detected field errors.
Select Ok.

After you select Ok, the contacts list displays only the mobile numbers.

Single Contact

To add a single contact, you select the Add a Subscriber tab. The Add New Subscriber form appears with the existing platform Fields. You fill it out with the requested information.

Select the country your contact belongs to from the Country dropdown.
Enter the Contact's mobile number, email address, or both, since you need one or the other to create a Contact in the platform.
Select Add to complete the task.

In the form image above, both the mobile and email boxes show a green checkmark indicating the data is in the correct format.

Copy Contacts

In the Copy/Paste tab, you create the equivalent of a CSV file following the format shown in the text entry box.

The sample entries show two possible scenarios. You enter data according to your broadcast or automation design, for segmentation, personalization, or other purposes.

📘
MAXIMUM NUMBER OF LINES
Up to a maximum of 5,000 lines can be entered. Make sure that you are following the CSV format.

After you enter the information into the text box, click Add. The platform takes you to the Field Matching screen, where you match the information with platform fields.