0:02 Hey everyone, thank you so much for

0:04 joining us today. Today we're going to

0:07 be talking about how you can import your

0:10 contacts and how to create custom fields as

0:13 well. This will cover more

0:16 basic imports, whether you

0:19 are implementing your system or you've

0:22 got a list on hand that you want to

0:26 import into the system. We'll

0:30 help you with that, starting off with

0:32 the basics and then

0:34 getting into more

0:36 advanced topics later in the

0:38 video. It's possible

0:42 you'll get everything you need in just

0:44 the first half of the video. Before

0:48 we jump into that, make sure to

0:53 ask any questions you might have

0:55 during the video. We're going to

0:57 be live streaming this to start, and then

0:58 it will be available for

1:01 viewing later. While it's live

1:04 streaming, feel free to throw any

1:06 questions into the comments or chat, and

1:08 we'll be there to answer them.

1:11 If you're watching this later,

1:13 you can always reach out to our

1:15 support team. In the bottom right of

1:17 your VipeCloud account, you'll

1:19 have easy access to send your chat

1:21 questions, and we'll be happy to

1:24 help you. The topics we're

1:27 covering today start with how to

1:29 export your

1:32 contacts from your source system, whether it's a CRM or

1:36 email marketing platform you're

1:39 migrating from. You need

1:45 to get that file on hand, review it,

1:49 and ensure it's prepped and ready to import into

1:54 VipeCloud. Also, make sure you

1:56 have the necessary custom fields

2:00 ready in VipeCloud so

2:04 the data has a home. We'll discuss how

2:07 the actual import happens once

2:09 those preparation steps are complete, and how to

2:12 verify your work to ensure

2:15 everything has been done

2:18 successfully. We'll cover all

2:22 that. Before we get into the demo, a

2:27 major topic is duplicates—how

2:35 to avoid creating duplicate contacts in the system.

2:41 This is typically handled through email addresses

2:46 because you might have multiple contacts

2:48 with the same names. Email addresses

2:51 help differentiate those—for example, if you have five different Bob Smiths in your account.

2:57 When you import, VipeCloud

3:00 checks for matching email addresses. If there isn't a match,

3:06 it creates a new contact record. If there is a match,

3:08 it looks for new data. For example, if

3:15 there's a match in the email address but

3:18 a new last name and phone number,

3:21 VipeCloud overwrites the last name and phone number

3:23 while keeping everything else

3:26 intact, without creating a

3:29 duplicate. This is why it's

3:31 important to have email addresses for every contact

3:33 to help with data management and

3:38 avoiding duplicates.

3:40 As mentioned, you need a file

3:52 to import. If you're not sure

4:01 how to export from your other system,

4:05 reach out to them or search online. You

4:08 need a file to

4:10 import. VipeCloud accepts CSV files.

4:16 Most systems export CSV files. Sometimes, you'll get

4:23 an Excel file. You can

4:26 easily save it as a CSV file.

4:33 Once it's saved as CSV,

4:37 it can be imported into VipeCloud.

4:39 Now we're going to jump

4:49 over to Excel. This is a

4:54 CSV file we're importing.

5:00 This is an example of a

5:03 good file ready for import.

5:07 Some systems

5:11 combine first and last names into one column.

5:15 VipeCloud does not handle first and last names that way.

5:22 Best practice is to split them into separate columns before

5:29 importing. Similarly, some

5:35 systems have addresses in one

5:41 monolithic column. VipeCloud requires them separately—street

5:45 address, address 2 (suite or apartment), city,

5:51 state, and ZIP code as separate

6:02 columns.

6:07 We'll discuss custom fields later. For now, let's move along.

6:24 If your import involves custom fields,

6:31 handle those before importing.

6:35 Now let's move to the

6:46 import stage. Jumping over to the VipeCloud account,

7:00 our file is ready and prepped for import.

7:02 Go to

7:04 Contacts on the left

7:07 sidebar. At the bottom, you'll see

7:11 Import. Click it.

7:13 You have two options: contacts and contact

7:16 lists. In most cases, you'll

7:20 want to do a contact list import

7:23 rather than just contacts.

7:30 A contact import adds all

7:34 contacts from the file to your

7:37 contact list.

7:43 A contact list import adds contacts and

7:45 creates a contact list. This helps if

7:50 you want to keep these people segmented

7:57 or send a mass email to them immediately.

8:03 It also makes it easy to delete contacts

8:12 if something went wrong with your import.

8:19 For these reasons, I recommend doing a contact

8:24 list import. Click contact lists.

9:00 You can browse your computer

9:05 or drag and drop the CSV.

9:10 Give the list a name.

9:20 Match your CSV headers to VipeCloud fields.

9:32 For example, match the first

9:39 name column to the First Name field.

10:02 You can start typing the field name

10:09 to save time. For example, type "name"

10:11 and select First Name.

11:24 Ensure you match all fields correctly

11:41 before hitting Process Import.

12:05 The import happens almost instantly, but larger imports may take a few minutes.

12:22 Now let's verify the import.

12:40 Go to Contact Lists and

12:44 open your contact list.

13:01 Use the Quick View button to review data

13:12 and ensure everything is where it should be.

13:26 If something doesn't look right, reach out to us with your import file, and we'll help.

14:12 If everything looks good, you're ready to go.

14:48 We'll now dive into custom fields.

15:01 First, check the standard fields to see if you need custom ones.

16:01 If needed, create custom fields by selecting the appropriate field type.

17:00 Choose the most limited field type for the data.

18:38 Now let's quickly discuss how to ensure your source file matches custom field options.

20:01 Use Excel's filter function to identify all unique values in a column.

21:17 If you're using a picklist, separate multiple values with a comma and space.

22:18 Let's switch back to VipeCloud to talk about advanced settings for fields.

24:00 You can elevate important custom fields to the Create Contact screen.

24:46 Required fields must have data during contact creation.

25:40 Unique fields ensure a value appears only once in the system.

27:04 Hidden fields can be used to hide unnecessary information from the system.

28:11 That covers everything for today. We hope this video helps you understand the import process. If you need further assistance, feel free to schedule an implementation with us.

29:00 Thanks for watching, and have a great day!