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Import Your Contacts into RedPodium in Bulk
Import Your Contacts into RedPodium in Bulk

Upload and update your contact list by bulk importing your contacts in a CSV file

Maddy avatar
Written by Maddy
Updated this week

The Import Contacts feature in RedPodium makes it easy for event organizers to quickly and accurately import lead and contact information from external sources. Whether you're migrating data from another system or updating your event database, this tool streamlines the process while reducing manual entry errors. With a seamless import experience, you can keep your contact lists up to date, so all of your information is in one centralized location.

Jump To...

Import Contacts

  • From the Pages screen, click the Contacts tab from the top menu bar

  • Click Import Contacts on the right-hand side

  • Click Download Template

    • If you would like to learn more about the columns, click View Columns


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  • Find the template on your computer, and open the file

  • Add the Contact Information to the template

  • Save your file

Import Contacts Template Descriptions

  1. Email (required)

  2. First Name (optional)

  3. Last Name (optional)

  4. Type (available values below) (optional - if this field is blank, our system will give any contacts the Contact type)

    • Lead

    • Contact

    • Customer

  5. Phone Number (optional)

  6. Billing Address Line 1 (optional)

  7. Billing Address Line 2 (optional)

  8. Billing City (optional)

  9. Billing State (optional)

  10. Billing Postal Code (optional)

  11. Country (optional)

  12. Subscribe to Email Communication (available values below) (optional)

    • Yes

    • No

  13. Accept SMS Communication (available values below) (optional)

    • Yes

    • No

  14. Notes (optional)

Warning: If you delete a required field from the template and attempt to import your contacts, the import will fail. For this reason, we discourage individuals from deleting columns in the template to ensure that your import will proceed as expected.

  • When you are ready, go back to the RedPodium Import Contacts screen

  • Click Upload CSV

  • Select the appropriate file

  • Click Open

  • Enter the Email you'd like to receive a summary of successful contacts, along with a CSV file detailing the reasons for any unsuccessful imports

  • Select whether you want to Create New Contacts Only or Create New Contacts and Update Existing Contacts Based on the Contact Email

  • Click Import

Pro Tip: When selecting the Create New Contacts Only option, our system will only add new contacts. If a contact's billing email already exists in your RedPodium account, this contact will be skipped. The summary email will indicate how many contacts were skipped due to existing records in RedPodium.

If you choose the Create New Contacts and Update Existing Contacts option, our system will update any contacts in your account that share the same billing email as those in your CSV file. With this option, the system will update the name, contact type, address, and email/SMS communication subscription status for the contact. Our system will add a new phone number and note (rather than replace existing fields) if these fields are different on the CSV file.

Example: Sally Jones has a contact record in RedPodium with the billing email sally@registrations.com and an address of 123 Main St. If you import a contact for sally@registrations.com with the address 345 Seaport Ave

  • If Create New Contacts Only is selected, Sally's contact will be skipped

  • If Create New Contacts and Update Existing Contacts is selected, Sally's contact address will be updated to 345 Seaport Ave after the import.

Note: Contacts in RedPodium are linked to their billing email. For this reason, contacts with different billing emails will be treated as separate individuals in our system. To maintain accuracy, we recommend double-checking email addresses before importing and strongly suggest using a unique email for each individual contact.

If you are updating existing contacts, ensure that the billing email in your import file matches the one in their RedPodium contact profile. If the billing email is different, the system will create a new contact instead of updating the existing one.

  • Once the import is complete, an email will be sent to the address provided

    • New Imported Contacts will show how many contacts were successfully import into RedPodium

    • Skipped Contacts That Already Existed will show how many contacts were already in RedPodium, and were skipped (this field appears only if using the Create New Contacts Only option)

    • Failed Contacts shows how many contacts were unsuccessful

    • Any unsuccessful contacts will be attached in a CSV file with an error code sharing why the contacts was unsuccessfully imported.

Note: The time our system takes to import the contacts varies, depending on how large the file is.

Failed Contact Import Codes

  • CSV has no data rows: this error occurs when the CSV file has a head row but no data rows. We recommend uploading a new CSV file with data

  • Error parsing CSV: this error occurs when the CSV is empty. We recommend uploading a new CSV file with data

  • Error reading CSV: this error occurs when the CSV format is wrong (i.e. xcel, pdf, etc). We recommend saving the file as a CSV, and re-importing the CSV file

  • CSV has ____ rows. The maximum supported is 50000 rows. Please split the CSV into smaller files: this error occurs when the CSV file has more than 50,000 contacts. We recommend breaking this file into multiple smaller CSV files, and uploading those individually

  • Email is required: this error occurs because the email column is blank on the contact. We recommend adding an email to this contact, and re-importing. Note: Contacts in RedPodium are linked to their billing email. To maintain accuracy, we recommend double-checking email addresses before importing and strongly suggest using a unique email for each individual contact.

  • Invalid Accept SMS Communication: "_____". It should be one of: yes, no, y, n, true, false, t, f, 1, or 0: this error occurs when the entered SMS subscribe type is in an unsupported format. we recommend updating the SMS communication column for the contact to Yes, No, Y, N, True, False, T, F, 1, or 0, and re-importing

  • Invalid Country: "_": this error occurs when the country code is in an invalid format. We recommend adding a valid 2-letter country code (e.g. "US"), and re-importing. See the full list of country codes here: countries.csv

  • Invalid Email "_____________": this error occurs when the email is in an invalid format. We recommend adding a valid email, and re-importing

  • Invalid Phone Number: "______________". Valid formats include +11234567890, 11234567890, 1234567890, (123) 456-7890, 1 (123) 456-7890, +1 (123) 456-7890, and 123-456-7890: this error occurs when the phone number is in an invalid format. We recommend adding the phone number in a valid format, and re-importing

  • Invalid Subscribe to Email Communication: "_____". It should be one of: yes, no, y, n, true, false, t, f, 1, or 0: this error occurs when the entered email subscribe type is in an unsupported format. we recommend updating the email communication column for the contact to Yes, No, Y, N, True, False, T, F, 1, or 0, and re-importing

  • Invalid Type: "_____". It must be one of: contact, lead, customer, donor: this error occurs when the entered contact type is in an unsupported format. We recommend updating the contact type column for the contact to either Contact, Lead, or Customer, and re-importing

FAQs

Can I Upload My Document as a Numbers file or another file type?

At this time, contacts must be imported as a CSV file. If you file is saved under another file type, we recommend saving the document as a CSV.

What is the Maximum Number of Contacts I can Import?

Right now, users can enter a maximum of 50,000 contacts at once using the Import Contact feature.

Can I import my organization contacts into RedPodium using the Import Contacts feature?

Currently, the Import Contact feature is designed for individual contacts only and does not support importing organization contacts. To add organization contacts to RedPodium, we recommend entering these contacts individually.

  • To add a contact individually, click the Contacts tab from the main menu bar

  • Click Add Contact

  • Add your contact details

  • Click Save

Which country codes can I use when importing contacts?

You can import contacts for the following countries. See the full list here: countries.csv

Can I send text messages to my imported contacts?

At this time, users are unable to send text messages to imported contacts. Our team is actively working on adding this feature soon.

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