Upload supporter data and instantly create or update segments from your files.
Overview
The Manual CSV File Upload feature allows you to import supporter profile data into the CDP without needing automated integrations. This is particularly useful for quick updates from offline campaigns, partner platforms, or legacy systems. During the upload process, you can also choose to merge data into an existing segment or automatically create a new one, streamlining your targeting workflows.
Key Benefits
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Upload supporter data with full control
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Automatically generate segments based on your file
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Track file status and troubleshoot issues in real-time
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Activate data immediately for campaigns or reporting
Step-by-Step Guide: Uploading and Segmenting
1. Prepare Your CSV File
Ensure your file is formatted correctly:
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Format:
.csv (make sure it is UTF-8 formatted, ANSI will be denied) -
Most commonly users upload files to an exsiting data point in order to upload new profiles. If you are uploading data to an existing data point, make sure you include in your file matching headers to the fields required by the data point (e.g., email, phone, name). You can see these fields under the Source Field column on the Data Onboarding page, by clicking on the data point.
Field(s) marked with the GREEN icon under the Attributes column, are the unique ID(s) of the data point, e.g.: email address. Fields marked with the BLUE icon are optional, your file do not need to include them. Fields that do not have either the GREEN or the BLUE icons are mandatory fields, your file needs to include them.
- If you are uploading a file and create a new data point at the same time, your file can include any columns, but the column headers cannot include special characters or white spaces. Keep in mind that newly created profile data points from a file need to be added to the Golden Record before you can see the profiles in the CDP and use them in segmentation. This can be done by your Customer Success Manager or if you have a Super Admin role.
2. Upload Your File
Go to Data Onboarding > Import Data and select the CSV file.
Once the file is selected, a preview of the file is displayed, where you can select what delimiter your CSV file uses (Comma by default). Here you can adjust the header names to match your data point name or select only certain columns to be included in the upload with the checkboxes next to the header names.
In case your file headers are incorrectly formatted, the system suggests fixes and gives an alert as below. You can only proceed with the upload once the headers are corrected.
3. Select Data Point
On the following page you need to select first if your uploaded file contains Profiles, Events or Inventory data. Most typically you upload profiles, i.e. new contacts to the CDP.
Once the Data Point is selected, e.g.: Profile Data, you can decide to upload data to an existing data point type or create a new one.
Most often users upload data to existing data point types so that their profiles from the file appear immediately in the system. You can select the existing data point types from the dropdown as below. IMPORTANT: only data points with headers precisely matching your file column headers will appear in the list. If the dropdown appears empty, there is a discrepancy between your file and the data point's mapping.
After this you can click the Submit button and your file is uploaded to the system.
4. Choose Segment Creation: File-to-Segment (Optional)
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Uploading files to an existing profile type allows you to create immediately a segment out of the profiles in your file.
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Once you selected the existing data point to upload your file to, click the "Create Segment out of the Profiles from the File" and click Next
- On the next page you can choose to:
- merge the profiles from the file to an existing segment (Advanced option) by either Updating (adding to the existing profiles), Replacing (removing the existing and adding the profiles from the file) or Deleting (removing the profiles from the file from the existing segment) from the segment, OR
- creating a new segment including all profiles from the file (Common use case)
Once clicking Submit, your file is uploaded to the CDP. Smaller files get uploaded within minutes, while large files might take somewhat longer to be processed.
Note that with manual file uploads, Collisions might be occuring and your file-to-segment Segments might not have a 100% matching count of profiles as in your file. More information on Collisions HERE.
5. View Import History
You can control the status of your file uploads on the Import History page. Here, you can view:
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File name and upload time
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Processing status
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Any errors or warnings
Validating Your Segment
6. Go to Segments
Navigate to the Segments section from the sidebar. Here, a new segment with segment type "File" should appear immediately after your file with profiles to an existing data point is submitted. Dependent on the file size, the calculation of the segment might be immediate or take longer (up to an hour). As any other segment, File-to-segment segments can be used to send out campaigns or include them in another segment.
Notes & Best Practices
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Always preview your file before uploading to ensure clean formatting.
- Make sure your file headers are matching exactly the required fields from your existing data points
- Upload CSV files instead of Excel. Use Save As CSV when saving your files.
- Use the correct format for Phone numbers when uploading files: remove leading zeros and add country code (e.g.: 0701234567 -> +46701234567)
- Replace excel formulas with actual values, use Paste Special in excel
- Split Full Name columns to First and Last names to better personalize newsletter sendouts
- Conduct data hygiene before uploading: identify and remove duplicates, special characters or symbols, inconsistent naming or unwanted spaces
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Create Segments directly from your files using the File-to-Segment function
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Use Import History to debug failed or partial imports.
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Large files may take a few minutes to process depending on system load