How to use the Contact Uploader
The Contact Uploader lets you bulk-upload contacts to Airship from a CSV file - useful for:
Adding a new data source
Migrating from another system, or
Refreshing your database in one go
Example of uploading data:
Before you start
Upload names must be unique. Once an upload has been cancelled, its name can't be reused.
File size: each CSV must be 16MB or less. You can include up to 20 files in a single upload.
Steps can't be edited once you've moved on. If you spot a mistake in an earlier section, you'll need to start the upload again from scratch.
Cancelling an upload: an upload that's currently processing can be cancelled, but it can't be resumed - you'll need to start a new one. A cancelled upload can be deleted afterwards, which removes it from the list page and removes contacts associated with that upload.
Adding a new dynamic field (UDF)? Contact our support team to get this set up for you.
Preparing your data file:
Download a CSV of a data file containing the below columns that can be imported (you can delete the columns you don't need).
Here's the data that can be imported as a column on your CSV:
First Name
Last Name
Full name
Email address
Date of birth
Title
Gender
Location
Group name
Mobile number
Building name
Building number
Street
Locality
Post code
City
Country
County
Membership number
Membership type
Opt in
Please don't use hyphens (-) or other symbols on the column headers. Upper and Lower case letters are fine to use and spaces are also okay.
These are best used to store dates or text that is consistent across all contacts meaning you can search for different contacts who have the same values in these fields.
If you have any other data you would like to store in Airship, this can be stored within a dynamic field.
Step 1: Open the Contact Uploader
Log in to your Airship account
On the sidebar click Tools and then Contact Uploader
Step 2: Basics
Upload name
This becomes the name of the folder your contacts are added to, so make it something clear for your team to recognise later.
Location
If all contacts in this upload belong to one location, select it here. If your file already contains a location column, choose Use uploaded location instead.
Groups
Choose Select group to add every contact in the upload to one specific group, or Use uploaded group if your file specifies different groups for different contacts.
Choose Add to a new group to create a group and upload straight into it.
Marketing consent (Opt-in status)
Either include an opt-in column in your file, or, if every contact in the upload shares the same status, choose it from the drop-down (see Managing opt-in status below for how this interacts with existing contacts).
Preserving existing contacts' opt-in status who are currently opted in by using 'preserve existing opt-ins'.
Within the data file, include a column for opt-in status to include the consent the contact has given during this data collection.
When uploading the data, select 'Use value from file' and then tick preserve existing opt-ins.
If an existing contact is opted in, but they're opted out within the file, they will stay opted in within Airship.
When an existing contact is opted out, if they're opted in within the file their consent status will change to opted in but if they file states that they're opted out, they will stay as opted out.
New contacts will have the consent status that is stated in the file.
Once these sections are completed click the purple Confirm button to go to the next section.
Step 3: File upload
Select the CSV file(s) you want to include - up to 20 files, each 16MB or less.
If you are importing more than one file here, all files must share the same column headers (ensure no differences in spelling and capitalisation).
Step 4: Column mapping
Every Airship field appears down the left-hand side. Map each column in your CSV to the matching Airship field, making sure every column in your file has a mapping.
If your file includes custom fields (UDFs), map these to the dynamic fields already set up on your account.
To add a new dynamic field, please contact our support team who will set this up for you.
Step 5: Content mapping
Once your columns are mapped, map the values within them. For example, a Location column should have each location in your file matched to the correct location in Airship (e.g. "Sheffield" to Sheffield). If opt-in status is recorded as Y/N in your file, map which value means opted in.
If any of your columns contain dates (such as date of birth, or a date-type UDF), a date format option will appear here - use it to tell Airship how the dates in your file are formatted.
Step 6: Summary and completion
The summary page shows your upload's progress and confirms once it's complete. All uploads join a queue, so if the queue is busy, it may take a little time to finish.
