Create a new contact list

To create a contact list, upload records from the input file. You can also build contact lists using an Import template. 

There are three ways to create a contact list:

• Upload records in comma-separated values .csv or Excel file
• Use an Import template
• Use a File Specification template and upload records in a comma-separated, delimiter-separated, or fixed-length input file

If the contact list entry exists, see append records to a contact list.

1. Click Admin.

2. Under Outbound, click List Management.

3. Click the Contact Lists tab.

4. Click Create New.

5. Type a unique name in the Contact List Name field. Names can contain spaces, numbers, and special characters, but must be unique.

6. Select a division from the Division box, or accept the default Home division.

   Note: If you do not assign a campaign to a custom division, it belongs to the Home division by default. See About Access Control and Divisions overview.

   

7. To use a File Specification Template to upload contacts from a delimiter-separated file or a fixed-length format file, toggle Use File Specification Template to Yes. In the Select File Specification Template box, select a template to use for the contact list. 

8. In Upload contacts from a CSV or Excel file, click Browse. Select a .csv file and click Open. A list of sample rows appears.

   

9. Follow this step if you are using an Import template to build your contact lists.
   To select your Import template:
   1. Toggle Use Import Template to Yes. 
      
      Note: The Contact List Name box changes to List Name Prefix.
   2. In the Select Import Template box, select the template to use for this contact list. 

   3. (Optional) Select a column from the Unique Identifier Column.

      What is a unique identifier?

      A unique identifier is useful if you will append this list with more data in the future. If you specify a unique identifier column, such as a customer ID or account number, the append process can match incoming data with existing contacts.

      

      Without a unique identifier, the entire row is the primary key. If you append a modified record, a subsequent upload appends that record as a new row, even if an existing row has the same identifier. With a unique identifier, the system replaces the existing record instead.

      Custom contact list ID columns cannot exceed 100 characters and cannot contain special characters, such as a backslash. Compose a unique identifier from alphanumeric characters, excluding spaces, backslashes, and these special characters that don’t work with URLs:

      – . _ ~ : / ? # [ ] @ ! $ & ‘ ( ) * + , ; =

      Tip: A .csv file must not include any blank rows at the end of the data, which can cause an import failure.
   4. To create your contact lists using the Import template, Click Save. 
      This is the last step for creating a contact list with an Import template. The system adds the new entry to the data grid of Contact Lists with progress and error indicators. While records are uploading, a progress indicator appears next to the contact list name.
      For more information on using an Import template to create your contact lists, see Contact List Builder.
10. When you save a contact list, the leading and trailing white space is removed from the contact field of the contact list. If you do not want to remove the white space from your contact list, switch the Trim leading/trailing whitespace toggle to No.

11. In Contact List Columns, select the appropriate columns. Contact lists can contain either or both phone numbers and email addresses. Once you set one or the other, the placeholders update and show as optional. 

    To select phone numbers:

    1. From the Phone Number Column box, select a column containing phone numbers.

       Note: The maximum number of phone number columns allowed per list is 10.

    2. From the Phone Type box, select the type of number, for example home, work or cell.

    3. If your contact list contains a column that contains the time zone of a phone number, select that column from the Time Zone Column box. This step is a prerequisite for configuring contactable time sets. If you plan to use automatic time zone mapping, skip this step.
    4. To select another phone number column, repeat these steps.

    To select email addresses:

    1. From the Email Address Column, select a column containing email addresses.

       Note: The maximum number of email address columns allowed per list is 10.

    2. From the Email Type box, select the type of email address, for example personal or work.
    3. To select another email address column, repeat these steps.
12. If you want the system to determine compliant dialing times for the phone numbers in the contact list, set Automatic Time Zone Mapping to Yes.
    Note: Automatic time zone mapping is supported only for phone numbers, not email addresses. Automatic time zone mapping is supported for United States, Canadian, and Caribbean area codes and United States zip codes only. For more information, see Automatic time zone mapping overview.
13. If you set Automatic Time Zone Mapping to Yes and your contact list has a column that contains the zip code, select ZIP from the Zip Code Column box. Zip codes can be blank. For best results with automatic time zone mapping, use both phone numbers and zip codes.

14. To expand advanced options, click the caret next to Advanced.

    

    1. (Optional) Select an entry from the Attempt Control list. Attempt controls restrict the number of calling attempts to a contact record or phone number on a specific day or in total.

       Note: Attempt control is supported only for phone numbers, not email addresses. For more information, see How to limit contact attempts.
       

    2. (Optional) Select a column from the Unique Identifier Column.

       What is a unique identifier?

       A unique identifier is useful if you will append this list with more data in the future. If you specify a unique identifier column, such as a customer ID or account number, the append process can match incoming data with existing contacts.

       

       Without a unique identifier, the entire row is the primary key. If you append a modified record, a subsequent upload appends that record as a new row, even if an existing row has the same identifier. With a unique identifier, the system replaces the existing record instead.

       Custom contact list ID columns cannot exceed 100 characters and cannot contain special characters, such as a backslash. Compose a unique identifier from alphanumeric characters, excluding spaces, backslashes, and these special characters that don’t work with URLs:

       – . _ ~ : / ? # [ ] @ ! $ & ‘ ( ) * + , ; =

       Tip: A .csv file must not include any blank rows at the end of the data, which can cause an import failure.

    3. To preview dial specific contacts, even if the campaign is not running in preview mode, select a Preview Mode Column and one or more corresponding values. In the example below, a contact with WorkNumber equal to 3174134246 is always preview dialed.

       

       For example, set a VIP flag for a high-value contact to ensure that the system always previews dials a record and therefore never abandons it.

       Tip: Configure preview mode when you initially create the contact list. You cannot set up this feature later while appending records.

    4. If this contact list is going to be used in a campaign with Dynamic Queueing sorting, you must specify the data type for the column to be sorted by when running your campaign. Consider setting up potential sort columns for your future campaigns.
       
       
       Under Column Data Type Specifications, configure the settings for the selected column.

       Data Type	Properties
       Numeric	Min Max Specify the minimum and maximum acceptable values for the selected column.
       Text	Max Length Specify the maximum character length for the selected column. The maximum length of all text columns combined cannot be greater than 750 characters.
       Timestamp	Requires the standard ISO format YYY-MM-dd'T'HH:mm'Z' Acceptable formats are: 2017-07-15T15:45Z for minutes precision 2017-07-15T15:00Z for hour precision 2017-07-15T00:00Z for day precision

       
       
       Notes: 

       • If you save a contact list with column data type specifications, you cannot go back and edit the column data type specifications. If changes are required for the column data type specifications, you have to create a new contact list.
       • If you save a contact list without data type specifications, you can go back and create new column specifications.

15. Click Save. The system adds the new entry to the data grid of Contact Lists with progress and error indicators. While records are uploading, a progress indicator appears next to the contact list name.

    

    When the upload completes, a message appears.