Before you import your contact data into Emarsys it is important to identify what fields you will need to store the data properly. Consider the following:

• Have you selected which field will serve as external key (see below)?
• Which contact properties do you want to include?
• Do any of the properties require a custom field to be created in the Emarsys application?
• Do the field types match the controls which collect the data on your side? For example:
  • Drop-down lists should use single-choice fields
  • Tick boxes should use multiple-choice fields
  • Use the correct text field type (short, long, very large)
  • Dates should be formatted the same way

Here you can download a sample contact data import file.

Once you are sure that your import file is correctly formatted, and any exceptions to the Emarsys standards are supported, use our import wizard to make a single import. The import may take several hours to complete, depending both on the number of contacts and the number and complexity of your database fields.

See:  Data Import - End-user guide.

You will also need to select a field to use as the unique identifier of a contact. If the data you want to import originates from an external database, you will probably already have an identifier for your contacts. In this case we recommend creating a field in Emarsys called externalID and mapping your identifiers to that. This will ensure that the right sales data is updated for the right contact. If not, you can use email address as the identifier.

Please make sure to remove any duplicate contacts in your database before uploading your contact data to Emarsys. Duplicate entries make it much harder for us to build the unified profile for your customers that help you reach true 1-to-1 engagement.

After your initial import has successfully finished, you should think about how to keep your contact data up to date.

• Using the Emarsys API contact endpoints
• Using the Auto-import feature

You may also be able to use one of our custom integrations with leading e-commerce platforms.