Feathr's Email Marketing campaigns open up another channel to promote your organization to your audience. Reach individuals in their inbox, and incorporate key email messaging into your broader marketing activities. Remember to only use email lists you own, and that consist of addresses that have opted in to receive communication for your organization. Read about bounce rates and data privacy for more.
For quick reference, here is an Email Marketing User Guide, and you can find full instructions for launching email marketing campaigns with Feathr in these articles:
- How to launch a Single Send campaign
- How to launch a Smart Send campaign
- How to launch an Auto Send campaign
Continue reading for instructions on how to import email contact data to Feathr.
Formatting Contact Lists
Before you import a list into Feathr, you must prepare a file for import. When preparing the file, be aware of the following format requirements:
- Must be .xlsx or .csv file format
- Must contain at least two columns
- One of those columns must be email addresses
- Columns must be labeled in the first row
- 50 MB file size limit
If your Feathr service level includes custom data (Falcon and above), you may add as many additional columns as you wish, and create custom fields for them. As long as your import file has a label in the first cell of each column, you can map those labels to corresponding custom fields. Read how to create custom fields here.
If your service level does not include custom data (Finch), choose from the following default categories for your import columns:
- External ID is a number assigned by Feathr to each person record. This can be used as a 'key' to ensure any data updates such as email or name changes get assigned to the correct person record.
- Name should include first and last name.
- Email is that person's email address
- Occupation refers to that person's job title
- Companies refers to that person's associated company or organization
- Opt Out is a yes/no option that verifies a person's email subscription status.
Importing Lists
To get started, navigate to the Community section of your Feathr account, then click Imports. Select the Import data button on the top right, then Import contact data, as seen below. (More information about the second option, importing opt-out lists, is included at the bottom of this article.)
Next, click the upload button to choose the file (.xlsx or .csv file) to import. The maximum file size is 50MB, so very large lists might need to be separated into multiple files.
Columns will be mapped in step 2 of the import process.
Your import will be given the same name as the spreadsheet's file name (along with the date it was imported), so be sure it has a name you'll remember when you monitor the upload status in the imports feed. Feathr also automatically saves every import as an audience Group for ease of use when preparing your email campaigns.
You may also add descriptive tags to your import, which are searchable and filterable within Feathr's data tools.
Once you've chosen your import file, the next step is to map each column to a data field in Feathr. If your service level includes custom data (Falcon and above), you can create as many custom data fields as your organization requires. If your license does not include custom data, choose from the default fields in the dropdown menu.
Email address is used as the primary key for your imports. This means that if Feathr finds an existing record with a matching email address to one you've just imported, it will update that person's record with any new information included in the latest import, instead of creating a duplicate.
Map any data you think will be useful in your marketing—this part is up to you. Be sure, however, that you at least map Name and Email.
Note: always save your changes manually as you go through the import process by using the save changes button.
Last, review your import details and click Import Data to complete the process.
Your import will display in the imports table (Data > Imports) and you will receive a notification via email when it is complete.
The imports table shows important information at a glance about every import in your Feathr account:
You may download any imported file by clicking the Options button in the imports table. You also have the options to view all contacts in that import, or download only the errors.
Using your imported email lists
Any time you import a contact list, Feathr automatically generates an audience Group of that import using the name you gave the imported spreadsheet file plus the date it was imported. See more about Groups here. When building your email campaigns, all you have to do is choose the Group that corresponds to your import. You can also always return to the import feed to access past imports.
Another option is to import contacts directly within a single send or smart send email campaign. The process and outcome is the same as above, except you begin your import from the campaign wizard rather than the Community section of Feathr, as seen below:
While you're importing a list, you will see a preview import table to ensure that your data mapping is being added as intended.
You may also mix and match contact imports with other Groups, tags, and filters. How you define your target audience is up to you, and Feathr provides the tools to get nerdy with it. For personalized strategies on how best to combine your contact imports and your website data, contact your Customer Success Manager.
When you view people records that were created via import, that information is reflected in their respective activity feeds:
Likewise, the people record activity feed will reflect when a person is edited via import as well.
Import Outcome Stats
In the import feed, you will see stats related to each file you import. Those stats include skipped,
updated, and created.
Skipped refers to any rows in the import that do not include an email address, therefore no person record was updated in that import.
Updated refers to any rows in the import that contained an email address already belonging to a person record. The newly imported data therefore gets priority, and the previous record is de-duplicated.
Created refers to any email address records that are created for the first time as a result of the import.
If your Import Fails
If you receive notice that your import has failed, one or more things may explain it:
Your internet may have briefly cut out during the import process.
In this case, simply try the import again.
Your file may not be formatted correctly, or may be the wrong filetype.
Before importing again, double check that the file matches the column labeling format mentioned above, and check that it is either an .xlsx or .csv file. Then import again.
Your file may be too large.
Use the system tools of your computer or device to check the file size of your import. If it is over 50MB, you will need to separate the file into two individual imports.
If none of the above troubleshooting tips apply, please contact Feathr support for assistance with your import.
Importing opt-out (unsubscribe) lists
You may also import lists of email addresses you don't want to contact. This is especially helpful if you have an unsubscribe list from a previous email marketing tool that you want to carry over into your Feathr email marketing. Read this article to learn how to import opt-out lists.