Contacts
Common questions about the contact store, segments and contact files.
Do I Upload Contacts for Every Campaign?
No. Contacts are held once at organisation level and every campaign draws on the same store, either through All Contacts or through a segment. A file is only uploaded per campaign where the recipients are a one-off list that does not belong in the store. See Contacts.
How Do I Get Contacts In?
Two ways: add one manually from a form, or upload a file in bulk. Both are available to a Campaign Manager, Admin or Org Admin.
Will Uploading the Same File Twice Create Duplicates?
No. Each row is matched against the store on its identifiers, so a row that matches an existing contact updates it rather than creating a second one. See Uploading Contacts.
Why Were Rows Skipped in My Upload?
A row is skipped when it carries no identifier at all, when its identifiers point at two different contacts, or when it matches a contact but leaves out one of the identifiers that contact already holds. The summary email after an upload links to a report naming the rows. See Uploading Contacts.
Can I Edit or Delete a Contact Later?
Yes, at any time, if you hold the Campaign Manager role or above. A Campaigner cannot. See Managing Contacts.
What Is a Segment?
A saved set of conditions evaluated against the contact store, rather than a fixed list of people. A contact joins or leaves the segment as its field values change, so the same segment stays accurate over time. See Segments.
Does a Segment Update Itself?
Its membership is recalculated once a day, and can be recalculated on demand with Refresh, up to twice a day and no more than once an hour. The count shown on screen is the count from the last refresh, which is worth checking before treating it as the exact size of a send. A run against the segment recalculates it before working out recipients, so the send itself does not depend on that count. See Refreshing a Segment.
Can a Campaigner Refresh a Segment?
Yes. Refreshing is not restricted by role. A Campaigner triggers one from the audience summary on a campaign or a run, since the segment page in Contacts is not open to them. Building, editing and deleting segments still belongs to a Campaign Manager or above. See Who can refresh.
What Happens if a Segment Refresh Fails?
The segment keeps its previous count, and the fix is to refresh it on demand. A campaign run against that segment does not send, because its recipients cannot be worked out from stale membership. The run returns to Ready to Run rather than failing outright, and the person who started it is emailed about the failed refresh. Start it again once the segment refreshes. See When a Refresh Fails.
Can a Campaigner Build a Segment?
No. Segments are built and maintained by a Campaign Manager, Admin or Org Admin. A campaigner can select an existing segment as a campaign audience. See Building a Segment.
Is There a Limit on How Many Contacts I Can Store?
The store is not capped, and neither is segment membership. The 300,000 row and 50 MB limits apply to a single contact file, so a larger import is split across several files. See Contact Files.
What File Formats Are Accepted?
CSV, JSON and XML. Mapping works the same way for all three. Anything else, such as a spreadsheet or a tab separated file, has to be converted first. See Contact Files.
What Phone Number Format Is Required for SMS?
E.164: a leading +, then the country code and national number, with no spaces or punctuation, for example +61412345678. See E.164 Phone Number Format.
What Email Format Is Required?
A standard address such as jane.doe@example.com. Addresses with a missing @, an invalid domain or other formatting problems cannot be messaged. See Contact Files.
What Happens to Contacts That Cannot Be Messaged?
A contact with no usable phone number cannot receive an SMS, and one with no usable email address cannot receive an email. Where a campaign uses an uploaded file, those rows are reported before the campaign is saved rather than blocking it. See Contact File Audiences.
Can I Set a Priority on Contacts?
Only in a contact file, by mapping a column holding High or Normal when the file is uploaded as a campaign audience. High priority messages are dispatched ahead of normal priority messages in other active runs. Priority is not supported for the two dynamic audiences, so every message in an All Contacts or Segment run sends at normal priority, and there is no priority setting on a contact, a segment, a campaign or a run. See Message Priorities.