Upload a Contact List

Every campaign requires a contact list, which provides the full set of people you wish to contact with that campaign. If loading contacts via a file rather than a VAN integration, you must provide the contact list in a comma separated values (CSV) format.

Once uploaded to the campaign, Spoke maintains an internal version of the list and modifies it as the campaign progresses. You can export the modified contact list for your own record keeping. For more information, see Export Data from a Campaign.

CSV Files

Column Headers

If loading your contact list as a file, your list should be a comma separated values (CSV) file with the following column headings in the first row:

• firstName — Required — First names of your contacts.
• lastName — Required — Last names of your contacts.
• cell — Required — Cell number of your contacts.
• zip — Recommended — Zip code of your contacts. The zip code is used to estimate your contact's timezone and allow texters to have conversations with them at the appropriate time.
• external_id — Recommended — ID to map your contacts to a CRM. This value is often made up of VAN IDs.

Note:  The  firstName and lastName fields will be automatically capitalized for all values other than common placeholders for unknown names: "friend" and "there". 

Custom Fields

You have the option to include additional custom fields in the contact list. You can use these fields in the campaign's interaction script. Just as with the firstName field, these values will dynamically populate in your script for each contact. An example of this is {polling_location}, where each contact may have their specific polling location appended.

Uploading a Contact List

You can upload contact lists from the campaign settings page. Click the Contacts window and then either:

1. Click Select a File or
2. Drag and drop the file into the dotted-line rectangle

3. After uploading a csv file, a popup menu will appear allowing you to map the column headers of your csv to the required column headers (First Name, Last Name, and Cell Phone), as well as map the optional headers (Zip and External ID).

Then hit Save. The name of your csv will now appear in the file upload box with a green background, indicating a successful upload.

Note: You can use the Configure Column Mapping button to open the popup again and update the mappings you chose.

Optional — Exclude contacts who also appear as contacts within another campaign using the drop down menu.

1. Start typing the name of the campaign you want to use for filtering (or open the drop-down menu).
2. Click the campaign name in the list.
3. Repeat until you've finished adding the campaigns you want to exclude.

List Processing

When you upload a contact list, Spoke performs two rounds of processing. The first round, which happens in the Spoke application, handles the following:

• The removal of duplicate contacts (duplicates are determined based on phone number; the first instance is kept).
• The removal of contacts without phone numbers.
• The removal of contacts with invalid phone numbers.

After you click Save, the second round of processing handles the following:

• The removal of all contacts that have opted out.
• The removal of all contacts from campaigns that you specified in Filter Existing Campaigns (see below).

Any automated handling of your contact list is detailed in the upload report. You can view the upload report from the contacts window of the campaign settings page.

Note: If you upload another contact list, it removes all previously uploaded contacts and replaces them with the most recent contact list. This is true up until the point that your campaign is started, after which you will no longer be able to modify the contact list.

Filtering Existing Campaigns

You can choose to filter contacts who already exist as contacts within another campaign. This helps you prevent sending too many messages to a contact or sending redundant information from two similar campaigns.

To use this feature, enter the names of the campaigns that are used to filter out contacts. You can enter multiple campaign names at once. This step must be done before loading the CSV.

You can also achieve the same function of eliminating overlap with previous campaigns by using Contact Overlap Management.