Lists

A contact is a record containing an individual’s contact information and other related data. A contact list is the file in which all contacts in the messaging system are stored and organized.

Selecting a contact list, in effect, determines those individuals to whom a contact attempt is made during a pass by providing key contact data required by the script. Once imported into the system, the contact list can be used for one, or many, sub-campaigns, depending upon your requirements.

Multiple contact lists can be combined by appending one to another, allowing you to add contacts to existing lists.

List Table

The lists table contains the following fields:

• Name
• Description
• Size (number of contact records in the list)
• Modified Date
• Actions
  • Filter - To create a virtual list using a selection rule, click the filter icon. As part of creating the new list, you can see a preview of the list. The preview can be discarded, overwritten by the selection of a different rule, or saved as a new list, based on the original list.
  • Edit
  • Download
  • Delete
  • Generate List Profile Report or List Detail Report
  • View Import activity - shows all import activity for the selected list, including the start and end time of the import and the number of records accepted (successfully imported) and rejected.
  • Export via FTP

List Fields

The following is a list of columns available for contact lists. You do not have to use all available columns for a contact list. For example, you may only need FirstName, LastName, ClientID, and Device1.

Important

If the data in any of your fields contain commas, those fields must be enclosed in quotes. To ensure that fields containing commas are quoted, open the file in any text editor (Notepad, TextPad, WordPad) to review it.

General Information

• FirstName—64 characters maximum. If your contact list includes a name field that combines the first and last names, the system makes a best guess as to which is FirstName and which is LastName. As the system cannot identify first and last names with 100% accuracy, we recommend that you either split your file into separate FirstName and LastName fields or that you rename the name field to NameFirstLast or NameLastFirst (corresponding to the correct order in the name field) instead of merely "Name". This ensures that the system configures first and last names as you intended.
• LastName—64 characters maximum.
• Company—64 characters maximum.
• List—Select the list from the dropdown.
• Client Identifier—64 characters maximum. Assign ClientID to the account number, client ID number, or other unique identifier for each person that you are calling. The system automatically filters duplicates contained in the ClientID field upon sub-campaign setup. If you do not assign information to the ClientID field, the telephone number contained in the default contact field is automatically assigned to the ClientID field. As the system automatically suppresses duplicates in the ClientID field upon sub-campaign setup, duplicate telephone numbers are automatically filtered.

Locations

• Device1... Device10—Valid phone number or email address.
  • While phone numbers can be entered in standard international format ("+" followed by the country code, followed by the area code and phone number) it is not required that the country code be included for numbers in the same country as the account. Country codes are required if calling is to occur between countries. For example, the UK number +44 (0)20 7551 8700 could exist in the contact list as +44 20 7551 8700, and it could be called from any account. If the number was to be called from an account whose number begins with a +44 (i.e., a UK account), it could be uploaded as 20 7551 8700. If this number was to be called from an account originating in the United States, it would have to be uploaded as either 011 44 55 5555 8700 (011 being the international dialing access code from North America) or +44 55 5555 8700.
    • Unless escalation is enabled, only one phone number or email address should appear in each record. If you are using call pass escalation, the order you specify for the campaign or sub-campaign overrides the default order.

Call Escalation

• Order—A space-separated list that specifies the order in which phone numbers are called for contact-based escalation. For example: Device3 Device1 Device8.
• Condition—A space separated list of dispositions upon which contact-based escalation will occur. This can include any of the following escalation conditions. (The conditions are not case-sensitive. No_Answer is interpreted the same as no_answer.).
• Busy—Escalates to the next device when a phone number is busy.
• No_Answer—Escalates to the next number when there is no answer.
• Hangup_Machine—Escalates to the next number if an answering machine was reached and hung up or an answering machine was reached but the message was not delivered.
• Bad_Number—Escalates to the next number if it is determined that the number is a bad number or is an unassigned number.
• Delivered_Retry—Escalates to the next number even if it is determined that the system reached a live person, providing the contact is eligible to be retried.
• Undelivered_Machine—Escalates to the next number if it is determined that an answering machine was reached, but answering machine delivery is not enabled (and therefore, the message was not delivered).
• Optional_Internal_Retry—Escalates to the next number if any of the above conditions were met.
• Loop—Causes the system to loop through the available devices, attempting the first device again after the final one. For example, if the contact has a phone number or email address in Device1 and Device2, with no other devices identified, and there are 3 retry attempts, the contact will be attempted at Device1, then Device2, then Device1 again. If you do not include Loop, the contact in this example will be attempted at Device1 then Device2, but will not be attempted again on that pass.

Other Information

• Other1—128 characters maximum. If your account is located in a secure enterprise, data in this field is transmitted, stored, and displayed in encrypted format.
• Other2—128 characters maximum. If your account is located in a secure enterprise, data in this field is transmitted, stored, and displayed in encrypted format.
• Other3—128 characters maximum.
• Other4—1,024 characters maximum.
• Other5...9—1,024 characters maximum.
  • Contact time zone information can be entered into a customer's record in the Other5 and Other6 fields or Other7 field, to define the contact's time zone. The system will use this information to determine when a message can be launched.
  • One option is to enter the country code in Other5 (ex. cc:US) and the postal (zip) code in Other6 (ex. pc:01730). Both must be entered, or the record will be filtered.
  • Another option is to enter the time zone into Other7 (ex. tz:America/New_York).
• OriginalRecord—2,000 characters maximum When you import a list, a copy of the entire original data record is automatically put into the OriginalRecord field. You should not attempt to load this field with something different.

Supported File Formats

The character set to be used during import and export of data (such as in lists and reports) is defined per account or enterprise and defaults to ISO 8859-1 (ISO Latin 1). The system supports the default, ISO 8859-1, as well as UTF-8 and Windows-1252. To use a character set other than the default, your system administrator must request the change. If made at the Enterprise level, all newly created accounts within the enterprise will inherit the updated character set.

When uploading data, it is important to use the correct character set, especially if your data contains non-ASCII characters. Using an incorrect character set may cause some characters, such as accented characters, to appear as other characters.

The following is a list of supported file formats.

ZIP Files

You can import a contact list in CSV or TXT file format that is compressed in a ZIP file. This method is recommended for very large imports.

The contact list you are importing must be the only file in the ZIP file.

Important

ZIP files cannot be imported into a secure enterprise.

CSV Files

The easiest text file format to use for importing contact information is CSV, or comma separated value. In a CSV file, each record is on its own row, and each field within a record is delimited, or separated, with commas.

It is best to use a header record, the first row of the list, which names and describes the data fields. The header row is used to govern the mapping between the fields in the data file and the fields in the contact list.

CSV File Example 1

CSV File Example 2

TXT Files

You can also import a contact list in a text file format, including any of the following:

• Pipe-delimited files

• Colon-delimited files

• Tab-delimited files

• Semicolon-delimited files

• Fixed position files, containing values in specified columns (such as a 10-digit phone number in columns 105 through 114).

To avoid problems with the mapping, it is recommended that you use an input specification file when importing these files

PGP Files

A contact data file created in any of the above formats can be imported as an encrypted PGP file.

Secure Accounts

In secure enterprises, splitting and selection rules cannot split or select based on the contents of the other1, other2, or other9 fields, which are encrypted.

In a secure enterprise when a file name format is not specified, ".pgp" is appended to the file name. In a secure enterprise, when a file name format is specified, no ".pgp" is appended (unless it is supplied by the file name format itself).

When importing your contacts lists into a secure enterprise, the file must be in CSV or TXT format; XLS and ZIP files are not supported in secure Enterprises. A secure enterprise is one that has been configured to send and store sensitive data in encrypted format. When importing contact data into a secure enterprise contact list, note that the sensitive data must be stored in either the other1 or other2 field of the contact list; in order for it to be encrypted. Your enterprise administrator can tell you if the security feature is enabled for your enterprise.

Import a New List

To add a new contact list, you can either import a list or create one from scratch. In most cases, the Import option is recommended.

Prepare the File

To import new contacts into the messaging system, first prepare a contact data file, or contact list. This file contains contact information for your customers, such as phone numbers and email addresses, and often includes names, ID numbers, and addresses as well. Each contact record, or all the data associated with one contact, can include a maximum of 2000 characters.

When formatting your contact data file, include a header record with field names that match those of the messaging system contact list. When the file is imported, the data is mapped directly into the appropriate contact list field. Note: mapping can still take place without the header record, but you should examine the file carefully for inconsistencies.

• Once the CSV file is prepared, import it into the system. Once a list is imported, it is available for use with any campaign and does not need to be imported again.

Upload the File

To upload a list file, click the New button on the Lists page and select List. The following options are available (as you select these options, the area to the right will show information about the file to be loaded, and how its fields will be mapped):

• List name - If you enter a new name, the list is created with that name. If you enter an existing name, the contacts are appended to the existing list.
• List description
• Select file – Browse to find the list you want to import.
• Select upload rule – You can choose an existing upload rule, or define ad hoc splitting criteria below. When you choose an upload rule, the rule definition will be shown in the lower left of the page.
• Select specification file – You can choose an input specification, if you are not using an upload rule that has one specified as part of it.
• Splitting criteria (type, value, file format) – If you did not choose an upload rule above, then you can specify an ad hoc quantity or percentage-based splitting rule here. (If you want to use field-based splitting, then you do need to create a splitting rule.) Since these are ad hoc rules, they will not result in the creation of permanent new rules that would appear on the List Rules page.

Once you click Import, the file will begin loading, and the new smaller lists will be created based on the rule chosen. The original file will not be created as a list; only the smaller sub-lists will be created.

The contact list is available for use once the import is complete.

Create a New List

If you want to create a new list from scratch (for example, if you're creating a very small test list and do not want to wait for a file to upload), do the following:

1. On the Lists page, click New and select List.
2. In the Name field, give the list a name.
3. Select Import.
4. The system asks if you want to create an empty list. Click OK. You will return to the Lists page.

Export a List

When you export a contact list, a CSV text file is retrieved from the messaging system data base that contains all records, from all imported files, within the list.

To export a contact list:

1. On the Lists > Show All page, select Export from the Actions menu next to the name of the list to be exported.
2. Select Open to open the file or select Save to save the file.

Edit a List

Once a file is uploaded, you can edit the default contact field for one or more an individual contacts.

To edit a list:

1. On the Lists page, select the list to be edited by clicking the name or by selecting Edit. The Edit List page appears.
2. Enter a new name and/or description for the list.
3. Click Save List.

To view or save a copy of the original contact data file:

1. On the Edit List page, click View (next to the word Imported.)
2. Click Open to open the file or click Save to save the file.

To view or save a copy of records that were rejected during the import process:

1. On the Lists > Edit List page, click View (next to the word Rejected). Note that this option does not appear if all records loaded successfully.
2. Click Messages to display the reason(s) for the rejected records. For example, "No valid devices" indicates that no valid phone number or email address was found in the record.

Delete a List

You can delete any existing contact list, with the exception of he list named Unassigned. (You can delete all contacts within the Unassigned list by selecting Delete.)

To delete one or more contact lists:

1. On the Lists tabbed page, select the check box next to the list(s) to be deleted.
2. Click Delete. A confirmation message appears.
3. Click OK.

The list and all contacts in that list are deleted from the system.

Automatic Deletion of Lists

Contact lists are automatically deleted 30 days after their last use (the last time a sub-campaign was sent to the list) or upload, whichever comes later. If you add a contact to a list, the 30 day timer is reset. The number of days a contact list remains in the system can be modified in the Enterprise Account.

You can schedule the time frame for deleting, or keeping, a contact list in Account Settings. Note that lists that are currently being used by active or scheduled sub-campaigns are not deleted.

To schedule automatic deletion of the contact lists:

On the Settings menu bar, click Edit Settings.

1. From the Automatically Delete Lists drop-down in the Account Information section, select the number of days to keep the list before it is deleted from the account.
2. Click Save Changes.

To keep the contact lists indefinitely, or delete them manually:

1. From the Automatically Delete Lists drop-down, select <never>.
2. Click Save Changes.

Generate a List Profile Report

The List Profile reports allows you to see the impact of filtering, called profiling, on the contacts in a contact list.

To generate a List Profile report:

1. On the Lists > Show All page, select Profile from the Actions menu next to the name of the list to be profiled. The List Profile Report window appears.
2. Select the devices you want to profile in order to see how your total list size will be affected.
3. Click Create Report to generate the report. The report window appears.
4. Click Print at the top of the page to print the report, and/or click Email to send this report as an email in HTML format.

Note that Profile filter changes do not cause your actual contact list to be filtered or changed in any way. The Profile Summary Report presents the effects of using filters - the actual filtering of the list occurs when you set up your campaign or sub-campaign. During set-up, duplicate the filtering that produced the desired results on the Profile Report. See the Filtering section for a definition of each filter option.

Generate a List Profile Detail Report

To generate a List Profile Detail report:

1. On the Lists > Show All page, click Report from the Actions menu next to the name of the list. The New List Report window appears.
2. Select the report to be generated.
3. Select the list on which you want a report.
4. Enter a description, if desired.
5. Select Include Carrier Lookup Info if desired. Important: You may be charged a fee for requesting carrier lookup information to be included.
6. Enter the email address(es) to which the report will be sent.
7. Select the Output Options, if required.
8. Click Create Report to generate the report.

Add a Contact to a List

At any time, you can add a contact to an existing list.

Note: Doing this does not create an original record, and if your account is in a secure enterprise, any secure data you enter using this method will not be encrypted.

To add a contact to a list:

1. On the Lists tabbed page, click New and then Contact. The New Contact page appears.
2. Enter the contact information as required.
3. Select the list to which the contact is to be added. Select Unassigned if you do not want the new contact assigned to a named contact list.
4. For information about the fields on the New Contact page, go to the {{#Fields|List fields]] section.
5. Click Save Contact to add the contact to the list and return to the Lists tabbed page, or click Save and Add New to add the contact to the list and continue adding contacts.

Edit a Contact in a List

To edit a contact:

1. On the Contact Search page, click a contact name. The Edit Contact page appears.
2. From this page, you can edit any information associated with the contact, except for the List to which it is assigned.
3. Click Save Contact, after making the appropriate edits, to return to the Contacts tabbed page, or click Save and Add New to save your changes and add a new contact.The New Contact page appears. Add a new contact here.

Notes:

• Any changes you make to a contact affects new sub-campaigns, not those currently running or scheduled to run. For extensive edits, consider editing the original contact data and re-importing it.

• If you are working in a secure enterprise, and are storing sensitive data in either the other1 or other2 fields, the data is displayed in encrypted format on the Edit Contact page.

Delete a Contact from a List

To delete a contact:

1. On the Lists tabbed page, perform a Contact Search to display the contacts to be deleted.
2. The results of your search appear (up to 25 contacts per page).
3. Select each contact on the page that you want to delete.
4. Click Delete.
5. If there are additional pages of contacts, click Next and continue identifying those to be delete.

Notes:

• Deleting a contact or contacts from a contact list permanently removes them from the list.

• It is not necessary to delete contacts before retrying a sub-campaign. Any contact who was successfully reached during the first pass of the campaign will not be contacted on the retry.