Account Settings - Imports

You can Import a list of contacts into your account with Patch Retention. We recommend organizing and cleaning up your list/file first before importing to avoid possible issues such as loss of data, creating duplicate contacts, and merging contacts unintentionally. 

From the Account Settings, select Import.

Selecting this option will bring up the Main View and list all imports for the account.

To Create a new Import, click on the (+) sign in the lower right.

Importing a New File

Select the (+) sign to Start a New Import.

Step 1: Configure your import using the ‘Configure Import Settings’

First, select how you want to update your contacts. 

The options presented are

1. Update Existing Contacts and Create New Contacts (if not found)  RECOMMENDED
2. Only Update Existing Contacts (do NOT create any new contacts, even if they are not found)
3. Only Create New Contacts (do NOT update existing)
   
   

The first two selections have additional settings that will appear to further configure the import. 

Which contact field would you like to use as the identifier for updating existing contacts, the options are: 

1. 1. Email
   2. Phone Number
   3. Patch Contact ID
   4. # Checkins
   5. # Offers Redeemed
   6. Address
   7. Address2
   8. City
   9. Favorite Color
   10. First Name
   11. Gender
   12. Last Name
   13. Opt-In Channel
   14. State
   15. Zip

Other Account-Specific Custom Fields - such as Contact ID

How should existing contact fields be updated, the options are:

• Do not replace contact fields where values exist (overwrite existing info)
• Replace contact fields with the imported value (overwrite existing data) if not empty
• Increment loyalty points or punchcard, AND insert values where values are empty (this will not overwrite existing values, except for loyalty and punchcard but those will add to (existing value + import value) and not overwrite)
  
  

*If you select ‘Only Create New Contacts (do NOT update existing) then no other selections are needed.

Click the purple ‘Next’ arrow in the top right corner.

Step 2: Upload & Select Fields

Next, you will select and upload your import file.

Supported file types are .csv, .xls, .xlsx

Once your file is uploaded you will Select Import Fields.

If your first line item is a row of headers and NOT an actual contact, select the option ‘First line of file’ Contains headers (ignore line) and it will skip importing the labels.

Now you must match the columns of information from the imported file to the corresponding field in Patch by clicking on the Select a Field Dropdown arrow to scroll and search for the field.

Leave the field blank / unselected to NOT import that column of information.

In other words, if I did NOT want to import a particular column, I would NOT select a field for it. Only selected fields get imported.

When your fields are set, click on the Arrow in the upper right to continue to the next page. 

Step 3: Finalize Settings & Confirm the import. 

The top section ‘Set Additional Data Fields for ALL Contacts’ has a default tag applied to all Imports that tracks the import event for future use, especially when troubleshooting.

If you want to add any additional field values that will be added to every single contact in this import click the ‘View Default Field Values’ button. From there you can add additional Tags, add to a Group, etc.

The second section on this page addresses the Opt-In actions you want to have taken for the Contacts in this Import. The most common step is to ‘Do not send opt-in messages’, however, there are options available for you to send various types of double opt-in messages to these Contacts. Please note, in order to send any type of message you will need to update your SMS Settings within your Account Settings in order for the message to actually be sent.

Regardless of the selection, you must type your initials in order to continue with the Import process. This is for record-keeping and liability reasons.

The last section on this page is a summary of the selections made from all of the steps. Once you are ready you can click ‘Confirm & Start Import’. If for any reason you need to save and come back later you can do this by clicking the ‘Do Later’ button.

Imports Main View

The Import Main View page will allow you to view previous imports by clicking on the eye icon. If the eye icon is greyed out the import is not eligible for preview.

The second column on this page shows the Date & Time the import was started/completed.

The next column will show the number of records (number of contacts) that were part of the import.

The Status column will tell you if the import is in progress or completed. If an import was marked as ‘Do Later’ there will be a button that allows you to continue where you left off.

The person icon in the first column will open the Contacts table with a pre-filtered view that shows the contacts that were part of this import separate from your entire Contact database.

The final column on this page will give you the initials and user id of the person who accepted and started the import.

Account Settings Overview