Get Started with Contacts and Contact Lists

Overview

Staying in touch with your customers is an important part of any marketing plan. ZiftONE contact lists provide you a creative way of reaching out to your customers to let them know you understand their needs and have a solution that will meet their requirements.

In this article, find everything you need to create your first contact, add it to a contact list, and get ready to send your first email.

Before You Begin

Important:

By law, you must obtain explicit permission from your contacts before adding them to your mailing lists.

Before adding contacts to ZiftONE, learn more about opt-in authorization requirements in these articles:

• About Opt-In Authorization
• About Sender Permissions

Get Started

Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Step 4	Step 5
Create Contacts	Create Contact Lists	Add Contacts to Your Contact Lists	Confirm Sender Permissions	Set up Opt-In Confirmation Emails

1. Create Contacts

Before you can activate and send your ZiftONE marketing activities, you need contacts to send them to.

Use ZiftONE to manage your database of contacts. There are three ways to add contact information in ZiftONE: you can add individual contacts manually, you can import contacts from external files, or you can import contacts from a connected CRM.

Here, we cover how to add individual contacts manually.

1. Navigate to Contacts > Contacts.
2. Click  Add Contacts  .
3. From the drop-down, select  Add Contact.
4. Complete the New Contact form.
5. Set the Opt-in Authorization option for this contact.
6. Click Save.

The contact is now available under Contacts > Contacts.

You can now send emails and other marketing activities directly to this contact. See Get Started with Emails.

Repeat this process to create some more contacts and add them to a contact list with the instructions in steps 2 and 3.

 Learn more about searching for contacts and managing contact settings at About Contacts.

2. Create Contact Lists

Add contacts to contact lists to create targeted groups of customers.

To create a new contact list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Contacts > Contact Lists.
2. Click  Create Contact List.

3. Provide the following information:

   Contact List Name

   The contact list saves to your account under this name.

   Sender Name

   The name that recipients see in the From box on your mailings.

   Sender Email

   The email address that recipients see in your mailings.

   Language

   Note the language that emails sent to this list should use.

4. Click Save.

 Learn more at About Contact Lists.

3. Add Contacts to Your Contact Lists

There are three ways to add contacts to a contact list: you can add a brand new contact directly to a contact list, you can add existing contacts to a list directly or via dynamic membership rules, or you can import contacts to a list from an external file. Here, we cover how to add new and existing contacts and how to add contacts from a list.

To add brand new individual contacts to a contact list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Contacts > Contact Lists.
2. Click the name of the contact list you want to add contacts to. The contact list details view opens.
3. In this view, click  Add Contacts  .
4. From the drop-down, select  Add Contact.
5. Fill in the information for the contact.
6. Click Save.

To add existing individual contacts to a contact list, follow these steps:

1. Navigate to Contacts > Contacts.
2. Find the contact you want to add by searching keywords or filtering.
3. Click the name of the contact to open the contact details view.
4. In this view, click  Add to list  .
5. Select a contact list from the drop-down.
6. Click Add Contact.

To upload contacts from an external file, follow these steps:

The file needs to be saved as an XLS, XLSX, TXT, or CSV. 

1. Navigate to Contacts > Contact Lists.
2. Click Create Contact List.
3. Complete the Create Contact List window info including contact list name, sender name, sender email, and language.
4. Click Save. This takes you to the contact list details view for this contact list.
5. Click Import Contacts .
6. In the Upload Contacts popup, provide the following information:
   1. Click Upload to select the file to import.
   2. If the file has a header row, check the box on the form.
   3. From the drop-down, select the list you want to add these contacts to. Or, click Create New to add them to a new contact list.
   4. Select the Opt-In Confirmation. Be sure to read our Sender Permission guidelines. Sending emails to contacts who have not opted in to receive emails from you can result in suspension or termination of your ZiftONE account.
   5. Click Upload.
   6. Map the header columns to the fields. You will not need to map the header row if you checked the box. If you don't see your desired field in the drop-down, you can create your own. Be advised—bypassing the mapping step or incorrectly mapping your fields may prevent your contact list from uploading.
   7. Click Upload Contacts. You will receive an onscreen message with the import results.

 Learn more at Best Practices for File Upload and Manage Contact Lists.

4. Confirm Sender Permissions

Having an existing business relationship with a client doesn’t mean it’s okay to add them to your mailing list. When sending content to your contacts, it is a best practice to receive explicit permission before sending emails to them. Without proper permission, you run the risk of getting reported for spam—or worse, being sued under anti-spam laws. The basic principle of permission is that you can only email people who have explicitly given you permission to contact them and only about subjects that they have specifically agreed to.

 Learn more at About Sender Permissions.

5. Set up Opt-In Confirmation Emails

1. Navigate to Settings > Company Profile.
2. Under Edit Company Details, check the box next to Opt-In Authorization. Opt-in authorization is required for a contact to be sent an email requesting they opt in to your mailings. You will be prompted for opt-in confirmation when importing a list or creating an individual contact. When this setting is On, a menu option is available at Contacts > Opt-In Authorization.
3. Navigate to Contacts > Opt-in Authorization > Confirmation Email to update confirmation email with personalized information.
   1. Click  Personalize to edit the email appearance and text.
   2. Click Save and Publish when you are done.
4. When creating new contacts, you can send this email directly to your new contact to obtain opt-in authorization from them.

 Learn more at About Opt-In Authorization.

Next Steps

Once you get comfortable creating contacts and adding them to lists, you can move on to these advanced tasks. You can integrate a CRM or PSA with ZiftONE and import contacts and leads from there. You can also automate your contact list construction by setting up dynamic membership rules which automatically add contacts to specified lists when they meet set criteria.

• CRM Settings
• Manage Contacts
• Manage Contact Lists
• Manage Opt-In Emails
• Best Practices for Contact Lists

With your contact directory filled up and your contacts organized into lists, you're ready to find, activate, and launch your first campaign. Check out these other Get Started guides:

• Get Started with Emails
• Get Started with Campaign Marketplace