Contacts

Overview

Staying in touch with your customers is an important part of any marketing plan. The contact database is made up of individual contacts that represent an individual person or business with specific contact information such as name, address, city, state, and phone number. A contact's information can be updated over time as you learn more about your contact. A record must have an email address - it is the unique identifier for the contact.

In the Contacts view, you can do the following:

• Add contacts individually or from a list.
• Export contacts as a list and access it in the My Downloads page.
• Search by name for contacts.
• Filter the list by data fields.
• View the page title and the number of contacts available.
• Sort by overall lead score, create date, or name.
• Preview a list of contacts with name, email, company name, company phone, and lead score.
• Select any linked contact name for details on the contact.

Before You Begin

• Review our Best Practice for Contact Lists article.
• Review your contact list before sending out marketing activities.
• Ensure that contacts are opted in to receiving communications from you (or that opt-in is implied). For more information, see Manage Opt-In for Emails to Contacts.

Contents

Click on the + to expand the instructions for the desired task.

View Existing Contacts

The Contacts screen allows you to see all of your contacts, with basic information, as a list. Each record has a hyperlinked name of the contact and a hyperlinked company name. Click either to open details specific to that record.

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. The Contact Search screen displays all of your contacts by default. 
3. [Optional] Use the search filters on the left of the screen to restrict the list of contacts displayed. If you do not set any filters, all of your contacts will be displayed.
4. [Optional] By default, the list is sorted by the Overall Lead Score.  You can click another button to change the sort order to create date or contact name. 

About the Contact Details View

From the Contacts view, you can open a details view for each contact you have created. To open the Contact Details view:

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Select a contact from the list and click on it to open it.

In the Contact Detail view, you can do the following:

• Add contacts to a contact list for targeted marketing communications or segmenting your audience.
• Deactivate the contact. This will remove the contact for all future communication.
• Review the contact's interaction with marketing efforts.

Email opens

Email opens, also known as “open rate,” is the number of times an email sent from the portal was opened. The open rate is calculated as follows: Emails opened /emails sent - bounces = open rate.

Email Clicks

The number of times the recipient of an email clicks or views a link in an email sent from the portal. The more clicks the email receives, the more successful we consider it.

Web Views

The number of times the email recipient clicks the call to action. The recipient viewing/clicking a link and viewing the associated web page is considered a web view.

Submissions

The number of form submissions through an email landing page (gated asset, event registration, etc.), a web plugin (gated asset, contact us, etc.), or a social form.

• Edit the details/profile of the contact.
• View the contact’s lead score.
• View the leads associated with this contact including date, lead, and lead score for the interaction.
• Create and update dates for this contact that indicate interaction with the marketing activity.
• See a lead activity summary and a timeline of events, including all the interactions for this contact. Some examples of interaction:
  • Inquiry - This includes scored lead events such as email open, web click, social share, etc.

  • Leads - This includes leads based on standard lead definitions (score of 15 for minimum lead threshold).

    It can include:

    • accepted, distributed lead
    • lead with an associated opportunity
    • registered lead
    • lead assigned to a sales rep
    • lead with status Open, Contacted, Nurture, or Qualified
    • lead with status Unqualified/Invalid if it was previously set with status Open, Contacted, Nurture, or Qualified
  • Status changes
• Click on the event to show even more details for this lead with the specific event including open rate, click-through rate, bounce rate, and unsubscribe rate for this event.
• Note: If your supplier has chosen to share analytics with you, the data appears here. Shared Analytics allows you to leverage activity on your supplier's website to drive sales. Speak to your supplier contact for additional details.

Add a New Contact

You can add a new contact to Contacts list. This will allow you to capture basic information about a person and store related information as you interact with them. You can also register this contact with your supplier.

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Click Add Contacts in the upper left of the screen to open a drop-down menu.

3. Click Add Contact.

   

4. In the New Contact form, fill in as many of the fields as possible.

   Email Address is mandatory and is used as the unique identifier for the contact. Note: role-based email addresses such as admin@, sales@, etc. should be avoided. A contact based on an address of this type will be ignored if included in a contact list. For more information, see What are role based email addresses and how does the system handle them?.

   Note

   It is not good practice to register your own email, or that of your colleagues, as a lead. Your supplier may have implemented a restriction that prevents you from doing this.

   If your portal account has custom contact fields configured, these will be displayed at the bottom of the form. For more information, see Contact Fields.

5. If required, set the Opt-In Authorization status for the contact. This setting may have been enabled by your administrator. For more information, see Manage Opt-In for Emails to Contacts.

6. Click Register as a lead with your supplier to share the contact information with your supplier.

   

7. Click Save.

   The contact is added to the Contacts list.

Edit a Contact

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Click the Contact to open it for edit.
3. Click Edit Details.
4. Make the required changes to the contact's information.
5. Click Save.

Change a Contact’s Opt-In Authorization Status

If your portal uses the Opt-In Authorization process, you may need to change a contact's authorization status.

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Click the contact to open it for edit.
3. Click Edit Details.

4. In the Opt-In Authorization field, choose one of these settings:

   • Authorized for all communications
   • Authorized for selected communications
   • Do not contact

   For information on your options for changing authorization status, see Can a partner change the Opt-In Authorization?.

5. Click Save.

   

Export Contacts

There are two uses for the export contacts function:

• Export a list of contacts for use in other applications
• Export a spreadsheet that reflects the current structure of contact records

You should always do this to get the latest version. You can then clean up and configure your list of contacts before using the Add New Contacts by Uploading a File procedure for bulk uploads.

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Sort or filter the page if required, to get the required list of contacts.

3. Click Export.

   

4. Select the scheduling option for generating the file:
   • To obtain a single current copy of the contacts list, select Send Now.
   • To schedule regular delivery of the contacts list, select Send Daily, Send Weekly or Send Monthly.

5. Click Export Contacts.

   The list is exported as a CSV file and includes the data provided for each contact.

   

   Any custom Contact Fields are included in the export, as well as standard contact fields. For more information, see Contact Fields.

   Depending on the number of records in the database, the process may take some time to complete. When it is done, you will receive a message confirming that you can access your report from your My Downloads page.

   

Add New Contacts in Bulk

Bulk uploads of contacts to your portal account is supported. 

A quick way to add contacts is to upload a contact list from a file. The file must be in XLS, XLSX, TXT, or CSV format, and a maximum size of 5MB. To ensure that the file you upload conforms to the current format, you can export your contact list to use as a template. See Export Contacts above for the steps. A sample spreadsheet is attached to this article below.

Note

It is not good practice to register your own email, or that of your colleagues, as a lead. Your supplier may have implemented a restriction that prevents you from doing this.

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Click Add Contacts in the upper left of the screen.

3. Click File Import.

   

4. In Upload Contacts, provide the following information:
   1. Click Upload to select the file to import.
   2. If the file has a header row, check the File contains a header row option.
   3. Choose whether to add the contacts to a Contact List. These are the options:
      • Choose an existing Contact List from the drop-down list
      • Choose Do not import to a Contact List
      • Click Create New to create a new Contact List and add the contacts to it

   4. If required, set the Opt-In Authorization status for the contacts. This setting may have been enabled by your administrator. For more information, see Manage Opt-In for Emails to Contacts.

      You can choose to automatically grant opted-in status to all the contacts in the list, or send each one an email asking them to opt-in/opt-out of email communications.

      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 portal account.

5. Click Import.

   

6. If the file contains a header row, you're asked to map the header columns to data fields. This  confirms which contact field in portal records should be populated with the values from each field in the upload file.

   If a column is named the same as a standard contact field (eg. Email), a suggested mapping is added automatically. You can change it if required.

   Columns with unrecognised names have Ignore Column set as a default. You can choose to include the field in the import by selecting a mapping to a field (standard or custom contact field).

   Standard fields are listed in the General area of the drop down list

   Custom fields are shown in the Custom area of the drop down list.

   For information about custom Contact Fields, see Contact Fields.

   

   If you don't see your desired field in the drop-down, you can create your own.

   Important

   Bypassing the mapping step or incorrectly mapping your fields may prevent your contact list from uploading.

7. Click Upload Contacts. You will receive an on-screen message with the import results.

   

   The message advises if any rows failed the import (for example if the contact already exists). Click this link in the message to download information about the failed rows.

Efforts are made to populate the company name correctly if there is any doubt about its accuracy in the imported record:

• If it was not included - the company information is populated based on the contact email domain. For example, [e-mail] will result in Apple, Inc. contact information being added.
• If it appears misspelled or incomplete, based on existing records -  the correct company name will be added. For example, an entry for Lent Solution would be updated to Lent Solutions if a record with that company name already exists. If the correction is not wanted, you can update it. Only one attempt is made to correct the name.

Update Existing Contacts in Bulk

Bulk updates of contacts from a file are supported. Follow the process outlined in the Add New Contacts in Bulk section of this article.

If the uploaded file includes an email address that already exists in portal records as a contact, the existing contact will be updated with the information included for it in the uploaded file. 

Modify your Contact Form

The contact form is used for adding contacts to your contact lists or allowing existing contacts to manage their communication preferences. The contact form can be referenced stand-alone or embedded into a page on your website. You can also facilitate your contacts in managing their communication preferences through the contact form.

Configure Your Form - The Contact Form is a basic information capture form to add contacts to your database and lists. You can choose the fields and contact lists you want to manage as part of setting up the form. Use the Fields and Lists sections to the right to manage which fields and which lists will appear in the form.

Managing Communication Preferences - On every email communication, you send through the solution you have the option to include a "Manage Preferences" link. This link will automatically be appended to the bottom of your email and refer back to the Contact Form you have configured.

Embedding the Form in Your Website - The Contact Form can be embedded on your website by viewing the source of the contact form landing page and copying the <form> tag and all of the content in between and placing it within an HTML page on your website.

For more information about Contact Forms, see Contact Forms for Contact Lists.

Deactivate Contacts

When you deactivate a contact, you delete it permanently. The contact's email address is removed from your contact lists and from the Contacts view. A contact will continue to display in your campaign statistics if it has activity (email clicks, web views, etc.) even if it is deactivated. You'll still see the full statistics for your marketing activities.

Keep in mind that even if a contact has activity, it is not considered a lead until it passes the lead threshold determined by the supplier.

The Deactivate button will not be visible if a pending lead is on the contact. Accept or reject the pending distributed lead/s associated with the contact to be able to deactivate the contact.

To deactivate a contact:

1. Navigate to your Contacts page.
2. Find the contact you want to deactivate, and click on it to open it.
3. Click Deactivate. You're asked to confirm that you want to proceed with deleting the contact.
4. [Optional] To add the contact to your Suppression List, check the Prevent all future communication with this contact option.
5. Click Deactivate to continue. 

Identify Opt-In Status for Contacts

You can configure your account so that only contacts who have been marked as Authorized to receive communications will receive emails you send from the portal. This is the best practice for creating clean GDPR-compliant mailing lists. For more information, see Manage Opt-In for Emails to Contacts.

If you are not sure which contacts have authorized communications from you, filter the opt-in status of your contacts.

To view contacts by opt-in status, go to your Opt-In Authorization page. It allows you to see your contacts based on their authorization status.

In your Opt-In Authorization page, select to filter on the following statuses:

• Active
• Pending
• Unsubscribed

Training

Related Topics

• Get Started with Contacts and Contact Lists
• Manage Emails
• Manage Campaigns