Import a Segmented Contact Database

You're getting started on Springly and want to import your contact database. Your contacts are already segmented, and you'd like to bring that existing segmentation into Springly.

Good news — it's entirely possible. This article walks you through it step by step.

Here's a simplified scenario to illustrate the process:

• we want to import 7 persons,
• we have 2 groups: A and B,
• persons belong to Group A, Group B, both, or neither.

Persons were added to groups manually in your previous tool, so this scenario does not involve dynamic groups (which populate and depopulate automatically based on assignment criteria).

Here are the steps we recommend to handle this situation:

1. Recreate your groups in Springly

Go to Community > Groups, click New Group, and follow the steps.

Create fixed (non-dynamic) groups, name them, and save.

For our example: Group A, Group B

2. Create Custom Fields for segmentation

Go to Settings > Community → Customize Fields, and add a Custom Field of type "Multiple choice" that includes the names of your groups.

Save.

For our example:

3. Check your Excel file

Make sure the Excel file you're about to import includes a column matching the Custom Field you created, with the correct information for each person.

The quality of your file typically depends on the software you were using before. If this step takes some time, that's completely outside of Springly's control. 🙂

If a person belongs to multiple groups, separate the group names with a "|" character (as shown for person 2 below).

For our example:

4. Import the Excel file

Go to Community > Contacts, click "Add", then "Import persons".

Simply follow the on-screen instructions.

5. Bulk-assign contacts to groups

Once your persons are imported, you'll find them under Community > Contacts. All that's left is to assign them to the groups you created. To do so:

1. Run an advanced search filtering by your Custom Field
2. Select the persons returned by the results
3. Click the "Add to a group" button, select the group, and confirm.

For our example:

Once you're done, you can:

• Browse your groups to make sure everything looks right
• Delete the Custom Field you created specifically for this import — it's no longer needed, so there's no reason to clutter your database.

We hope this article helps you replicate in Springly the segmentation you had in your previous tool.

From there, you'll be ready to take the next step — like sending targeted email campaigns to your groups.

Learn more:

• Everything you need to know about managing groups
• How simple groups work
• Create and send an email campaign