In general, when formatting a list for import into your DemandCenter database, requirements for the list include:
- The list file must be less than 45MB in size.
- The first row in the list must contain header information (field names) for each field/column of data to be imported.
- Owner must be included as a column of your list. For each listed Prospect, the Owner column must contain the Username of the DemandCenter User to which you would like to assign ownership of the Prospect, as a result of the import (whether or not ownership changes for existing records depends on the options that you choose during the import process). Prospect Owners have administrative access to records that they own.
- Source must be included as a column of your list. For each listed Prospect, include a Source name to represent that prospect's record of origin . If a matching Source name already exists in DemandCenter, the prospect will be placed into that matching Source. If a matching Source name does not exist , DemandCenter will automatically create a new Source that matches the corresponding Source name from your list, and will place the prospect into that Source.
- Each column name in your file should be unique. Your column headers should not contain any duplicate names.
- When importing your list, you can identify Matched Records in your DemandCenter database using any combination of any fields in the database. By default, Email Address will be used to identify matched records. You must include a column in your list for any field(s) that you choose to use to identify Matched Records.
- Standard and Custom Prospect Fields may also be included as columns in your list, if applicable. It is not necessary to include ALL existing Prospects Fields in your list -- include only the Prospect Fields that you would like to update in your database. Custom Fields will need to have been set-up in DemandCenter prior to list import. In addition, when mapping Multi-Select custom fields, multiple selected values should be separated by commas ( , ).
- The list must be imported as either a "Tab delimited" or "Comma Delimited" text file, such as a ".csv" file.
To ensure proper handling of multi-byte characters, we recommend saving your lists as UNICODE (PC users) / UTF-16 file (Mac users).
We also recommend taking the following best practice steps:
- Make sure list data is not wrapped.
- Remove leading, trailing, and excessive spaces.
- Remove carriage returns and invisible characters.
- Remove ALL empty columns and rows from your list.
A clean, UNICODE, tab delimited text file will look something like this:
