Why import data into Impact Stack?
We recommend importing the core details of existing supporters who are opted-in for email as a part of the onboarding process, though this can be updated later too. This has important benefits. But remember, imported data will count towards your supporter count. Your supporter count is used to determine your price bracket in our pricing scale.
Syncing data to email marketing tools
Impact Stack can sync across useful data about your supporters to your email marketing tool. Having your supporters' address, donation information, segmentation tags, MP name, constituency, and devolved nation (England, Wales etc) in your email marketing tool can be incredibly useful for customising and segmenting emails!
If you import your existing supporters' opt-in information to Impact Stack during onboarding, data (tags, addresses, nation etc) can sync across to your email marketing tool even if the supporter clicks No to further emails on an Impact Stack form. This is because Impact Stack already knows that person is already opted-in thanks to the initial data import.
If you don't import your existing opted-in supporters to Impact Stack when you onboard, data about a supporter (tags, address etc) will not sync to your email tool until they click opt-in when completing a form on Impact Stack. At that point, Impact Stack will have recorded that the person is opted-in and can sync data over.
Correct data expiry
Having opt-in data in Impact Stack will make it easier for you to expire supporter data in accordance with GDPR and good data management practices. We can't tell whose data to expire if we don't know which of your supporters are opted in to receive communications. If you tell us to expire data, you could lose data for active, opted-in supporters unless you import those supporters (and their opt-in status) into Impact Stack.
Importing data - What we need from you
One round of data import into Impact Stack is covered by your onboarding and set-up fee. After that, data imports can be done as routine billable support.
1. Create your import file or files
We need one CSV spreadsheet for each of the lists/opt ins you want to import.
If you just have one mailing list, with a global opt in, you’ll only need to provide one file. Please name this file after the newsletter list. If your organisation runs multiple lists or audiences (for example a main list, and a separate campaigning or fundraising list, with separately gathered consent), please provide these as separate files, with the name of the list as the filename.
As a minimum we need:
- First Name
- Last Name
- Email address
You can also add additional data if you have it, and would find it useful. For example, if you have information on the original recruitment source for these records, you can use it to populate the ‘Source’ field on the supporter record (eg 'FbAds421' or ‘website’), or you could add Tags. Find out more about tags in Impact Stack.
If you import records with a UK postcode, Impact Stack will automatically populate the supporter record with the Constituency name, MP name and UK devolved nation (England, Wales etc). You can then map these fields to equivalent fields in your mailing system and use them for segmentation or merge purposes.
You can find out more about the structure of data in Impact Stack here.
Unless you tell us otherwise though, we’ll give these records the tag ‘initial-import’ and populate the ‘Source’ field on the supporter record with ‘initial-import’.
2. Share the files with us securely
Please share your import files with us securely by uploading them to the 'support' folder of your NextCloud secure file server, then notify support@more-onion.com that you’ve done so. (Never send supporter data by an insecure method such as email.)
You can log in to NextCloud at https://files.impact-stack.org/login using the credentials we've provided. Contact support if you need help.
If we have access to your email marketing tool (including rights to create an export), we can create the export files and import the data for you. You’ll just need to let us know which Lists / Audiences you want to import, and any additional information, as described above.
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