Preparing contacts

This guide provides technical instructions for creating a properly formatted spreadsheet file to upload contacts into a dialer campaign. Following this structure ensures that your contact data, including any extra custom information, is correctly interpreted by the system.

File Format

The file must be saved in one of the following formats:

• CSV (Comma-Separated Values): This is a standard plain text format. When using CSV, ensure the file is saved with UTF-8 encoding to handle special characters correctly.
• XLSX (Excel Spreadsheet): You can also use the standard Excel workbook format.

Most spreadsheet applications, like Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets, or LibreOffice Calc, can easily create or export files in these formats.

Column Structure

The first row of your spreadsheet is the header row. It defines the data fields for all subsequent rows.

Mandatory Column

There is only one mandatory column:

• phone number
  • This column must contain the telephone numbers you want the dialer to call.
  • Country Codes: You can provide numbers with or without international country codes.
    • If a number includes a country code (e.g., +12125550123), the dialer will use it.
    • If a number lacks a country code (e.g., 2125550123), the default region selected in your campaign's configuration will be automatically applied.

Optional Columns (Extra Data)

You can add any number of optional columns after the phone number column. This data is passed to your bot project as "extra data."

The system maps this data as key-value pairs:

• Key: The name in the column header (e.g., name, orderId, city).
• Value: The corresponding value in the contact's row (e.g., John Doe, ORD-1138, New York).

This mechanism is useful for personalizing conversations. For more details on how to use this data within your bot, refer to the official documentation on Extra Data.

Example Spreadsheet

Here is an example of a valid spreadsheet structure. You can use this as a template.

Raw CSV Format Example

If you were to save the table above as a CSV file, the raw text content would look like this:

phone number,name,orderId,membershipLevel
5550101,Jane Smith,ORD-9451,Gold
+442079460007,Arun Patel,ORD-9452,Silver
2025550199,Maria Garcia,ORD-9453,Bronze
5550104,Chen Wei,,Gold

Notice the empty value for Chen Wei's orderId, which is a valid way to omit data for a specific contact.

Important Constraints

• Contact Limit: The file can contain a maximum of 10,000 contacts (i.e., 10,001 rows including the header).
• Header Row: The first row must always be the header.

By following these guidelines, you can successfully prepare contact lists for your dialer campaigns.