How do I add private contacts?

You can use Agility to distribute to your private contacts as well as to contacts from the Agility database.

Mona Patel avatar
Written by Mona Patel
Updated over a week ago

There are a couple options to add private contacts.  You can bulk import them from a .csv file, or one by one.

Adding contacts through bulk import:

Agility’s import tool makes it easy to work with lists created outside of the platform, whether you have been maintaining them yourself outside the system or you are moving them from a different service.

Preparing the Excel data file

  1. The Excel file MUST contain the three mandatory columns of First name, Last name and Email address in order for the import to process successfully. Other columns can also be included (e.g. Telephone no., Outlet name, Twitter handle etc.) but are not mandatory. 

NOTE: If you do not have the first name and last name, then you can put in dummy data under these field I.e. First name 1, First name 2, Last name 1, Last name 2 etc. 

2. Save the excel spreadsheet as a .csv (comma delimited) file.

The import process

Step 1. Go to Discover > Private Contacts > Actions > Import contacts

Step 2. Browse your computer for your CSV file > You can select up to 20 individual files to import and choose to either import them as 1 list or as individual lists.

Step 3. Use the drop-down menus to map the system columns to the columns on the CSV file. I.e First name = C.First Name, Last name = C.Last Name. Email = C.Email (primary).

NOTE: Use the fields starting with C. (Contact information) to map the fields related to contact info and use the fields starting with O. (Outlet Information) to map any Outlet related columns. 

Please also ensure that when mapping the contact email column, that you map it with the system field C.Email (Primary).


NOTE: If you are importing more than 1 list and you wish to map the columns in the exact same way for all lists, click on Apply columns to all files.

Step 4. Enter an email address to receive an email notifying you of the status of the import > Click on Finish Import.

NOTE: Imports can take some time depending on how many lists are being processed at once. Agility will allow the user to continue working while lists are being imported behind the scenes.

Adding Contacts One-by-one:

If you are unable to find a contact in Agility, you can add your own so they're immediately available for distributions.  To add your own private contact to Agility, please follow these four easy steps below.

Step 1. Go to Discover>Private Contacts>Actions>Add New Contact:

Step 2. Add the contact's first name, last name and email.  Please note these three fields are required.  Then, click 'Next Step' at the bottom of the form:

Step 3. After clicking, "Next Step" you have the opportunity to add in option fields.  You can come back to this page and edit the details of your private contact anytime.  Once all that data is in, you can click "Add This Person" at the bottom of the page:

Step 4. You're done!  At this point, if you'd like to add the contact to a Targeted List, go to Actions>Add Contact to a List, and follow the prompts:

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