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      Importing Contacts with a CSV

      The easiest way to get started is to import contacts into Hatch is through a .CSV file. This can be exported from your CRM, or wherever you keep customer information.

      A basic .CSV is required to have the following information fields (columns) in or

      Field Name Example  Notes
      First Name Sarah Column Required, but contact will still import if not available for certain contacts
      Last Name Stevens Column Required, but contact will still import if not available for certain contacts
      Email sarah@longhouseroofing.com A contact must have either a phone number and/or email to be imported. 
      Phone Number 401-017-1947 A contact must have either a phone number and/or email to be imported. 

       

      Status

      		 Working Column Required, but contact will still import if not available for certain contacts

      Hatch directly supports the following additional fields. We recommend you add the following if they are readily available:

      Field Name Example Notes
      Created Date

      2/15/2020

      Must be the following format: MM/DD/YYYY

      		 This field can be used for contact created date, or appointment created date.
      Updated Date 2/20/2020 This is often a 'Last Modified Date' or a 'Last Updated Date/Time' field
      External Contact ID 10710393 This is often a unique ID that is associated with the contact. It can be used to identify a contact even if they have multiple appointments, opportunities, or details change.

      External ID

      		 10710393 If the contact as an additional ID associated, such as appointment or opportunity ID. This field should not be confused with External Contact ID.
      Street 123 Rainbow Lane Make sure to split up address parts into individual columns.
      City Landcastle Make sure to split up address parts into individual columns.
      State Virginia Make sure to split up address parts into individual columns.
      Zip 19742 Make sure to split up address parts into individual columns.
      Other Details Representative Name, House Color, Spouse Name, Appointment Time, Source All other details will still import into Hatch. They will show up in the contact as details. There details can still be used for targeting and campaign language. 

      If you need an example, copy our Template to get started.

      Matching Fields

      Sometimes Hatch tries to match fields that you may not agree with.

      For example, a column named "Confidence" may attempt to match to "External ID". If this happens, simply un-highlight the field before you click the import button.

      Creating Campaigns with Imported Contacts

      Creating a List for Campaign

      Contacts can be launched into a campaign using any details that were added upon import. To learn more about Campaign in general, click here.

      If you like to segment contacts prior to importing into Hatch, we recommend adding a 'tag' upon import to easily find contacts for launch.

      1. When creating your CSV, add a column called "Campaign Tag". For each contact, add a value that will be unique for that list of contacts. For example "Rehash21020" or "HomeshowOctober". Here you can see a tag of "HomeshowOctober" was added to the contact record. We will use that to search for later in Hatch.
      2. Go to the Contacts Page within Hatch and click Import CSV. Make sure fields have matched up appropriately, and confirm the import.

        Import your CSV, and then confirm all the feilds are matching up appropriately. Fields that don't match will still come through as Details.

      3. Once contacts are imported you can locate the list using the "Creat Audience using HQL" option on the contacts page. Using the search criteria details:"Campaign Tag" CONTAINS "Rehash21020" replacing "Rehash21020" with whatever you have chosen your tag to be, you can pull that list of contacts. Using this criteria you can also create a group for these contacts and use that group to automatically launch contacts into the campaign via workflow. 

        Using the tag we've added on in the CSV, we can now search for our unique list of contacts in Hatch.

      Frequently Asked Questions

      I do not see an option to export a .CSV from my CRM. Are there other formats I can use to import my data?

      Currently Hatch only supports the importing of .CSV files.

      However, many common spreadsheet formats can easily be converted to a .CSV using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. If you can export as a .XLS, .XLSX, or a .TSV these formats can be saved as a .CSV with little to no data loss.

      I want to launch every contact in a campaign on this .CSV I am importing. How do I find the contacts easily once I import the .CSV?

      We recommend adding a unique tag on the CSV that you can search for later in Hatch. Click here to learn more. 

      I have attempted to import my .CSV but I am getting an error about an invalid date format. How do I fix this?

      Hatch currently only supports the date format of MM/DD/YYYY. You can easily format an entire date column using Google Sheets or Microsoft Excel. If there is something that would be lost when formatting the date that you feel is important (ie. a time included with a date) we recommend you make an entire copy of your date column, and format one of the columns as MM/DD/YYYY.

      My .CSV has the customer's First Name and Last Name combined into one field/column. Can I use this column when I import the .CSV?

      While Hatch will not stop you from importing your .CSV, It's important that these are two separate fields.

      Our recommended messaging is built around only using the customer's First Name, if these two fields are joined, then the customer will always be called by their Full Name.

      My .CSV has a ton of columns I am attempting to import. Is there a better/faster way to have Hatch know which fields to match to the contact?

      Hatch will prioritize any column with the word 'Hatch' in it (ie. 'Hatch Date', Hatch First Name' etc.). After that, Hatch will look at your columns from left to right and any columns Hatch thinks it can match to will appear in that order.

      I have multiple columns containing phone numbers. Will Hatch know to grab phone numbers from different columns?

      Hatch only supports matching one phone number to a contact. If you have multiple columns of phone numbers, we recommend mapping the Hatch Field to any mobile numbers columns you have available. 

      If you wish to target different kinds of phone numbers for different customers located across multiple columns, you'll have to combine those columns together so every contact has a phone number in Hatch.

      My question isn't here!

      Reach out to us at support@usehatchapp.com so we can get it answered for you!