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Scenario 3: Sending to email contacts, while collecting SMS data outside of Dotdigital
Scenario 3: Sending to email contacts, while collecting SMS data outside of Dotdigital

For accounts that exclusively send emails and collect mobile numbers outside Dotdigital, with the idea of using them in the future.

Gareth Burroughes avatar
Written by Gareth Burroughes
Updated over a year ago

For the information in this article to apply to you, you must:

  • be sending only email through Dotdigital.

  • have no mobile numbers stored in Dotdigital.

  • collect mobile numbers outside of Dotdigital.

If you need help or guidance at any point, contact your Customer Success Manager.

The process

To align the mobile numbers you have collected with the email addresses you have stored in Dotdigital, you need to

  1. Create a spreadsheet where each mobile number corresponds with the correct email contact.

  2. Import the file into Dotdigital to create unified contact records.

Before you start

Things you need to know:

  • You must not have any SMS mobile numbers currently stored in Dotdigital.

  • Mobile numbers you import must be in the international format, including the country code. For example, +44, or 44.

1. Align your SMS and email contacts in a spreadsheet

In an Excel document, organise your SMS and email contacts. You should have a record where each mobile number aligns with the correct email address.

This step assumes you have already matched your email and SMS contacts in a different system, like a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system. You must transfer or duplicate this information into this spreadsheet.


2. Import the file into Dotdigital

Import your contacts to match into Dotdigital. To do this:

  1. Go to Audience > Contacts, then expand the NEW CONTACT drop-down menu and select Import contacts.

  2. For File, select CHOOSE FILE and select the same CSV file that you created in Step 1.
    Optionally, for Email address to notify, enter an email address to receive a notification when the import is complete.

  3. Expand the Encoding type drop-down menu, then select Unicode (UTF-8).

  4. Select UPLOAD.

  5. Map the following fields:

    1. Email address to email

    2. Mobile number to mobilenumberid

    3. Any other data fields you want to import.

  6. Select FINISH to merge your contact data.

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