Learn all about contacts, how to add them, and how they're stored in your account.
Overview
Contacts are the people whose information you store in your account.
You can store all sorts of data for a contact, such as their name, company name, address, date of birth, interests, and much more.
Contact details
The core information you can store on a contact is their Contact details – also known as Default data fields. This information is not essential, but it's the most basic information you might keep for a contact.
When you create campaigns, you can add personalisation to display some of these data points.
Contact details contains:
| Contact details | Can be used in personalisation | |
| First name | The contact's first name. | Yes |
| Last name | The contact's last name. | Yes |
| Full name | The contact's full name. | Yes |
| Gender | The contact's gender. | Yes |
| Postcode | The contact's postcode. | Yes |
| Email type | The format the contact wants to receive emails. Options: HTML or Plain text. | No |
| Notes | Any notes you might make about the contact. | No |
Data fields
With Data fields, you can customise the information you store on a contact.
We call these Custom data fields, and you can store whatever information you need. Custom data fields can be Text, Numeric, Date, or Yes/No format.
To learn how to create Custom data fields, check out the article Create, delete, and edit custom data fields.
When you create campaigns, you can automatically add personalisation to display some of these custom data fields.
Address books
Contacts and their information are stored in address books. You can create address books for whatever collection of contacts you want. A contact can be in multiple address books or just one; you can organise things any way you want.
By default every account comes with two address books:
- All contacts
Stores all contacts in an account - Test
An address book storing testing email addresses to test your campaigns.
To learn how to create an address book, check out the article Create an address book.
Segments
With segments you can divide your contacts into smaller targetable segments based on set criteria. Marketers use segments to cater specific campaigns to their contacts' needs, wants, and passions rather than settling for a one-size-fits-all message.
To learn more about segments, check out the article Segmentation overview.
Add contacts to your account
You can add contacts to your account either individually (single contact addition), or many at a time (bulk contact import). There are several methods for each of these options. How you choose to create new contacts can also affect other account settings and features.
Single contact additions
A single contact addition is any process whereby contacts are added into your account one at a time. The following methods are single contact additions:
- Signup form (created from Contacts > Signup forms). Learn more
- Pages and forms. Learn more
- The Add an individual contact option for an address book. Learn more
- The following API methods:
Bulk imports
A bulk contact import is a process which involves adding multiple contacts to your account simultaneously. The following methods involve a bulk contact import action:
- Uploading a file of contacts. Learn more
- SFTP upload. Learn more
- The following API methods:
Bulk vs single contact additions
The main difference between single and bulk contact additions is, of course, whether you create just one contact or many contacts as a result of the process. A more subtle difference is that the method you use to add contacts to your account can have an effect on some of the other features available in the platform. In particular, double opt-in and address book join actions:
| Single contact addition | Bulk contact import |
| ✔️ Triggers address book join actions | ❌ Does not trigger address book join actions |
| ✔️ Triggers a double opt-in email when regulatory settings are set to Enforce double opt-in for signups from signup forms and some API methods only (default). | ✔️ Triggers a double opt-in email when regulatory settings are set to Enforce double opt-in for all signups, including bulk uploads. |
A note about suppressed contacts
Attempting to import suppressed contacts in bulk does not trigger a resubscribe email, and the import of these contacts will not be successful. Suppressed contacts added back into the account through a single contact addition are sent a resubscribe email, and are added back into your account if they confirm their wish to resubscribe.
To learn more, check out the article Resubscribe a contact.
View all contacts
You can look in the All contacts address book to see a list of all of your contacts.
To find the All contacts address book, go to Email > Contacts > All contacts, and then select the All contacts address book.
SMS contacts
SMS contacts and address books are created separately from your email contacts and address books.
To learn more, check out the article Create, edit, and upload SMS address books and contacts.