To prepare contacts for import into Quanda, export them from your CRM, Outlook or accounting software into an xlsx or CSV file, check the email, first name, surname and tag columns in Excel and save the file as xlsx or as CSV in UTF-8 encoding. Then upload the file with the Contact import guide.

How to export contacts and open them in Excel

Most CRM, email and accounting tools can export contacts into an xlsx file for Excel or into a plain text CSV file.

  • An xlsx file opens in Excel with a double-click.
  • A CSV file often ends up in a single column with garbled characters after a double-click. Load it via the Data tab and the From Text/CSV button with UTF-8 encoding and the comma delimiter. The whole procedure is in the article How to open a CSV file in Excel.

What data to prepare in the file

The most important column is the email, because Quanda uses it to recognize whether a contact is already stored. Each email address can be stored in Quanda only once. We recommend preparing at least these columns:

  1. Email
  2. First name
  3. Surname
  4. Phone
  5. Tags

Depending on what you want to use in Quanda, these columns help too:

  • Gender for salutations. Quanda accepts male and female or man and woman. How to prepare and import the salutations themselves is described in the article Creating salutations during import.
  • Contact owner with the email of the Quanda user who looks after the contact. You need it for automatic sender selection. More in the article Contact owner.
  • Custom fields for data without a field of its own, for example a loyalty card number.
  • Legal basis, purpose of processing and validity of consent for GDPR records. More in the article How to import the legal aspects of personal data processing (GDPR).

How to split contacts into groups with tags

A tag places a contact into a group and you will mostly use it to select campaign recipients. Before preparing the file, think about which groups you need for your communication. Splitting contacts into existing and potential customers works well, because each group usually gets different information. You can also sort contacts by product category, place or way of purchase, or their relationship to your company.

Create a separate column for tags in Excel:

  1. Write a tag into the cell, for example customer.
  2. When a contact belongs to several groups, write the tags into one cell separated by commas, for example customer, newsletter.
  3. Always use exactly the same tag for the same group. Quanda distinguishes spaces, upper and lower case and accents, so a typo creates a new tag.

Quanda creates the tags during the import and assigns them to the contacts. Do not create more groups than you can regularly send relevant content to, though. More about working with tags is in the article Tags.

How to save the file for import

Once all data is ready, save the file:

  • as xlsx,
  • as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). Excel offers several CSV types, always pick the delimited one. Quanda does not support the CSV (MS-DOS) and CSV (Macintosh) formats.

If odd characters appear instead of accented letters after the import, the guide to fixing the encoding will help.

What you can set up before the import

In Quanda under Contacts, Automation you can switch on contact automations in advance. When a contact is created or modified, they can fill in a custom field, add a tag, send an email or fill in other details. Contact automations are not available in all plans, see the pricing.

You can add or correct contacts and their details with another import at any time. Just choose that imported contacts have priority.

Do you have questions? We will be happy to answer them. Just contact our customer support at +420 605 163 892, e-mail: support@onquanda.com.

Frequently asked questions

Quanda imports xlsx and CSV files. Save a CSV file as delimited and in UTF-8 encoding, for example in Excel as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited). Quanda does not support the CSV (MS-DOS) and CSV (Macintosh) formats.

The most important one is the email, because Quanda uses it to recognize whether the contact is already stored. We recommend adding at least the first name, surname, phone and tags. A gender column helps with salutations and a contact owner column with automatic sender selection.

Write all tags into one cell of the tag column and separate them with commas. Quanda creates the tags during the import and assigns them to the contact. Watch the spelling, because spaces, upper and lower case and accents all count.

During the import Quanda accepts the values male and female or man and woman, as well as the Czech muž and žena.

Yes. An import can add, correct or update contacts and individual details at any time. Just choose that imported contacts have priority and Quanda updates the data for email addresses it already has.

Yes. An import can store the legal basis, the purpose of processing personal data, its validity and the permission to send emails. This record keeping is available in all plans.