CRM Migrations require good data preparation to ensure success. It is crucial that the data to be imported is in the proper format for the migration to be completed in a timely manner. Poor formatting could lead to failed imports, conflicting data, and additional efforts correcting data. This is the responsibility of the customer and can take hours of work. Encoding your Comma-Separated Value (.CSV) files in Unicode—specifically, UTF-8 format—is crucial to ensuring your imported data saves correctly within Lead Gen & CRM. UTF-8 can account for invalid/erroneous characters contained in a document that, if included during an import or migration, would result in data corruption. This article will provide information on how to save .CSV files in UTF-8 format.
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Important Information Regarding Imports
The Import Tool uses information from .CSV files and creates contact lists from this information. These files contain only alphanumeric data and are presented in a table format.
When saving .CSV file content, any .CSV file that you intend on importing should be structured similar to the following:
| First Name | Last Name | Is Unsubscribed | |
| Galileo | Galilei | g@polymath.com |
0 |
| Edwin | Hubble | space@extragalatic.com |
0 |
| Hipparchus | math@trig.com |
1 |
When saving .CSV files, be aware of the following:
- Header rows are required. Header rows are necessary for mapping Lead Gen & CRM fields to imported fields.
- Email fields are required. The Import Tool requires that your .CSV file contain a column mapped to the Email field. You will still need to include the Email column when a contact does not have an email address.
- Is Unsubscribed fields are required. For Lead Gen & CRM to successfully import a .CSV file, the file needs one column header that is labeled as Is Unsubscribed. The Is Unsubscribed field should be a boolean field, where 0 is for leads who are opted in, and 1 is for leads who are not opted in.
- Utilize first and last names. For the import to be successful, a first and last name are suggested in the event that you do not have an email address for that contact. Use both as often as possible.
- Values must match. When importing custom field values, ensure that they are formatted to match the custom field values. For example, picklist and checkbox values are case-sensitive.
- When importing data with picklist and checkbox fields, the fields must be present in the file import in order to appear. Ensure that the picklist or checkbox fields in your file exist before importing. Otherwise, the data may not import properly.
- When importing to a checkbox custom field, the data cannot have spaces between values and commas. An example of this would be value1,value2,value3.
Saving in Numbers for Mac
You can save .CSV files in Numbers for Mac.
To save .CSV files, do the following:
- Open a .CSV document in Numbers for Mac.
- Select File.
- Click Export To >CSV...
- Click Advanced Options.
- Select UTF-8 as the choice for Text Encoding.
- Click Next.
- Select the save location for the file.
- Click Export.
Saving in OpenOffice
You can save .CSV files in OpenOffice.
To save .CSV files, do the following:
- Open a .CSV document in OpenOffice.
- Click File.
- Select Save As...
- Set File Type as Text CSV (.csv).
- Click Save.
- If prompted, choose Keep Current Format.
- Ensure Character Set is set to Unicode (UTF-8).
- Leave other options as their defaults.
- Click OK.
Saving in Microsoft Excel
You can save .CSV files in Microsoft Excel.
To save .CSV files, do the following:
- Open a .CSV document in Microsoft Excel.
- Click File.
- Select Save As...
- Select File Type as CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (.csv).
- Click Save.
- If prompted, choose Keep Current Format.
Additional Support
If your system or program of choice exports .CSV files to a different format, you still need to save it as a .CSV file in Unicode (UTF-8) format prior to importing it into Lead Gen & CRM. The following list contains external help documentation for various systems, programs, and vendors: