Data can be bulk imported into Gecko in many ways.
Engage
Data can be imported into Gecko manually (via CSV uploads) or automatically (via the CRM integration or through recurring SFTP imports). To view any previously executed import, or to run a new one, go to Settings > Import Data.
Contacts
To bulk import contacts into Gecko, go to Settings > Import Data and click + New Import in the top-right corner.
Give your import a title, select whether this is a one-off or recurring import, and pick the data type as Contacts. Select your CSV file of contacts and click Upload CSV.
The CSV Mapping section lets you specify which Gecko Fields your CSV data should be imported into. Gecko supports a wide range of formats for most field types:
Full Name and Email Address are the only required fields for a contact import.
💡 Learn more about: 📞 Importing telephone numbers
💡 Learn more about: 📞 Importing telephone numbers
Gecko allows you to import the raw telephone number and the number's dial/ISO country code. Suppose you'd like Gecko to automatically assign a fixed dial/ISO country code to all the telephone numbers you import. This can be achieved by heading to Settings > Account Settings and updating the Default Country field.
For example, if I know in advance that I'll only ever be calling/texting students in the United States, I'd update my Default Country field accordingly. By doing this, any future telephone numbers will automagically be given the +1 dial code, without my CSV ever needing a dial/ISO country code column.
If, on the other hand, you plan to import a mixture of international telephone and domestic numbers, ensure your CSV includes an additional column with the ISO country abbreviation or the dialing code.
In short (and assuming your Settings > Account Settings > Default Country field is set to the United States):
If Gecko spots a telephone number being imported without a dial code/country code, Gecko will automatically add the +1 dial code.
If Gecko spots a telephone number imported with a value in the dial code/country code, that dial code/country code will supersede the +1 dial code.
When you've mapped the fields from your CSV, click Finish Import. Your contacts will be successfully created/updated within Gecko if all is set up correctly.
Don't panic if your import needs to be corrected the first time around! Gecko supports the functionality of re-uploading the import with a new file or rolling back the import.
🚨Warning: Rolling back an import will delete all contacts that were part of the uploaded CSV, irrespective of whether the import created the contacts. Use with caution!
Responses
To import responses into one of your Gecko forms or call scripts, go to Settings > Import Data and click + New Import in the top-right corner.
Give your import a title, select whether this is a one-off or recurring import, and pick the data type as Responses. Select your CSV file of response data and pick the form/script to which you want to upload the responses before clicking Upload CSV.
In the Workflows to run on import section, you have granular control over the types of workflows that will trigger:
The CSV Mapping section lets you specify which Gecko Fields your CSV data should be imported into. Gecko supports a wide range of formats for most field types.
If any fields are set as required on your form/script, these will, by extension, be required for your import to be successful.
Once you've mapped the fields on your CSV to the above options, hit Finish Import. If all is set up correctly, your responses will be successfully uploaded and run through your form or script in Gecko!
Don't panic if your import needs to be corrected the first time around! Gecko supports the functionality of re-uploading the import with a new file or rolling back the import.
🚨Warning: Rolling back an import will delete all contacts that were part of the uploaded CSV, irrespective of whether the import created the contacts. Use with caution!
Events
To bulk import events or sessions into Gecko, go to Settings > Import Data and click + New Import in the top-right corner.
Give your import a title, select whether this is a one-off or recurring import, and pick the data type as Events. Select your CSV file of events/sessions and click Upload CSV.
The CSV Mapping section lets you specify which Gecko Fields your CSV data should be imported into. Gecko supports a wide range of formats for most field types. At the time of writing, below are the currently supported event fields you can write to:
Required
Title - The title of the event/session.
Start Date - The start date and time of the event/session. This can be imported in several formats, including dd/mm/yyyy hh:mm and mm-dd-yyyy hh:mm
End Date - The end date and time of the event/session.
Timezone - A complete list of valid time zones can be found here.
Parent Event ID - Only required when importing sessions. Allows you to add sessions to an existing Gecko parent event. To find the Parent Event ID, click on your event on Gecko and note the numeric event ID in the URL bar.
Optional
Registration Type - What type of event will you be running? For a Single Event, use the number 10. For a Single Session event, use the number 20; for Multiple Session events, use the number 30. No
Delivery Method - How will you be running the event? Use the values venue, online, or hybrid. No quotation marks are needed.
Description - Add a plain text description for your event. No quotation marks are needed.
Maximum - Sets a maximum number of attendees for the event.
Self Check-in Time - Enables self-check-in and defines how many minutes before the event/session start time this feature is enabled.
Session Tags - Adds tags to your session. Multiple tags should be comma separated.
Webinar Description - Add a plain text description of your webinar. No quotation marks are needed.
Webinar URL - Add the URL for your webinar.
CRM Value - Adds a CRM value required for some older CRM systems. This field is visible in the event Edit > Advanced Settings page.
Cost - Define a cost for the event. This information is exportable, and the field is visible on the event Edit > Advanced Settings page.
Country - The host country of your event. This field is visible for venue-based events on the event Edit > Location page.
Created At - To be used if you'd like your event to have been created at a time before the upload time (this will only be visible on a database level).
Once you've mapped the fields on your CSV to the above options, hit Finish Import. If all is set up correctly, this event will be successfully created in Gecko!
Organisations
To bulk import organisations into Gecko, go to Settings > Import Data and click + New Import in the top-right corner.
Give your import a title, select whether this is a one-off or recurring import, and pick the data type as Organisations. Select your CSV file and click Upload CSV.
The CSV Mapping section lets you specify which Gecko Fields your CSV data should be imported into. Gecko supports a wide range of formats for most field types.
Required
Organisation Name - The name of the Organisation.
Organisation Type (Title) - The type of Organisation. Gecko has University and School as two pre-existing default options. Organisation Types can be created/edited in Settings > Organisation Types.
Once you've mapped the fields on your CSV to the above options, hit Finish Import. If all is set up correctly, your organisations will be successfully created/ updated in Gecko!
Recurring / SFTP
Gecko can be told to automatically import data regularly from an SFTP server as often as hourly, every 3 hours, every 12 hours, every 24 hours, or weekly. Whilst Gecko cannot host an SFTP server for you (you'll need to speak with your IT team about that!), linking to your server is easy.
Navigate to Settings > Import Data and click + New Import in the top-right corner. Give your import a title, select recurring import, and pick your data type.
Scroll down to the Recurring Import section and enter the following information:
Hostname: The hostname of your FTP/SFTP server.
Port: The port number we should use to access your server.
Path: The directory/ address of the files you'd like us to import.
Username: The name we should use to log into your server with.
Password: The password we should use to log into your server with.
Driver: Select the type of server (FTP or SFTP).
Form: (Only visible if the Import Type is Responses) Choose which Gecko form/script you're importing responses for.
When the above information has been entered, click Access FTP Folder in the bottom-right corner. After a few seconds in which Gecko will use the given credentials to access the most recently created CSV file in the specified SFTP directory, you can map your CSV and set the import frequency.
CRM
Gecko allows you to easily pull information from your CRM system on a one-off or recurring basis. Depending on your CRM, this can be achieved via an API or SFTP connection.
Learn more about how this looks for each integration type below:
Chat
Contacts can be imported directly into Chat from specific CRM systems or by running an SMS broadcast on GeckoEngage using a Chat SMS Channel.
CRM
Though Chat supports dynamically pushing contacts to a range of CRM systems, at present, only the CRM systems listed below can be used to import contacts into Chat.
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