The Contact Lists feature in Engage enables brands to create, manage, and maintain lists of subscribed guests. It is complementary to Segments, further empowering brands to easily manage guest subscriptions and preferences to deliver more targeted, relevant marketing campaigns.
Skip To:
- Accessing Contact Lists
- Creating a Contact List
- Adding Guests to a Contact List: Add Contact Button
- Adding Guests to a Contact List: CSV Upload
- Adding Guests to a Contact List: API Endpoints
- Using Contact Lists in Campaigns
- Using Contact Lists in Automations
Accessing Contact Lists
The ability to create, delete, edit, and view Contact Lists is governed by Role-Based Access Controls. In the example below from the fictional Athena Grill brand, the Admin and Marketer roles all have this ability but Staff, Guest Services, and No Sentiment do not. Keep in mind that the User Roles and Permissions in your account configuration may be different than what is pictured below.
Creating a Contact List
Users with the appropriate access can create a new Contact List by navigating to Audience > Contact Lists and clicking the Create Contact List button in the top-right of the UI. Once there, input the List Name (required) and List Description (optional) and click the Create button in the bottom right.
A Contact List can also be created in the CSV Upload process outlined later in this article.
Adding Guests to a Contact List
There are three primary ways to add guests to a Contact List:
- Updating individual guest records via the Engage Dashboard interface
- Updating guest records in bulk via a CSV upload
- Updating guests records programmatically via the Upsert Guest API
Adding Guests to a Contact List: Add Contact Button
This allows brands to add individual guests to an existing Contact List. To do so, navigate to Audience > Contact Lists and click the View button of the relevant Contact List.
Then click the Add Contact button in the top right and input their First/Last Name (optional) and Email Address. When done, click the Create button in the bottom right.
As you add guests, you will see a list of them in the Contact List View.
Guests can also be removed individually from active Contact Lists. To do so, simply click the trash can icon next to the applicable guest from within the Contact Lists details screen.
Adding Guests to a Contact List: CSV Upload
Users with the appropriate access can add or update multiple guest records at once by doing a CSV Upload. To access this, navigate to Guest Data > Audience and click the Import Data button in the top-right.
This will bring up the Import screen, which provides three options:
- Add to all contacts: use when uploading guest data not specific to a Contact List
- Add to an existing list: use when uploading guests into an already created Contact List
- Add contacts and create a new list: use when uploading guests into a Contact List that doesn't already exist
After selecting one of the three options, the next step is to upload the CSV itself. When uploading a CSV to create a Contact List, the required fields will vary based on whether the guest has an existing CRM record:
- Net new guests should have columns for First Name, Last Name, Email Address, and Opted Into Email Marketing
- Guests with an existing record will only need the Email Address value
After uploading the CSV the user will continue to the Mapping screen. You can find detailed instructions about that process in our Importing Guest Data into Audiences Help Center article.
Adding Guests to a Contact List: API Endpoints
Olo Engage enables brands to feed data into GDP and Marketing via a variety of APIs. Currently, many brands leverage the Engage Email Widget API to manage their guest records and connect feedback forms to GDP.
For Contact Lists, brands will want to use the Get All Contact Lists and Upsert Guest API endpoints to sync their data. These endpoints are available in the Engage Developer Portal.
Using Contact Lists in Campaigns
Sending an email to a Contact List follows the usual process for sending Mass Email Campaigns using Segments, with one important exception. When on step three of the campaign flow, instead of using a Segment the user will have the option to use a Contact List. To do this, simply click Contact Lists > Select a contact list and choose the desired List.
Once you select a Contact List, you will see the number of guests subscribed to it. From there, complete the email campaign flow as normal.
Using Contact Lists in Automations
Similar to Campaigns, Contact Lists can be used in Automations using the usual Automations process. There are two primary ways in which this can be done.
Associating a Contact List with a Segment
Navigate to Audience > Segments and click the Create Segment button in the top right. Once there click the Contact List value from the “Select property” dropdown, select the applicable Contact List, and click the Create Segment button in the top right. Then simply input a Segment Name, the Groups that can access it, and click the Save button.
From the Segments view, click the arrow icon next to View and then click Enable for Automations.
Next, enter the Automations flow as normal. Let’s say that Athena Grill wanted to send a “Welcome to Athena Grill Torrance” email to every guest that subscribes to the Athena Grill Torrance email list. To do that, they could set up a Segment Entered trigger and use the newly created Contact List: Athena Grill - Torrance Segment as the Pre-Entry Filter.
In this example, Athena Grill is setting the Automation to fire only the first time a guest meets the criteria and using a special Welcome Email Template.
Using a CRM Filter
To do this you’ll want to use the desired Contact List as part of the Pre-Entry Filter configuration. For example, let’s say Athena Grill wants to promote its “Secret Menu” to subscribed guests who visit their Torrance location. In addition to the Visited trigger and corresponding event filter, they would set the CRM filter to Athena Grill: Torrance Location equals True to ensure only guests subscribed to the Contact List will receive the email.
In the screenshot above, the "124" value can be found from the View Contact List page. When looking at the specific Contact List within the Dashboard, the URL will contain this value.