Customer import

Customer import is a function to easily add many customers to the customer register via an import file.

Something to consider

Customer import does not work in the same way as product import where you select property/column, but here there are 20 predefined properties (21 properties in multi-store systems). All properties listed under Customers -> "Import Customers" must be in the file and be in exact the column order for the import to work.

Properties that can be imported

The following properties must be included in the import file, one property per column in exactly the order listed under Customers -> Import Customers in Store.

• First name - Customer's first name

• Surname - Customer's last name

• Email - Customer's email address (only one email address per customer card).

• Company/Organisation - The name of the customer's company. Left blank for private persons.

• Person/organization no - Customer's social security number or organization number (May be left blank.).

• Adress - Customer's address (May be left blank.). ).

• Postal code - Customer's postal code (May be left blank.).

• City - Customer's postal location (May be left blank.).

• Country - Customer's country. Country must be in English. If the field is left blank, the customer gets Sweden as country.

• Phone day - Field for phone number (Can be left blank.).

• Phone evening - Field for phone number (Can be left blank.).

• Customer group - Enter name of customer group if the customer is to belong to one or more customer groups. Otherwise, the field is left blank. If the customer belongs to several customer groups, enter them one by one separated by commas.

• Username- Enter a unique username. We recommend entering the customer's email address. If the username is left blank, the customer will not be able to log in and be an "approved buyer". They will only be able to receive newsletters.

• Password - Field for password.

• Approved Buyer - Should the logged in customer be able to shop. Enter a one (1) for "Yes" and a zero (0) for "No".

• Priority supplier - Enter supplier name (Partner function), otherwise leave blank.

• Customer type - Enter customer type, private for individual and company for corporate customer. If this field is left blank, the customer type will be set depending on the choice made at import, "If a customer is not of a certain type, do you want to import the customer as a business or private customer?"

• Store codes (multi-store system only) - To import customers in the customer register in a multi-store system, you must also give them access to a sub-store. Specify the sub-store's store code in this column. To import a customer in multiple sub-stores, enter the store codes in the same column separated by a comma. The store code column should not be included in the import file for a "regular" store. For multi-store system imports only.

• Unique customer number - Enter a unique customer number for all customers. No two customers can have the same customer number.

• Want newsletter - Should the customer receive the newsletter. Enter a one (1) for "Yes" and a zero (0) for no.

• Language - Enter the language of the customer, e.g. sv or swe for Swedish, en or eng for English. A complete list of all languages can be found at the bottom under Customers -> Import customers.

Customer import: step by step

If you have a file with customers that you want to import, open the file in your spreadsheet program (e.g. LibreOffice Calc, Excel or similar). Make sure the file looks okay, that the properties are in one column, that the å, ä, ö and other special characters look correct.

If the content does not look correct in the file, it must be closed immediately without saving.

Instructions on how to open the file correctly in Excel

Download our sample file here

Prepare the file for import

If the column order does not match the properties listed under Customers -> Import customers into your store the columns need to be rearranged to match.

When the columns are in the correct order, the following steps need to be taken:

• Delete the first line of the file if it contains column headings. The first line in the file must be a customer.

• Remove blank lines in the file. A tip is to sort the file on the email column. Then all empty lines will disappear.

• The file must be saved as a text file in the CSV format. The column delimiter in the file must be a semicolon.

To save the file as a CSV with a semicolon delimiter, do the following (example from LibreOffice Calc).

Go to File -> Save As. To resave the file in a different file format, click on "File Format" to bring up a list of different formats. Select "Text CSV (.csv)".

Then click in "Edit filter settings" and "Save".

The following window will appear.

Character set - Select "Unicode (UTF-8)".

Field delimiters - Select semicolon (;).

String delimiter - Make sure there is a quotation mark (") in that field.

Then click "OK" and the file will be saved on your computer.

Import the file

Go to Customers -> Import Customers.

Under "Select the file you want to import", click on the "Select file" button and select the import file to be imported.

Below this is a box called "Import settings". Here there are two choices that you have to make.

If the customer's username or customer number is already in the customer register - If there are already customers in the customer register, a check will be made to see if the customer is already in the customer register. The check is done on the username and customer number. If there is a match, you have to choose whether to update the customer card with the data that is in the file (Update information) or not to change the customer (Ignore).

If a customer is not of a certain type, do you want to import the customer as a business customer or private customer? - If the customer type field is empty in the import file, here you choose which customer type the customer should be imported with, Private or Business customer.

All done. Click the import button in the top right corner.

The import can take anywhere from a few seconds up to a minute depending on how many customers are in the file. If the file is correct, text will be displayed with the result.

If something is wrong with the file, a message in red text appears instead, similar to this:

First, it prints out which line is wrong and which properties are wrong. This error message is the most common error you will get and it occurs when you have forgotten to delete the first row of column headers in the file. However, it displays a clear error message as to which row and property is incorrect. Correct this and re-import the file.

If you get a message in red then the import is aborted completely and no customers are imported.

I only have the customer email address, how do I import it?

If you have a text file that only contains email addresses you can import this, but all the properties listed under Customers -> Import customers must be included in each column in exactly the right order in the file. The following fields must contain data in order for the file to be imported:

• first and last name (private person), or company name (business customer)
• email (must be unique)
• approved buyer (1/0)
• customer number (must be unique)
• approved buyer (1/0)
• newsletter (1/0)
• language

If you only have e-Newsletter (1/0)

then you postal addresses, you can enter the e-mail address as a first or last name (or company name) as well as an e-mail address. If the customer also needs to be able to log in, the username and password must also be included and then the email address can also be entered in these columns.

You must also enter values for "approved buyer" and "want newsletter". There, a one (1) means "yes" and a zero (0) means "no".

If you want the customers to be "approved buyers", you must also enter "username", otherwise the customers will not be able to log in. A tip then is to enter the email address as the username.

All customers must have their own customer number and if you don't have it, you can generate it in for example Libre Office Calc and Excel.

Two customers must not have the same customer number but all customers in the customer register must have unique customer numbers.

You also need to import a language for the customer, e.g. sv or swe for Swedish, en or eng for English etc. A full list of all languages can be found at the bottom under Customers -> Import customers.

If you do not have information for the other fields (those that are not mandatory), leave them blank but the columns must still be included in the file.

Example of what a file might look like.

In this example we have two customers that we want to import into the customer register.

On line 2 there is a private person who should only be able to receive newsletters.

We only have one email address for this customer and therefore enter the email address in the last name and email fields. The customer type is "person" and we enter a customer number. Note that "approved buyer" is set as "No" (0) and newsletter is set as "Yes" (1).

On line 3 there is a business customer who should be able to log in and shop but does not want newsletter.

We only have the customer's email address and then enter this email address in the Email, Company, Username and Password fields. The customer type is "company" and we enter a customer number. Note that "approved buyer" is set as "Yes" (1) and newsletter is set as "No" (0).

Don't forget to delete the top row if it contains column headers before importing. The first line must be a customer. Also remember to resave the file as a semicolon-separated CSV file.