SMS database with instances of the same phone number

If you have a database with multiple instances of the same phone number present across multiple contact records the solution may be a two step process of importing and consent. For example, a household shares the same mobile number, or perhaps the database is handling different business streams and contacts have unique accounts for each business stream.

Because SMS consent imports can ONLY be synchronised on mobile number there is a danger of overwriting records that share the mobile number to what is present in the source file being uploaded.

To resolve this, import contact records in Campaign (sync with a field other than the SMS phone number) and if an SMS phone number exists, apply consent. This process requires two import jobs in Campaign. First, to add/update contact records in the database, second to apply SMS consent to imported contact records.

Step 1: Import contact records

Use a list import to perform an import data job in Campaign that will:

1. Sync with any database field(s) that defines a unique existing contact record such as AccountID, UserID etc.
2. Include the SMS phone number field in your mapping and source file.

For detailed steps, see import a database.

Step 2: Apply consent

After you import the data into the Campaign database, use a list import to apply SMS consent, and sync the SMS phone number field.

Use list import to perform an import data job in Campaign that will:

1. Choose a SMS consent contact source as the import update type.
2. Sync with SMS phone number.
3. Include the SMS consent parameters in your mapping and source file.

For detailed steps, see the import contacts with SMS consent section in the Use and manage SMS consent opt-ins and opt-outs article.