Uploading and Managing Your CRM Lists

This article details how to upload your CRM lists, including the file requirements needed for a successful list upload.

Taylor Dunne avatar
Written by Taylor Dunne
Updated over a week ago

Now that you understand MNTN's CRM capabilities, you might wonder how you can take advantage of the feature.

Below, find details on how to efficiently upload, utilize, and maintain your CRM lists, whether you're a seasoned pro or a newcomer.

MNTN CRM File Requirements

The ability to match emails with households depends on the quality of the uploaded email addresses and the format in which these email records are uploaded.

If not completed correctly from the jump, this could postpone the use of your email records, whether for targeting or exclusion purposes:

CRM File Format

CRM File Name

CRM File Size

CRM File Contents

.CSV (comma-separated value)

Avoid special characters (except - and _)

A 60-character limit applies for the File Name field.

Up to 4GB

A minimum of 1,000 email records are required for processing.

  • Raw Email Records OR

  • Pre-Hashed Email Records

Further file content requirements are broken out for each in the table below.

Raw Email Records

Pre-Hashed Email Records

1️⃣ Single column with raw email records, no headers.

2️⃣ All lowercase characters.

3️⃣ Emails with special characters are not allowed. We can only accept alphanumeric characters, along with the following:

  • "@"

  • "."

  • "-"

  • "_"

4️⃣ Remove all spaces from the file.

5️⃣ Include a domain name for all email addresses.

1️⃣ Prior to hashing your file, ensure that your raw email records follow the above formatting guidelines.

2️⃣ All pre-hashed CRM files must have been hashed using a SHA-256 hashing function.

3️⃣ No uppercase characters allowed.


Uploading Your CRM Lists

With your readied file in hand, the next step is uploading it. This can be done in two ways -- within the Audience tab or within a campaign shell. Below, find detailed steps to seamlessly upload your email records:

Upload Your CRM List within the Audience Tab

1️⃣ From the Segments dropdown menu in your Audience Tab, select CRM.

2️⃣ Select the blue CRM Data button in the top-right corner of the dashboard.

3️⃣ From the Upload CRM Data view, designate your File Name.

🧠 Pro Tip: Describing your CRM list in detail will be helpful to differentiate your lists within your dashboard.

Example naming convention: [month uploaded]_[inclusion vs. suppression]_[emails within the list: current customers, leads, etc.]

4️⃣ Next, upload your CRM file directly from your computer or drag the file into the window. Upon upload, your email address records will be hashed for privacy. You'll be notified at this point if there are any problems with the file.

🧠 Pro Tip: It is recommended that this upload is executed using Google Chrome as a web browser.

5️⃣ Upon upload, you will be notified of MNTN's Privacy Policy, which you must adhere to in order to leverage MNTN's CRM capabilities.

6️⃣ Click the blue Upload button to initiate the identification process. If you have any errors with your file, you will be prompted to either upload a new list or continue with the list as is at this point.

The uploaded CRM file will then take up to 10 business days to identify all households associated with the email records. However, you can layer in your CRM list for use the moment households have begun to be identified. The list will continue to grow in size as the identification process continues.

💡Note: After uploading your CRM file, the system will immediately display 0 households until we have targetable households matched to your list.

Upload Your CRM List within Your Campaign Shell

1️⃣ From within your campaign shell, head to the Audience step.

2️⃣ Either select a pre-existing audience or create a New Audience.

3️⃣ Navigate to the CRM tab of your Universal Audience Builder.

4️⃣ Select the sub-tab Upload.

5️⃣ Follow steps 3-6 outlined above.


Managing CRM Lists

You can view and change the details on your CRM files as well as delete the CRM files entirely from the CRM dashboard. Simply leverage the associated file's kebob menu for your desired action.

View Details

From the View Details screen, you can edit the description of your CRM file. The descriptions allow you to stay on top of what list is what within your dashboard.

Deleting CRM Files

From the associated CRM list's kebob menu, you can delete the file, at which point, all data will be removed from our system and cannot be retrieved at a later time.

If choosing to upload that same list at a later data, that list will need to undergo another identification process.

💡Note: Before deleting CRM lists from the platform, it's important to remove them from all the audiences they are tied to as an inclusion or exclusion.


Using Your CRM Lists

After uploading your CRM files, they will undergo a 7-10 business day identification process as we identify all households associated with your email records.

Once complete, the total identified household size will populate next to that list.

Using CRM Lists within Your Audience

1️⃣ Navigate to the Universal Audience Builder, and open up an existing or new audience.

2️⃣ Head to the CRM tab.

3️⃣ You will see your processed CRM lists, along with the total households in each list.

4️⃣ To exclude a list, select Excl next to that associated list. To include a list, select Incl next to that associated list. You can layer in multiple CRM segments and 3rd party audience segments into a single audience.

5️⃣ Once complete, click Save and attach your new audience to your campaign!

💡 Note: CRM email lists for targeting should contain a minimum of 200,000 email records to run as a standalone audience, or 100,000 email records if you layer in additional 3rd party audience segments.


Privacy

CRM File Privacy

Maintaining privacy compliance is critical in digital advertising. When uploading emails, you agree to:

By clicking upload, you represent, warrant, and covenant to MNTN that you have received all necessary consents for each email address that you upload to the MNTN Platform to allow MNTN to process the data in accordance with MNTN's Privacy Policy, and MNTN's processing of the uploaded data in accordance with its Privacy Policy will not cause MNTN to violate any applicable law, rule, and regulation.

MNTN File Privacy Measures

Safeguarding your data is at the forefront of MNTN's priorities. We've implemented stringent measures to ensure the utmost protection, including:

⭐️ Hashing all email records upon upload to preserve privacy.

⭐️ Guaranteeing that no physical email addresses are stored within our systems.

⭐️ Providing you with the flexibility to upload pre-hashed lists, maintaining control over your data.

💡Note: For more details on how we handle privacy, refer to our Privacy Policy.

Uploading Medical Email Records

Medical companies leveraging our platform ensure privacy law compliance by accepting our terms and conditions. For best practice, excluding Texas from targeting is advisable due to its expansive "Covered Entity" definition.

This measure safeguards MNTN's medical company clients, preventing unintentional violations of Texan laws.

Uploading Purchased Email Records or Unsubscribed Users

Upon uploading your CRM files and agreeing to our terms, you affirm to MNTN that you hold the necessary consent for each email address uploaded on the MNTN Platform. These consents grant MNTN the authorization to process the data as specified in our Privacy Policy.

Moreover, MNTN's management of the uploaded data, in accordance with our Privacy Policy, will ensure adherence to all relevant laws, rules, and regulations, avoiding any violations.


CRM List Troubleshooting

Households Disassociated from CRM List

Due to enhancements to our formatting requirements and matching process, we recommend not leveraging lists uploaded before October 2023 in your audiences as they do not reflect the accurate targetable household volume.

Understanding Prolonged Processing

If your list remains in processing after 7-10 business days, it's possible that your file didn't meet our prerequisites. Review your list for the following:

🚩 Formatting

Ensure your email records adhere to our formatting requirements. For CRM pre-hashed lists, review formatting before hashing to guarantee conformity. Use the SHA-256 hashing function with all uppercase characters.

🚩 Work email addresses:

If your staff uses VPNs or international IPs, matching households with masked emails/IPs might not be feasible. To exclude employee emails, employ our IP Blocklist tool and identify IP addresses via:

🚩 Audience size too small:

When MNTN's cross-device identity graph can't identify households linked to your email records, targeting becomes challenging. For better targeting, consolidate multiple smaller lists into a more substantial email size.

💡Note: Keep in mind we will only match households within the United States.

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