Importing sales data into Openstage lets the platform calculate fan value, identify top spenders, and give you a complete picture of how fans engage with your releases and merchandise. Sales data can include historical transactions from merch, physical music, ticketing, Patreon, subscriptions, and more.
🟢 Top tip: Connect your store via an integration to bring transactional data in automatically and reduce the need for manual imports. See Connect Your Merch Store for more detail.
⚪ Note: This article covers importing sales data specifically. For importing basic mailing lists, see Import Fans.
Before you start
Every fan record must include either an email address or a phone number.
Unlike fan data, duplicate transactions are not filtered out. The same transaction appearing more than once will be recorded as multiple transactions in Openstage.
Make sure data is uploaded to the correct artist account. Importing fan data into the wrong account causes inflated fan numbers, increases the risk of fan complaints, and raises unsubscribe rates.
🟢 Top tip: To avoid duplicate sales records when importing manually, note the date and time of each export from your merch store. When repeating the process, export from that date and time onwards.
Step 1: Prepare your data
Use a blank sheet in a spreadsheet program such as Excel or Google Sheets and export it as a CSV file. Before importing, make sure the file meets the following requirements:
Every fan record includes an email address or phone number.
Column headers are frozen.
Blank rows are removed.
Dates are formatted for the UK, or select US date format within the import window.
Required fields for transactional data
Every transactional import requires the following fields as a minimum:
Field | Description |
Name | Fan name |
Email or phone number | Required fan identifier |
Transaction description | Product name |
Transaction date | Date the purchase was made |
Transaction value | Total spend for that product by that fan - not basket totals |
Transaction volume | Number of a given item purchased by that fan |
Currency | Three-character currency code in its own column (GBP, USD, AUD, etc.) |
🟡 Please note: Transaction value must be the line item total for that product - not the basket total. If a fan buys one poster at £10, the transaction value is £10. If a fan buys two posters at £10 each, the transaction value is £20. Openstage does not multiply individual product values by the volume purchased.
Additional fan data can be included alongside transactional data - assign the relevant headings to the correct Openstage fields during the import step.
🟢 Top tip: For ticketing data, merge the venue, show date, and ticket type columns into a single product description field before importing. This keeps all relevant information in one place - for example: "Wembley Stadium 01/11/2021 General Admission."
Step 2: Upload
Navigate to Fans and click Import Fans.
Select Upload Multiple Fans to import a CSV file, or Create a Single Fan to add one fan manually without a file.
When uploading multiple fans, use the Import Tag field to apply a tag to all fan records in the upload.
Select the transaction type for your import:
Merch
Ticketing
Physical Music
Digital Music
Subscriptions
Donations
🟢 Top tip: Separate transactions by type and import each type individually. This keeps transaction types accurate across your analytics and produces the richest data set.
Step 3: Match fields
Map each column in your CSV to the correct Openstage field - for example, email, name, and product description. Create any custom tags needed to organize your fan base, then click Import.
Fields that have been mapped successfully appear highlighted in gold at the bottom of the window. A gold highlight confirms the field has been mapped - always double-check that it has been mapped to the correct field, not just any field.
🟢 Top tip: If you distributed unique codes through Openstage for the transactions you are importing, map these to the relevant field in the system so you can see which fans redeemed a code for their purchase.
Step 4: Validate
The system validates your data across three stages: Validating, Ready to Upload, and Errors. Review and resolve any errors before proceeding.
Common errors include:
Misspelled email addresses (for example, @gamil.com or icolud.com)
Incorrect country codes
Fields mapped to the wrong tag
Step 5: Complete the import
Click Upload Fan Records to complete the import. Your transactional data will be added to Openstage and fan records updated accordingly.
⚪ Note: If numbers do not add up after import, check for duplicates, invalid records, or compounded transactions. For help, contact support@openstage.live.
Sales attributed to broadcasts
Openstage automatically attributes transactions to broadcasts when a fan clicks any link in a broadcast and completes a purchase within 72 hours of that click. This applies to both connected stores and transactional imports that include a transaction date field.
🟡 Please note: Transactions cannot be attributed to broadcasts if no date of sale is available for the transaction. Make sure all required fields are included in every import.
Import Key
Fan Data
Source Data Field | Example | Openstage Field |
First Name | John | first_name |
Last Name | Smith | last_name |
Full Name | John Smith | full_name |
Email Address | ||
Phone | +448165157859 | phone |
DOB | 01/11/2011 | birth_date |
City | London | city |
Country | United Kingdom | country |
Country Code | GB | cc |
Postcode | NW4 3PR | location |
Latitude | 51.548804 | latitude |
Longitude | -0.131376 | longitude |
Subscriber to email | True/false | subscribed_email |
Subscriber to SMS | True/false | subscribed_sms |
OPTIN_date | 01/11/2025 12:09:23 | email_marketing_consent_date |
OPTIN_IP | 192.168.1.1 | email_marketing_consent_evidence |
Transactional Data
Source Data Field | Example | Openstage Field |
Purchase date | 01/11/2025 12:09:23 | transaction_created_at |
Product name | Data Basses Greatest Hits Vinyl | transaction_description |
Quantity | 50 | transaction_volume |
Price | 469.20 | transaction_value |
Currency | GBP | currency |