Overview
Customer Import is used by Admin, Manager and Supervisor roles to add a batch of recent customers to Referral Rock in a single upload. It's most commonly used when you regularly export customer purchase transactions and want to bring them into your referral program each month.
When you import customers, Referral Rock automatically finds any that match existing pending referrals, approves those referrals, and adds all customers to your program as preloaded members. This combines the separate referral update import and member import into one process.
What we'll cover in this article:
Before you start
The destination program must have Preload New Customers turned on, or new customers will not be added as preloaded members.
Warning: Importing customers can approve existing pending referrals. Approval is applied automatically based on email matches, so confirm your file is correct before importing.
Where to find Customer Import
Actions (Top right of your screen) > Bulk Import > Import New (Under Customer)
Import new customers
The import file can include customer demographic details and optional purchase information. Customers are matched by email, and you can also match by external ID. (Confirm details before publishing)
Required and optional fields
Required: first name and email.
Demographic (optional): full name, last name, phone, external ID.
Purchase information (optional):
Amount — defaults to 0 if not included.
Purchase date — defaults to today's date if not included.
Start the import
Go to Actions > Bulk Import > Import New (Customers).
Review the Import New Customers explanation screen.
Select Continue Import to open the file uploader.
Upload your file. (Customer-import-sample csv file provided here for reference)
Select the header row (the row with field names), then select Next.
Map the columns.
Choose which column from your file to use for each field.
Choose Ignore this column for any column you do not want to import.
Select Next when all columns are mapped.
Review the import preview and correct or add any missing data.
Select Submit to complete the import.
Note: During an import, Referral Rock runs two independent checks on each customer's email, so a single row can result in both an approved referral and a new member.
1. Check for pending referrals to approve. If a customer's email matches a pending referral, that referral's status is updated to Approved. Any data mapped during the import is saved to the referral's profile (for example, the purchase amount). Referrals that are already approved or denied are left unchanged.
2. Add new customers as preloaded members. New members are added with their mapped profile information if the email does not already exist in your designated program. If the email already exists, no updates are made to the member.
How customer matching works
Referral Rock matches each imported customer by email and applies one of the following outcomes.
New customer (no match)
If the email does not match an existing referral or member, the customer is added as a preloaded member.
Imported profile details such as name, phone, and external ID are saved on the new member.
Match to one pending referral
If the email matches a single pending referral, that referral is changed to Approved.
The purchase amount from your file is saved on that referral. (if present)
The purchase date from your file is saved on that referral. (if present)
If the email does not match an existing member, the customer is added as a preloaded member.
Match across multiple programs
If the email is a pending referral in two or more different programs, the referral is approved in each program (one approval per program).
Ambiguous match (skipped)
If the email matches two or more pending referrals in the same program, none of them are approved and the row is reported as skipped because the match was ambiguous.
If the same email has a single clean match in one program but two or more matches in another program, nothing is approved at all.
Existing record (no change)
If the email already belongs to an active member in the destination program, or to a referral that is already approved or denied, no change is made.
What happens after the import
The import appears in the import history table with success and failure counts.
Skipped rows appear as processed rows with a skip reason. They are not counted as failures.
The import history shows which referrals were approved and which members were added.
What's Next?
Review imported members
Confirm your new customers were added as preloaded members on the Member List.
Review approved referrals
Confirm that matched referrals were approved as expected before fulfilling any rewards.
FAQ
Why were no new customers added after my import?
Why were no new customers added after my import?
Confirm that Preload New Customers is turned on for the destination program. New customers are not added when this setting is off.
Why was a row skipped instead of approved?
Why was a row skipped instead of approved?
A row is skipped when its email matches more than one pending referral in the same program. Because the match is ambiguous, no referral is approved for that row.
What happens if a customer is already a member?
What happens if a customer is already a member?
If the email already belongs to an active member, or to a referral that is already approved or denied, the import makes no change to that record.