The product import feature allows you to manually add items to your catalog using the import tool, making them immediately available for your strategies.
Difficulty: Low.
When to use it?: When integrating your Connectif account and at any time as needed.
Although the "Contact has visited a product" tag will automatically register products as they are visited, it is recommended to perform an initial import of the entire catalog when integrating Connectif to have it available from the start.
Before you begin: preparing the product file
To perform the import, you need a valid CSV file that contains the fields of the products to be imported.
The following table shows the fields that can be included in the CSV:
| Name | Type | Description | Required | Example |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| productDetailUrl | Text | URL of the product page (the URL must be unencoded). This value is mandatory in the document. | Yes | http://exple.com/productA |
| productId | Text | Unique identifier of the product (in the eCommerce system). This value is mandatory in the document. | Yes | 101 |
| name | Text | Product name. This value is mandatory in the document. | Yes | Product A |
| unitPrice | Decimal | Unit price of the product. This value is mandatory in the document. | Yes | 20.99 |
| imageUrl | Text | URL of the product image. | No | http://exple.com/images/productA.jpg |
| description | Text | Product description. | No | An innovative gadget for modern homes. |
| thumbnailUrl | Text | URL of the product preview image. | No | http://expl.com/thumbs/productA.jpg |
| categories | List of texts |
The category or categories to which the product belongs. To indicate multiple categories, use the "|" character to separate them. If the eCommerce system allows subcategories, the full path should be indicated, separating each level with the "/" character. For example: "/Computers/Keyboards/Logitech". |
No |
electronics/home/gadgets| electronics/home/accessories |
| tags | List of texts | Tags associated with the product. To indicate multiple tags, use the "|" character to separate them. | No | innovative|gadget |
| brand | Text | Product brand. | No | GadgetPro |
| ratingCount | Integer | Number of reviews the product has. | No | 150 |
| rating | Decimal | Product rating. | No | 4.5 |
| reviewCount | Integer | Number of reviews the product has. | No | 75 |
| relatedExternalProductIds | List of texts | IDs of related products. To indicate multiple products, use the "|" character to separate them. | No | 200|201 |
| priority | Integer | Priority or preference level of this product. The default value is 0. | No | 5 |
| unitPriceOriginal | Decimal | Original unit price of the product. | No | 25.99 |
| unitPriceWithoutVAT | Decimal | Unit price without tax of the product. | No | 17.49 |
| discountedPercentage | Decimal | Discount percentage, range from 0 to 100 without percentage symbol. | No | 20 |
| discountedAmount | Decimal | Discounted amount of the product (must match unit_price_original - unit_price). | No | 5.0 |
| publishedAt | Date | Date in ISO8601 format when the product first appeared in the store's catalog. | No | 2021-03-15T00:00:00Z |
| inStockUnits | Integer | Number of product units in stock. | No | 120 |
| availability | Text | Marked as instock or outofstock. Indicates whether the product is available or not. | No | instock |
| isBlacklisted | Boolean | Marked as true or false. If set to true, the product will be excluded from recommendations. If not specified, the default value is false when the product is created. | No | false |
| customField1 | Text | Custom property. | No | CustomValueA1 |
| customField2 | Text | Custom property. | No | CustomValueA2 |
| customField3 | Text | Custom property. | No | CustomValueA3 |
The table names must remain exactly the same if the product import is done via API. Otherwise, they can be changed, as they will later need to be mapped.
Below is an example of data extracted from the CSV:
name,productDetailUrl,productId,unitPrice,imageUrl,thumbnailUrl,description,categories,tags,relatedExternalProductIds,priority,ratingCount,rating,reviewCount,brand,unitPriceOriginal,unitPriceWithoutVAT,discountedAmount,discountedPercentage,publishedAt,inStockUnits,availability,isBlacklisted,customField1,customField2,customField3
Product A,http://example.com/productA,101,20.99,http://example.com/images/productA.jpg,http://example.com/thumbs/productA.jpg,An innovative gadget for modern homes.,electronics/home/gadgets|electronics/home/accessories,innovative|gadget,200|201,5,150,4.5,75,GadgetPro,25.99,17.49,5.0,20,2021-03-15T00:00:00Z,120,instock,false,CustomValueA1,CustomValueA2,CustomValueA3
Product B,http://example.com/productB,102,45.5,http://example.com/images/productB.jpg,http://example.com/thumbs/productB.jpg,A durable and reliable tool for professionals.,tools/professional/hardware|tools/professional/accessories,durable|professional,300|301,3,200,4.7,90,ToolWorks,50.0,37.92,4.5,10,2021-06-20T00:00:00Z,80,outofstock,true,CustomValueB1,CustomValueB2,CustomValueB3
STEP 1: Selecting the data source
1. Go to "Ecommerce > Catalog" and click on Import products.
2. In the section Select a data source choose the option Import from file.
It is possible to perform the import by copying and pasting the content of the CSV into the central text box, but this option is more limited as it does not support imports of large numbers of products.
3. Configure the import parameters.
3.1. Select Include header if the CSV file has a header with column names.
3.2. Choose, in Delimiter, the character that separates the columns in your file.
3.3. Select the option Overwrite existing if you want to replace the information of products that already exist in Connectif with the data included in the file.
3.4. Select the option Update only empty fields if you want only fields without information to be updated.
4. Click on Next .
STEP 2: Configuring fields to import
Once the file is imported, the fields from the imported CSV (left column of the interface) must be mapped to the product fields in Connectif.
5. Select the name of each field from the imported file and drag it to its corresponding field in Connectif.
In the example, the field ID from the file is assigned to External product ID in Connectif, Product Name is mapped to Name in Connectif, Categories is assigned to Categories, and Unit Price is mapped to Unit Price.
There is also a value (always available) called Literal. Its main purpose is to "simulate" the import of a column that does not actually exist in the imported CSV file. When Literal is assigned to a product field, an editor appears that allows assigning the desired value to that field for all products being imported.
6. Click on Next .
STEP 3: Checking the import
7. Click on Go to import list .
8. Verify that the products and their information have been correctly imported.
This screen shows the percentage of progress in the product import process and, once completed, a summary of the import.
9. If there are any errors, download the CSV error report by clicking on the button (Download error report in CSV).
The most common import error occurs when one of the rows in the imported CSV file contains an incompatible data type for the assigned field. For example, if the text value "PRICE" is assigned to the Unit Price field of the product, importing this record will result in an error.
Congratulations!
You have reached the end of the lesson.
Do you still have unresolved questions?
Remember that our Connectif specialists are available to assist you. To contact them, simply open a support ticket by clicking on the blue "Help" button on your Dashboard.
Keep learning!
To make the most of your Connectif account, we recommend continuing with the following articles:
- Product Page, to learn about product tags and categories in your eCommerce.
- Product Synchronization and Verification, to take full advantage of Connectif's catalog capabilities.
- Product Segments, to learn how to have real-time groups of products available for use in different strategies.
-
Offer Recommender, to help undecided customers choose from the products on sale on your website.