Audiences and CSV Imports

Published August 1, 2026 • Updated August 1, 2026

Audiences are reusable groups of contacts for lifecycle journeys. The import workflow validates data before it is stored, records operational import results, and keeps consent evidence separate from contact data.

The Audiences screen has two separate workspaces:

• Audience Library is where administrators create audiences, define fields, import files, and review import history.
• Contacts requires an administrator to choose one audience before any contact records load.

QuizFlow Labs does not provide an all-audiences contact view. Changing or clearing the selected audience removes the previous contact view before another scope loads, which reduces accidental mixing of personal data between customer contexts.

Automatically add consented Lead Capture responses

In a Lead Capture block, first use Contact permissions and Audience to add a purpose-specific permission. A required follow-up permission and a separate optional permission can each record results delivery, feedback follow-up, support request, quote or consultation request, appointment follow-up, resource delivery, marketing, or a custom purpose. Custom requires an owner-defined purpose name and agreement wording. The optional permission defaults to Marketing. Audience automation appears after a permission exists. Add contact when is a summary when only one permission exists and a required-versus-optional permission selector when both exist. The exact selected permission card must be accepted for that response; matching purpose text on another permission is insufficient. An email address, audience membership, or consent for a different permission does not qualify.

Automatic conversion creates or updates one account-scoped contact, adds one active membership to the configured audience, stores the selected purpose's consent evidence, and links the contact back to the originating response. Audience membership does not broaden that permission into marketing or another use. Duplicate requests are idempotent. If the audience is inactive, belongs to another account, or the Teams entitlement is unavailable, the automatic conversion does not run; the response and lead remain available for review.

Before you import

Confirm that your organization is permitted to collect, store, and use every contact record for the intended purpose. An email address in a customer system does not automatically establish consent for every communication.

• Identify the organization responsible for the contact data.
• Define the specific lifecycle purpose, such as a service follow-up or requested assessment.
• Keep service messages and optional marketing purposes distinct.
• Confirm the applicable retention, access, correction, deletion, and suppression process.
• Obtain legal or privacy review for the jurisdictions and industries you serve.

QuizFlow Labs provides evidence fields and eligibility controls; it does not determine whether a particular consent or legal basis satisfies GDPR, PIPEDA, CASL, or another law.

Create an audience

1. Open Dashboard > Audiences.
2. Select New, enter an internal name and optional description.
3. Choose the stable identity used to detect duplicates: email address or an external identifier.
4. Create the audience. The identity strategy cannot be changed during an import.

Use email identity when each person has one stable email address. Use an external identifier when your CRM or source system has a durable customer key. Do not use names as unique identities.

Add typed fields

Create audience fields before importing columns that are not covered by the standard name, email, phone, and external identifier fields.

Supported field types include text, long text, number, boolean, date, dropdown, email, and phone. Required fields cause a row to be rejected when the mapped value is missing or invalid. Dropdown values must match one of the configured options.

Use ISO dates such as 2026-08-01. Predictable date formats avoid locale ambiguity and support future relative-date triggers.

Prepare and preview a CSV

CSV files can contain up to 10,000 contact rows, 100 columns, and 5 MB. The raw file is read for validation and import but is not retained after processing.

Select the download icon in the top-right of the Import contacts card to generate a CSV containing the standard contact columns and every custom field currently defined for the audience. The second row explains each field's expected format and marks required values. Delete that guidance row before adding contacts; QuizFlow Labs also ignores it safely if it remains. Add one contact per row without renaming the headers. Download a new template after adding or changing audience fields.

1. Select a CSV file. QuizFlow Labs suggests mappings for recognizable column names.
2. Map each needed column to one audience field. Leave unnecessary columns set to Ignore column.
3. Choose whether existing identities should be rejected or updated.
4. Select Preview import and review the create, update, rejected, and duplicate counts.
5. Correct the source file or mapping when rows are rejected, then preview again.

Select Remove file beneath the file control to cancel the current selection. This clears the in-memory CSV, mappings, and preview so you can correct the file and select it again—even when the corrected file keeps the same filename.

The preview displays row numbers and field-specific corrections, not contact values. For example, a date error names the audience field and shows YYYY-MM-DD, while a missing-value error names the required field. This limits unnecessary exposure of personal data while keeping diagnostics actionable.

Record consent or another basis

When the source includes documented permission or another authorized processing basis, select the appropriate evidence status and record:

• the purpose;
• the evidence source, such as a CRM export or signed agreement; and
• when the evidence was recorded.

The same declaration applies to every accepted row in that import. Split the source into separate files when contacts have different purposes, evidence sources, dates, or statuses.

Commit and audit the import

Select Import eligible contacts only after the preview is acceptable. QuizFlow Labs commits accepted contacts, audience memberships, consent evidence, row outcomes, and an audit event together. If the operation fails, the changes are rolled back together.

The audience's import history shows the filename, completion time, status, and row counts. It does not retain or display the uploaded CSV contents. Use the history to reconcile source-system totals without exposing contact values in routine operational screens.

Review imported contacts

After an import completes, the Contacts card refreshes automatically. It shows the customers currently included in the selected audience, including name, email, phone, external identifier, custom audience fields, and the date they joined.

The first release displays the newest 100 contacts and reports the complete audience total. Search, filtering, individual contact profiles, editing, deletion, consent-history inspection, and pagination are subsequent CRM workspace enhancements rather than part of the audience import foundation.

Duplicate handling

• Reject duplicates leaves existing contacts unchanged and records duplicate outcomes.
• Update existing contacts applies mapped values to the matching contact and keeps one audience membership.
• Duplicate identities inside the same CSV are rejected deterministically.
• Email identities are compared after trimming and lowercase normalization.

Preview again whenever the file, mappings, or duplicate policy changes.

GDPR and PIPEDA administration

Organizations using lifecycle audiences should maintain a documented operational process for:

• purpose limitation and data minimization;
• responding to access and correction requests;
• withdrawal of consent and account-wide suppression;
• retention and deletion decisions;
• documenting the source and timing of consent or another lawful basis;
• restricting administrator access; and
• investigating sends using immutable campaign versions and audit events.

Under GDPR, your organization generally acts as controller for imported audience data and QuizFlow Labs acts as processor under the Data Processing Addendum. Under PIPEDA, the organization remains accountable for personal information transferred to a service provider. Confirm the role allocation and requirements that apply to your use with qualified counsel.

Troubleshooting

Every row is rejected

Confirm the audience identity field is mapped and contains a value on each row. Also check required custom fields and ISO date formatting.

Existing contacts are rejected

Change Existing contacts to Update existing contacts, preview the import again, and review the update count before committing.

Consent evidence varies by contact

Split the CSV into groups with consistent evidence, or import without evidence and record the correct basis through an approved process before launching invitations.

The import history count differs from the source

Compare total, accepted, rejected, and duplicate counts. The accepted count includes created and updated contacts; rejected and duplicate rows are not added as new audience members.