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Core XM
Step 1: Adding & Managing Directory Contacts
What's on This Page:
The first tab you should visit is Directory Contacts, which contains the directory. The directory contains every contact ever created in your brand. This means as everyone in your company that uses Qualtrics’ XM Directory uploads contacts, they all end up in this same directory. Generally only Brand Administrators should have access to the directory. While this feature can be manually enabled for standard users by selecting the Manage Directory permission, because the entire brand’s contacts are saved here, it is best to restrict access to only one or two members of your company.
Adding Contacts to the Directory
The first step to setting up XM Directory is adding contacts to your directory. If your brand has been moved over from the Survey Platform Contacts, you will already have contacts in your directory and mailing lists. If your brand has been newly created, your directory will be empty.
To add contacts, navigate to the Directory tab and click the green button labeled Add directory contacts. There are two options – uploading a mailing list through a file or adding contacts manually. If uploading a mailing list through a file, it is highly recommended that you download and use the Sample Template provided as this mailing list requires a specific setup and format.
When uploading contacts to XM Directory, the original file must be saved and uploaded in a CSV or TSV format. There are five built-in contact fields that can be used, which must be written in the following format (including spacing and capitalization):
- FirstName
- LastName
- ExternalDataReference
- Language
Any other fields you add to your file will be uploaded as Embedded Data, which does not need to follow the above naming conventions. However, keep in mind that with Embedded Data, you generally have to keep the spelling and punctuation the same when adding additional users with the same Embedded Data.
Managing Embedded Data Fields
In the above example, adding Embedded Data fields in that way creates two Embedded Data fields when one field would suffice. This often happens when contacts are brought over from Contacts and users have no insight on the naming conventions other users have used in the past.
XM Directory has the option to consolidate these duplicate fields so they are uniform across your brand. To do this, select Manage Embedded Data in Directory Options. This will provide you a list of all Embedded Data fields in your directory. You can delete fields by clicking the trashcan icon to the right of each field. Selecting multiple fields will give you the option to merge these fields and to select the naming convention that will be used brand-wide.
Consolidating Duplicate Contacts
XM Directory has the option to automatically consolidate duplicate contacts upon import. However, this automatic deduplication is not retroactive. If that setting is not turned on when contacts were brought over from the Survey Platform contacts or when you’ve added contacts in the past, there may be duplicates in your directory that you will need to deduplicate after the fact.
To deduplicate existing contacts, select Consolidate Duplicates in Directory Options. You will have the option to choose what field or fields to deduplicate on. This field(s) should be a unique field that will be different for every contact. The two most commonly used are Email and/or External Data Reference.
Once this is selected, you will have two options for manually consolidating fields.
- Consolidate on a set-by-set basis. In the individual sets, you will be able to select what values should be saved. For example, your duplicate contacts may have the same first and last names, but two different emails. You can select the most up-to-date of the two emails.
- Your other option is to Consolidate All sets. For additional contact information and Embedded Data, you will have the option to use the Most Common Value, the Latest Value, or the Oldest Value.
Once your directory is cleaned up, you can start to create and manage mailing lists.