If you’re using Praiz to wrangle your contacts, you already know how messy things can get. Maybe you’re switching from spreadsheets, or you’re just tired of chasing down updates in three different tools. This guide is for anyone who wants their Praiz contact list to actually make sense—without spending all day babysitting it.
Let’s get into the real-world steps (and a few lessons learned the hard way) for importing and managing contacts in Praiz.
1. Prep Your Contacts Before Importing
Don’t just dump your old list into Praiz and hope for the best. A little prep saves you hours of cleanup later.
What matters:
- Clean up duplicates. Merge repeat records in your source file. Praiz can help, but it’s not magic—garbage in, garbage out.
- Standardize formats. Make sure emails, names, and phone numbers follow the same pattern. A random "+1" here or a misspelled domain there will bite you.
- Decide what fields you actually need. Too many custom fields = confusion. Stick with the essentials (name, email, company, phone) to start.
- Scrub out junk contacts. If a contact hasn’t been active in years and isn’t worth keeping, just cut them now. You’ll thank yourself later.
Pro tip: Use spreadsheet filters to spot weird formatting and outliers before importing.
2. Map Your Data to Praiz Fields
Praiz will try to match your columns to its own fields during import, but it’s not perfect. Double-check the mapping screen before committing.
Best practices:
- Stick to simple field names (First Name, Last Name, Email)—don’t get cute with custom labels unless you really need them.
- Ignore unused fields. If your spreadsheet has columns you don’t want in Praiz, skip them on import. Less noise = less confusion.
- Watch for “Notes” fields. If your old system crammed everything into a notes section, decide what’s actually useful to keep.
What to skip: Mapping every last column “just in case.” You’ll regret it when your contact view is cluttered with junk no one uses.
3. Importing: Go Small, Then Go Big
Resist the urge to import everything at once. Start with a test batch.
- Upload 10–20 contacts first. Make sure the names, emails, and custom fields land where you expect.
- Check for weirdness. Are names in the right order? Did phone numbers come through clean? Any weird symbols?
- If all looks good, import the rest. If not, tweak your source file and try again.
Pro tip: Keep a backup of your original file. If you mess up the import, it’s easier to start fresh than try to edit in Praiz.
4. Dealing with Duplicates
No tool fully solves the “duplicate contact” problem, and Praiz is no exception.
Here’s what actually works:
- Praiz has some basic duplicate detection, usually by email. But if someone uses a work and a personal email, you’ll still get two records.
- Merge manually when needed. Take five minutes every so often to search for obvious dupes and clean them up.
- Set clear rules for your team. If you have multiple people adding contacts, agree on what counts as a duplicate—otherwise, you’ll be fighting this forever.
What not to do: Ignore duplicates and hope they’ll magically resolve themselves. They won’t.
5. Organizing Contacts with Tags and Lists
Praiz lets you group contacts with tags or lists. These are useful, but only if you don’t go overboard.
- Use tags for broad categories. Example: “VIP,” “Newsletter,” “Leads.”
- Use lists for active campaigns or projects. Unlike tags, lists can be temporary or purpose-specific.
- Don’t create a tag for every minor detail. “Met at 2023 Spring Mixer” is not a tag you’ll want to search for later.
Honest take: The more tags you create, the less useful tags become. Stick to a handful of high-value ones.
6. Keeping Contact Data Up to Date
The biggest headache with any contact list is keeping it current. Here’s how to make it less painful:
- Schedule periodic reviews. Once a month, scan for bounces or obviously stale info.
- Encourage your team to update in real time. Yes, it’s a chore, but it beats a spring cleaning marathon.
- Automate where possible. If Praiz connects to your email or calendar, take advantage of automatic updates—but double-check what’s being overwritten.
What you can skip: Obsessing over every minor change. If a phone number is outdated but not mission-critical, don’t sweat it.
7. Handling Sensitive Data
Praiz stores your contact data in the cloud. If you’re importing sensitive info (like private notes or personal phone numbers), be smart about it.
- Only import what you actually need. The less sensitive stuff in there, the less you have to worry about.
- Check your sharing settings. Make sure only the right people have access to detailed contact info.
- Avoid storing passwords, financial info, or anything you’d hate to show up in a breach. Praiz is not a vault.
Pro tip: If you’re in a regulated industry (healthcare, finance), talk to your compliance person before importing.
8. Common Pitfalls (and How to Dodge Them)
Let’s be honest: most contact imports go sideways for the same reasons. Here’s what to look out for:
- Importing the wrong file format. Stick to CSV or XLSX. Don’t try to upload a PDF or an export from some ancient system without checking compatibility.
- Custom fields that don’t match. If your old system uses “Surname” and Praiz expects “Last Name,” you’ll get mismatches.
- Forgetting to check for blank fields. Empty records = clutter.
- Not testing permissions. Make sure the right people can see (or not see) the contacts they should.
9. How to Fix a Messy Import
If you realize after the fact that your new Praiz contacts are a disaster, don’t panic.
- Bulk delete is your friend. Start over if the mess is too big to fix manually.
- Export what you need, clean it up, and re-import. Yes, it’s annoying, but better than living with chaos.
- Use filters to find and fix errors in bulk. Look for incomplete records, weird formatting, or duplicates.
What doesn’t work: Trying to fix hundreds of contacts one by one in Praiz. Life’s too short.
10. Keeping It Simple (and Sane) Going Forward
The best contact management system is the one you actually use. Don’t drown yourself in fields, tags, or fancy automations if you don’t need them. Start with the basics, set a simple process, and improve as you go.
- Document your workflow for your team. A two-sentence note beats a 40-page manual.
- Set a recurring reminder to tidy up. 10 minutes a month can save hours later.
- Be honest about what you’ll actually use. If a feature sounds cool but just adds noise, ignore it.
That’s it. Importing and managing contacts in Praiz isn’t rocket science, but it does pay off to do it right from the start. Keep things simple, revisit your setup when you need to, and don’t let perfect be the enemy of good. Your future self will thank you.