Adding Users and Creating Lists

To add users to your Iterable projects and ensure that you're sending campaigns to the right groups of people, you'll want want to create and manage lists of users. In Iterable, there are four kinds of lists:

• Static lists, which contain a set list of users that can change over time as you add and remove users, and based on a user's subscription preferences.

• Dynamic lists, which select users based on fields and events on their Iterable user profiles.

• Suppression lists, which help you exclude users from campaigns.

• Internal lists, which contain internal users and should be used for testing your campaigns.

To create static, suppression, and internal lists, use the Audience > Lists page and follow the steps described below.

To create a dynamic list, use the segmentation tool.

# In this article

# Creating a static list of users

To add new users to your Iterable project, use import CSV files when creating a list, or use Iterable's API. You can import a CSV file that contains your users' data, or enter the CSV values for your users manually in the text area.

Before you import a CSV file, review it to make sure it meets the following conditions:

• The list must have a unique identifier field. This may be email, userId, or in some cases both (where both are used and only one of the two is required). You can't import users without a unique identifier. If you're unsure which field your project uses, read Project Types and Unique Identifiers.

• It's a best practice to avoid leaving spaces between field names/values in the header and rows of your CSV and when manually typing in the data—especially for fields that are of type long.

• A single CSV file may include up to two million users (as rows of data). If you have more than two million users to add/update, split them into multiple files and upload each file separately.

To create a static, suppression, or internal list, navigate to Audience > Lists.

1. Click Import List.

   

2. Name your list, add a description if you'd like, and choose the type of list to create.

   NOTE

   The list description field has a max character count of 140. You can add special characters here, and emojis too! 🤩

3. Decide which of these options to set:

   

   • Blank list: A list that doesn't contain any users. These can be useful, for example, when you have an Add to List tile in a journey that tracks users who have reached a particular point in the journey.

   • Update existing users only: Any new users that are entered into the import list are ignored.

   • Trigger journeys from this list: When you update a list, you can add new users, and you can update user profile fields on existing users. Both of these actions can trigger journeys (for more info, check out our docs about journey entry sources). To prevent an update to a list from triggering a journey (regardless of how the journey is configured), toggle this option Off.

4. Click Next, then choose how to enter user information:

   • Drag and drop a CSV file into the window.

   • Select a CSV file from your computer.

   • Manually enter the list data.

5. Click Next to advance to the Review page. Here, you can verify that the details of your list are correct.

   

   The Review page also shows you the new user fields that will be added to your Iterable project because of your CSV upload. In this example, month and birthMonth will be added (shown in green text to the right of New user fields to be added).

   Unless set in a specific format, new users fields are set as strings by default. You can set three data types within the Create List page: string, boolean, and date. Dates should be in one of the following formats if setting via the UI: YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SS or YYYY-MM-DD.

   WARNING

   You cannot change the name or data type of user fields once they have been created. Once a user field is set as a certain type, it is permanently that type. You also can't delete user fields once they have been created.

   For more information on field data types, read Field Data Types.

6. Once everything looks correct, click Upload Subscribers. Then, on the Results page, you can view the list, check out the details of your list, or upload another list. If you uploaded your list successfully, the success screen shows:

   

# Adding users to an existing list

To add new or existing users to an existing list:

1. Navigate to Audience > Lists.

2. Find your list and click Add Subscribers / Modify List.

   

3. Upload a CSV file containing the new users, or input the fields manually to add users to this list.

# Removing users from a list

To remove users from a list:

1. Navigate to Audience > Lists.

2. Hover over the list from which you'd like to remove users, and click Remove Subscribers.

3. Upload a CSV or manually enter a list of the users that you'd like to remove.

4. Click Remove Subscribers.

You can also remove users from a list on the User Profile page, and using Iterable's API.

# Invalid user field values

Iterable shows you the number of rows with invalid fields and which values are incorrect.

You can still create a list using a CSV file with values that don't match the data types of existing user fields. However, users with non-matching user field values are not added to the list or created within your project. Only users with correct values are added to the list and created if they don't already exist.

Users who do not meet Iterable's email validation requirements are not imported.

# Best practices for CSV import

To learn more about importing lists with CSV files, check out CSV list import best practices.

# Migrating subscribers from another email service

CSV uploads can be a useful way to migrate subscribers from another service. To learn more, read Migrating subscribers from another email service via CSV uploads.

# Understanding how users are engaging with messaging

If you're curious how your lists of users are performing, try the Audience Insights tool. It provides behavioral and demographic information for your lists, so you can see data at the user-level.