Bulk Update Contact Records

Bulk Update Contact Records

1. This tutorial we will cover how to do bulk updates in Fundly CRM.
2. Bulk updates can be done using the Take Action menu at the bottom of the search results screen. Using the Take Action menu, you can bulk update:
   
   • Contact Types (add or remove)
   • Contact Tags (add or remove)
   • Newsletter Subscription/Category(ies) (add)
   • Stage of Development
   • Communication Preferences
   • Delete Contacts
3. In addition, you can record a task or interaction for multiple contacts, send an email to multiple contacts, merge duplicates, and create a MailChimp segment with multiple contacts (if you have integrated your MailChimp Account with your Fundly CRM).
4. To get started, click on the Search field on the top of your screen to option the search window.

   

5. Click on either the Quick Search or Advanced Search button in the upper right of the window.

   

6. Fill out the search criteria and run the search to pull up the records you want to update. If you need help using the search feature, review our Searching for Contacts tutorial.
7. In the resulting screen (the search results screen) you will see the contacts who meets the criteria you searched on.

   

8. In the lower right of the screen, you will see the two Take Action Menus (Apply to Selected Contacts and All Search Results).

   

9. If you just want to apply a bulk update/Take Action item to just a few/particular contacts in your search results, check the white box to the left of the records you wish to update and then select the desired action from the Apply to Selected Contacts drop down menu.

   

   

10. If you want to apply a bulk update/Take Action item to all of the contacts in your search results, simply select the desired action from the All Search Results drop down menu. You do not need to select records first; the system will apply the selected item all contacts in your search results.

    

11. After selecting an item from the Take Action menu, a pop up box will open allowing you to take the desired action/perform the desired update. Here we are apply a Contact Type to the selected contacts.

    

12. Bulk Updates can also be done using the Import Utility. We do not recommend this, as it's quite easy to incorrectly update records/overwrite records with the wrong data. Examples of how this can happen include:
    • Exporting data from CRM to Excel, resorting it without grabbing all columns (so data becomes orphaned from the correct record/ends up associated to the wrong contact), updating the spreadsheet, and then re-importing from the mis-sorted spreadsheet
    • Not setting duplicate prevention settings on the import correctly/setting duplicate prevention on the import too broadly (e.g. setting it to first two characters of first name and first two of last name will result in people like Natalie Smith and Nathan Smythe being viewed as the same person and one record being updated with the other person's information)
    • Failing to recognize that empty/null values are still considered a value. For instance, if you are using the import utility to update mailing addresses, and Sally Jenkins has a mailing address in Fundly CRM and you include Sally Jenkins in the import/in your spreadsheet with no mailing address, the import will erase Sally's mailing address in CRM/will update her mailing address to the value in the spreadsheet (which is nothing/empty/null address)
13. If you choose to use the import utility to perform a bulk update of items that cannot be updated via the Take Action menu, we strongly recommend you seek the advice and assistance of Fundly CRM Support staff before proceeding. If you need us to erase/correct/restore lost records due to an incorrect import, it is a chargeable service.
14. See our tutorials on using the Import Utility for more information