Upload an Existing Customer List for New Astro Retailers

Upload an Existing Customer List for New Astro Retailers

This article is for onboarding new retailer's customers. Uploading customer lists is done when a retailer first joins Astro and has a blank account. We can only upload one list, so make sure the list has the correct customer's information to the best of your ability.

What Information is Required in Order to Upload your Customers

If you are able to generate an Excel file that includes all of your customers' information such as Internal Customer ID, First Name, Last Name, Email Address and Phone Number, we can upload it in its entirety to your Astro Account. 

Internal Customer ID - Recommended if you are uploading Points along with your customer data, or you are using Astro as a POS Report Account.
First & Last Name - Required, and they need to be separated into their own columns (see attached templates)
Email Address - Optional but recommended as a unique customer lookup tool, or if you plan on using Email Campaigns in the Marketing Suite, or if you would like your customers to be able to use the Free Mobile App. A small handful of brands also ask for it on their frequent buyer redemptions.
Phone Number - Optional but recommended as a unique customer lookup tool or if you plan on using SMS Text Messaging included in the Marketing Suite.

How to Submit a Request to Upload your Customer List

Attached to this article you will find two template options. One contains just your customers' names and contact info while the other also includes any current Points they have earned. Once you have your template completed email it to support@astroloyalty.com and let us know that you would like it uploaded to your account. Most of the time uploads such as these are performed in the early morning. Once the list has been uploaded we will let you know.

Some Things to Consider Before Uploading your Customers to Astro 

If you are converting your current Loyalty Points program to an Astro Loyalty Points program than it is best to upload your customers' Points at the same time you upload their personal information.
If were are performing a full data conversion for you then there is no need to upload a separate customer list since all of your customers' personal information will be loaded into Astro along with their digital frequent buyer progress. If you were using another digital frequent buyer tracking software system and are interested in your options for converting those digital cards to Astro Cards please reach out to us at support@astroloyalty.com and let us know what software system you were running and we can let you know what your data conversion options are. 

There are obvious benefits to uploading your customers into Astro all at once. For one, you will not have to add them each manually as they come in. But you also want to consider the quality of the list that you are asking us to upload for you and ask yourself a couple questions first. 

  1. Are the majority of these customers currently shopping with me currently?

In some cases it may be to your benefit to collect each customer as they come in to shop so you know your Astro List of Customers truly reflects your current customer pool.
If you plan on using the New Marketing Suite it's monthly subscription is based on how many customers you have on your Astro account. Granted it probably won't make a big difference since the cost is based on tiers, but it's at least something to consider. You also of course have the option of cleaning up your current customer list before submitting it to us to upload.
That being said, there is also a big benefit to uploading all of your customers and then adding the Marketing Suite to your account since the suite provides you with tools to help you lure customers back to your store who may have wandered to one of your competitors. 

  1. Am I pretty sure that most of the emails and phone numbers listed are valid?

All of the Customer data that you upload to Astro is editable, so of course you can amend any emails or phone numbers that you find to be invalid. There is also a way to verify a customer's email address while you are checking them out. 
While under Checkout click their email address to open the Pet Owner Information pop-up, see below, there you will find a button that says Save and Send Verification Email.

Click that button and then tell your customer who you are in the process of checking out that they will receive an email from you soon that will allow them to verify their email address, join your mailing list (or remove themselves from it if they just want the app), and download the Free Customer Mobile App.  They will need a valid email address as their username in order to login and use the Mobile App. 

  1. Will I be using any integration software that will handle the import of my customers for me?

This is really the only instance where I would advise against uploading a preliminary customer list. For instance, the Lightspeed integration will bring over the customer's information from their Lightspeed Customer Account the first time you check them out with your new system. Then it will map that newly created Astro Pet Owner Account to their existing Lightspeed Customer Account so the next time you check them out the integration will take you directly to their Astro Pet Owner Account. The initial creation and mapping of the Astro Pet Owner Account is much quicker than trying to find a pre-existing Pet Owner Account in Astro yourself and mapping it to the Lightspeed Customer Account. You also run the risk of mapping the wrong customers together. 
This being said, even though I do not recommend uploading a customer list for Lightspeed accounts, some of the other pieces of integration software that are currently in development may benefit from an initial customer upload. So if you are embarking on a journey with us and are using one of these new integration pieces please consult with your POS developers and your contact here at Astro to see if uploading a customer list would be to your benefit or not. 

  1. Will I be using Astro as a POS Report Account and submitting POS Reports to Astro for Fulfillment?

If you plan on using the Marketing Suite or Astro Offers in addition to just using Astro as a Frequent Buyer reporting tool then it would be to your benefit to upload your customers to Astro. The key here is to make sure that you are including an Internal Customer ID on your submitted customer list. The reason for this is that every time we upload one of your POS Redemption Reports we are uploading your customers' redeemed cards to multiple corresponding Pet Owner Accounts on your Astro account. So in order to upload a reported redeemed card to the correct customer's Pet Owner account we need a unique identifier as a mapping tool (Customer ID, Email, Phone). Most POS Systems that include Frequent Buyer Tracking will automatically include their Internal Customer IDs when you export a customer list.
If you only plan on sending your POS Reports to Astro and are not interested in our other services then you do not have to worry about uploading a customer list or adding your customers to Astro in any way since the submission of your POS Reports on a regular basis will handle all that.