How to create a database with Excel?

The main element of an SMS marketing campaign is the massive sending of those messages. For that, it is necessary to have a database with the phone number of clients and users that will be the receivers of the campaign. For that, having a database is crucial to achieving success.

In this aspect, Excel is a very useful tool. It’s easy to use and accessible to most users who have Windows. One of its strongest points is the personalization that Excel allows for, which we will check ahead.

How to create a database with Excel?

Excel is one of the best tools to create a user list. It works with columns, which can be just one with phone numbers or many with additional information (optional but that allow for more personalization). The only rule is that there has to be a register or contact per line. 

The type of columns you can add are:

• Phone number: as stated above, this is the only mandatory column. You have to put a phone number per line, each of them with the country code that corresponds. 
• Name: an additional option, with the name of each one of the clients. 
• City: add where these people live. 
• Initial date: you can add the date when the client became one for the first time. 

This extra information can be added to the message to be sent using different commands that correspond to each one of the columns. So, you can use this Excel sheet in the future to personalize your SMS automatically.

Once you finished the process, you have to save the sheet. You can use two formats: the Excel one (-XLS or XLSX= that is compatible with the 97, 2003, 2007, and 2010 versions or plain text (-CSV or TXT) where the words are separated by commas.

Some useful advice when creating a database

There are certain tips you should consider when creating a database of phone numbers in Excel. Some of them are:

• Check the numbers are active that correspond to the person you are saving. If you are not sure, you can clean your database with the LabsMobile HLR Check tool on our platform.
• Use the same format on the whole list. You cannot mix different formats in the same column. 
• You should not put landline phone numbers. Delete them if there’s any.
• Put the country prefix when applicable.
• Eliminate duplicate numbers.
• Cleanse and update your contact list every other time. Eliminate numbers that are no longer in use or that appear as rejected or not available when sending a message.

One of the advantages of Excel is that it has functions and characteristics that make these actions easier.

Personalize your groups

The LabsMobile service allows you to import your files with the databases you created and stores them in groups. Each one of them can be named and edited, which makes it easier to personalize and segment messages later. For example, you can group numbers for gender or age, which is ideal to create different marketing campaigns.