The Original ID is what identifies a contact in a Symplify database. Each unique Original ID is one contact. In imports, files and the API, the field is called originalId.
Watch our video on what an Original ID is:
Choose your Original ID
You decide what to use as Original ID when your account is set up, for example a customer number, an email address or another value that identifies one contact. Keep it the same for each contact over time. If it changes, Symplify can't connect the contact's history, and you risk duplicates.
Look at how you identify contacts in your CRM or other systems. Using the same ID in all systems makes it easier to keep the data in sync.
What's connected to the Original ID
- Contact data, for example email address, mobile number, city, date of birth and membership level
- Purchase history, for example order or event rows
- Message history: everything the contact has done with your emails, SMS and pages in Symplify
- Unsubscribes
- Web interactions
- Survey answers
The Original ID is also what imports use to add, update, activate or deactivate contacts.
Original ID in imports
An import file only needs one column: originalId. Without it, the file can't be imported. You'll usually include more data, and when you later update a contact, the Original ID tells Symplify which contact to update.
Different Original IDs create different contacts
If you import this file, the database gets two contacts, even though they have the same email address. Both get the email you send.
| originalId | firstName | lastName | emailAddress |
|---|---|---|---|
| anna.lindqvist@example.com | Anna | Lindqvist | anna.lindqvist@example.com |
| 100245 | Ann | Lindqvist | anna.lindqvist@example.com |
The same Original ID updates the contact
If the file looks like this instead, the database gets one contact, with the first name Ann:
| originalId | firstName | lastName | emailAddress |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100245 | Anna | Lindqvist | anna.lindqvist@example.com |
| 100245 | Ann | Lindqvist | anna.lindqvist@example.com |
Symplify imports the file from top to bottom. The first row adds the contact. The second row has the same Original ID, so it updates that contact: the first name changes to Ann, and the last name and email address stay the same.
Add more data later
To add more data to existing contacts, import a file with the originalId column and the new columns:
| originalId | ShoeSize | MembershipLevel | Bonus |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100245 | 43 | silver | yes |