Contacts

A Contact represents an individual whose details are saved in Dripcel for ongoing engagement. Contacts store all the information you need to personalise, target, and optimise your SMS campaigns.

Fields

Fields store information about each contact. There are two types:

  • Default fields – Predefined fields provided by Dripcel.

  • Custom fields – User-defined fields (up to 10 per contact) for additional data.

Default Fields

Field

Type

Label

Options

cell

text

Cell

—

firstname

text

First name

—

lastname

text

Last name

—

idnumber

text

ID number

—

email

text

Email

—

gross_income

number

Gross income

—

household_income

number

Household income

—

date_of_birth

date

Date of birth

—

car_ownership

boolean

Car ownership

true = Yes, false = No

gender

select

Gender

male, female, other

employment_status

select

Employment status

employed_full_time, employed_part_time, self_employed, unemployed, student, retired

job_title

text

Job title

—

province_or_state

text

Province/State

—

city

text

City

—

postal_code

text

Postal code

—

credit_score

number

Credit score band

—

lead_source

select

Lead source

google_ads, facebook_instagram, organic_search, referral, affiliate, other

opt_in_status

boolean

Opt-in status

true = Yes, false = No

preferred_contact_method

select

Contact method

email, phone, sms, whatsapp, postal_mail

preferred_language

select

Language

english, spanish

signup_date

date

Signup date

—

customer_status

select

Customer status

new, active, inactive, churned, converted

parental_status

select

Parental status

parent, non_parent, unknown

relationship_status

select

Relationship status

single, in_a_relationship, married, divorced, widowed, separated

education_level

select

Education level

high_school, associates_degree, bachelors_degree, masters_degree, doctorate, other

home_ownership_status

select

Home ownership

homeowner, renter, living_with_parents, other

Field Groups

To make contact data easier to manage, Dripcel organises default fields into groups:

  • Contact Details – cell, firstname, lastname, email, idnumber, date_of_birth, province_or_state, city, postal_code

  • Profile & Demographics – gender, education_level, relationship_status, parental_status, home_ownership_status, customer_status, signup_date, car_ownership

  • Financial Info – gross_income, household_income, credit_score, employment_status, job_title

  • Lead & Communication – lead_source, preferred_contact_method, opt_in_status, preferred_language

Notes on Fields

  • The cell field is required for all contacts.

  • Numbers are automatically normalised to MSISDN format during upload. Examples of valid inputs:

    • 0112345678

    • 011 234 5678

    • 27112345678

    • +27112345678

Custom Fields

  • Each contact can have up to 10 custom fields.

  • Use them to store additional information relevant to your campaigns.

  • Custom fields can be inserted into SMS content for personalisation using the {{field}} syntax.

Uploading Contacts

You can upload contacts via CSV or Excel. Each row represents one contact.

Steps:

  1. Upload your CSV/Excel file.

  2. Map the file’s headings to Dripcel’s fields (only cell is required).

  3. Select Country, Tags, and (optionally) enable Welcome Send.

    • Country is used to format numbers.

    • Tags help group and organise contacts.

  4. Create new contacts.

Info: Dripcel prevents duplicate contacts by cell number. Each contact can only exist once in the system.

Do Not Contact List (DNC) / Deduplication

A Do Not Contact list ensures specific campaigns don’t send messages to the same contact again.

Steps to upload a DNC list:

  1. Create a CSV/Excel file.

  2. Include either of these fields per row:

    • cell (cell phone number)

    • idnumber (ID number)

  3. Select the campaign to apply the DNC list.

Example:

cell , idnumber 0112345678 , , 9901125075089

Once uploaded, those contacts will not receive further messages from that campaign.

Search

The Search page lets you find contacts using flexible filters:

  • Include Tags – Must have these tags.

  • Exclude Tags – Must not have these tags.

  • Deduped Campaigns – Contacts removed from a campaign via deduplication.

  • Reachability Window – Contacts validated within the last X days.

  • Last Sent – Filter by last SMS sent date.

  • Segments/Conditions – Match a saved segment.

Search Functions

On search results, you can:

  • Clear filters.

  • Download contacts.

  • Bulk delete results.

  • Count matching contacts.

  • Save search for reuse.

Contact Actions

Available actions for individual contacts:

  • View/Edit Contact – Update details.

  • Delete Contact – Remove permanently.

Validation

Validation determines whether a contact’s number is reachable (able to receive SMS).

  • Validation happens automatically during sends.

  • If an SMS is delivered, the contact is marked reachable.

  • If delivery fails, the contact is marked unreachable.

You can then use the Reachability Window in campaigns to only target contacts confirmed as reachable.