Understanding Your Users File Format:

Your user information needs to follow a specific format to be picked up by the FTP importer.

It must be saved in the proper file type, .csv or .tsv (ask tech support which type you need!)

It must be named correctly, beginning with: users (e.g. users.csv, users_giveaway_signups.csv, users_new_users_2017_02_08.csv etc).
Important! This is case sensitive, it must be users not Users or USERS)

It must use the correct column headers, and must include the required columns

The accepted column headers are:

record_id
email (REQUIRED)
account_created_on (REQUIRED, YYYY-MM-DD format required)
date_unsubscribed (YYYY-MM-DD format required, any date will unsubscribe the user)
full_name
address1
address2
city
state
zip
country
phone
birthday
gender
registration_source

Formatting your data in a spreadsheet:

Step One

Determine which pieces of information can be imported. Remove all data that cannot be imported.

This is information in the default mailchimp export format, most of these columns are not supported and none of the column headers are correct.

The columns have that can be imported have been identified (in green) and marked with the correct column headers, and the columns that cannot be imported have been marked for deletion (in red)

The data has been reduced to the necessary columns

(see bottom of article for full_name column instructions)

Step Two

Rename your column headers to the appropriate supported names

Format all dates to YYYY-MM-DD format
How To Format Dates in Excel

Step Three

Include any missing required columns

Step Four

Confirm your file type with technical support (click here or email help@retentionscience.com)

Save your file(s) with the appropriate name and file type

Excel

File > Save as
For .csv choose "Comma Separated Values (.csv)"
.tsv is not supported by excel

Google Sheets

File > Download as
For .csv choose "Comma-separated values"
For .tsv choose "Tab-separated values"

OpenOffice

File > save as > .csv file type

For .csv file import use ',' for Field delimeter
For .tsv file import use '{Tab}' for Field delimeter
Do not quote text cells
Save cell content as shown

For .tsv, rename your .csv file to use .tsv

Step Five

Upload your file via FTP

Be sure to include blank copies for additional required files. Ask tech support if your importer requires additional files or if you need copies of blank files to include.

Bonus Step: Merging First Name and Last Name to full_name

Retention Science does not support separate first name and last name user information, and requires an import of full name user information.

To combine these strings create a new column, and put "full_name" in the header. Use the formula CONCATENATE(col1;" ";col2) to combine your first and last name columns with a space between them.