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Bulk upload contacts - multiple contacts upload

  • April 29, 2021
  • 5 replies
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C

Hi everyone,

How do you manage bulk uploading of contacts via the API?

I need to upload 100.000 contacts and I'm not sure how best to do it. Although most other Zendesk APIs I've used do provide an endpoint for that, for some reason the Sell API does not provide an endpoint to upload multiple contacts. Not sure why, support were not able to provide an explanation.

Support suggested 2 solutions - either using the single contact upload endpoint, or manually uploading CSV files. Using the single contact endpoint and making a single call per contact isn't viable for 100.000 contacts as that way the request rate limit is reached fairly quickly. Using CSVs did do the job but was tedious work, files took a lot of hours to be imported, and ultimately it was a one-timer and not an automated solution - what happens in case a new custom field is added for example, how would you sync all users again in that case without requiring manual work?

Thanks a lot in advance.

      5 replies

      Dwight
      • Dwight
      • May 19, 2021

      HeyO Christos,

      The two methods mentioned earlier are currently the best methods of which I'm aware to import a large number of contacts.

      Here are those two paths again just for reference:

      • CSV File Import - This is limited to 3k contacts per CSV file, so you'd be looking at ~34 files to import ~100k users. While I realize this method is a bit cumbersome, it doesn't require any coding/scripting logic.

      • API Importing - It appears that the Sell Contacts API doesn't offer a bulk-import via the API. Nonetheless, it should be possible to write a script which loops over a CSV file, calling the individual create contact endpoint (or upsert if those contacts may already exist). Per this Sell API rate-limits page it should be possible to make 36,000 requests per hour, meaning that 100 users could be created in under 3 hours assuming no other API calls are needed during that time.

      Hopefully this helps to address your needs for getting these users imported.

      Dwight B. | Customer Advocate

        C
        • Christos13
        • Author
        • May 20, 2021

        Hey Dwight!

        Thanks very much for the insights :)

        So based on these facts, we have the following:

        • CSV files import - As you very well said one would have to generate ~34 files to import ~100k contacts.
          In addition to that, we must also consider that:
          - after uploading each file, the CSV fields must then be matched to the respective Sell fields, manually and one by one (~40 columns per file --> 40 extra clicks, times 34 files)
          - adding to that the actual import duration (in my case ~10min per file) we're looking at ~15 minutes per 3000 contacts, or ~8,5 hours for ~100k contacts
          - this method does not provide any possibility for automation (which is the goal), meaning every time a full contacts upload has to take place, somebody must allocate ~8,5 hours to do it.
        • API method: This is what I tried. Calling the individual create contact endpoint, it takes about 1 minute per 100 calls (the code is single-threaded - meaning simultaneous API calls are sadly not possible - each call can be made only after the previous one has finished) - so to upload ~100k users it would take ~1000 minutes or about 16,5 hours.


        I believe we will agree that both of these scenarios are not very attractive - and might I say even a tad bit unproductive.


        ...which begs the question, why on earth should we have to go through all this, when there could simply exist a bulk import endpoint, as is the case with most modern APIs 🙂


        (On a serious note - I of course am not aware of the reasons why such an endpoint may not exist, and there may very well be a justifying reason - it is quite baffling though, seeing as among other products we are also using "Zendesk Support" for example, with whose API it is perfectly possible and easy to bulk upload contacts. Takes a single click and about 1-2 hours to upload 100k contacts.)

        Always in a friendly manner.

        Best,
        Christos

          Dwight
          • Dwight
          • May 20, 2021

          Good points, all. I will definitely relay those to the Sell product team for consideration of how this might be streamlined (whether through improvements to CSV import or the creation of a bulk-endpoint). I would also recommend posting this point within https://support.zendesk.com/hc/en-us/community/topics/360003042793-Feedback-on-Sell so that other could up-vote this idea!

          I appreciate your thoroughness & candor both! :D 

            Adejayan
            • Adejayan
            • February 19, 2025

            Hi Dwight.. Please is there an update regarding bulk uploading of contacts via the Zendesk Sell API?

              Dwight
              • Dwight
              • February 19, 2025

              heyO @adejayan - no news on our end at this time. 

              Again, I recommend posting on that feedback forum to help push this in the right direction. 

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