This area allows you to import transactions into TicketSearch from a previous system or from another external source. On import, the transactions will be viewable against a customer’s record.
Standard transactions include any transactions made by a customer referencing the customer ID. Fields included in standard transactions are shown below. At any time when transactional data is required for an import, the customer ID field will always be required. The data will simply be a reference against the customer’s profile.
How does it work?
Once you’ve clicked on ‘Customer Database Import’, select ‘Transaction Import’.
Important Rules
You must first ensure that the customers are uploaded in the first tab, ‘Customer Data Import’, before attempting to import transactions. The system requires the unique customer ID to then match the transaction to a relevant customer.
Step 1: Download the CSV, open the spreadsheet, leave all columns and heading names intact and copy your data across from your previous system or anywhere else where you are importing the data from.
The following fields are represented in the spreadsheet:
- Customer ID (numbers only are accepted): The customer ID that was previously imported into the system and is the unique identifier to ensure that the transaction is matched to the correct customer on import. If you are using the External ID to import, this can be a mix of letters and numbers.
- Event/Product Name: This is the name of any event or product purchased in the transaction. If it is a shopping cart scenario, multiple events and products can be comma separated for import. The max character length is 242. Please do not exceed this as your import will fail.
- Revenue Total: Revenue total will show a numerical value to represent the transaction amount. Transaction amounts cannot be a negative revenue amount i.e. -20 if the transaction is a refund. Transaction amounts can be 0.
- Ticket/Item Count: This is the number of tickets/items purchased. Negative values are not accepted i.e. -20 for a refund.
- Confirmation Number: This is the confirmation number from your previous or external system. When searching for a confirmation number on TicketSearch, you will be able to enter this number and the system will reference it against the transaction. This is particularly useful if the customer contacts you with a query about their transaction. This is a mandatory field. The confirmation number can be repeated for multiple events and does not need to be unique.
- Transaction type is the status of the transaction. Please only use the following status in this column: Order, Exchange, Refund, Reserved (this is a reservation pay later), Historical (all tickets/items have been refunded and exchanged out of the order- nothing valid). If there is no status applied, all will default to Hisorical import. The transaction type must be a exact as above in the field, i.e. Refund cannot be entered as REFUND. All transaction types must be in title case, i.e. Refund (first letter as a capital).
- This is the time stamp of the transaction (the time the transaction was processed). Standard formatting will be required upon import including DD/MM/YYYY 00:00 AM. Dates in the past are accepted e.g. 12/02/2020 12:00 AM. If no date/time is added, the system will default to the import date/time.
Step 3: Select a File to Upload
Once you have entered all of the relevant information into the spreadsheet, you then choose ‘Select A File To Upload’ on the voucher import page and upload it. Please ensure that you do not exceed more than 500 records to be uploaded at a time.
You will be presented with the following page where you need to action the following:
- Select a sales channel to assign: Select a sales channel such as walk-up, telephone, internet or a manually created sales channel. Only one sales channel can be assigned per upload. If you are wanting to maintain the original order purchase channel, you can simply import the transactions in multiple uploads selecting the correct sales channel.
Tip: As your data is loading, this process can take up to 5 minutes. Please do not close the page or take any actions on the page. You will see the below message, ‘Please wait while we upload your data’.
If there is an error what should I do?
With any error, you will get the following message if the data has been manipulated and doesn’t correctly represent the headings that were downloaded. For example, you moved column 1 to column 3.
There has been an error while importing your data. Please ensure your data is in the correct format and try again.
Simply review the original spreadsheet to ensure that the headings are maintained. If there are other errors, such as date formats that are incorrect, the system will import the correct data and provide you with a successful message.
Step 4: Upload History
Failed and completed transactions are listed in the upload history table. The date/time/user who uploaded the data is also recorded. If any records have failed to upload, you can click on the error message which may say “1 error(s)”, download the CSV, correct the errors and re-upload the data.
Above: The date format was incorrect. The system states ‘Invalid Transaction Date format has passed;’.
Key tips once data is uploaded
- The customer record will not have the history statistics updated as below with the last purchase date recognised.
Transaction History Update
Under the ‘Transaction History’ tab, ‘Historical Transactions’, the details of the transaction will be listed.
- Reports
This historical data will not be visible in reports. It will be accessible via the customer’s account as detailed above.