Member List: Compare your membership database to the Mailing List. (multiple user emails, ID, etc.)

If your membership database is out of sync with who is on your Mailing List, this procedure will show the differences.

Reconcile your spreadsheet of members to our Mailing List via two options:

  • Compare email addresses only. For this option, follow the instructions in this post.
  • Compare multiple email addresses for the same user, and/or use other identity data (Membership ID, Name, etc.) Use the instructions below.
    If you have multiple Lists, this option compares your membership database to all of your Mailing Lists.

The option described below can be used only to compare records.

Use the Web Interface for this Comparison

Log into your mail-list account at https://database.mail-list.com.

  • Click Manage Subscribers.
  • Click Your Mailing List vs Your Membership Database (Alternative Email Addresses and Names).
  • Paste your list of current addresses and names in Enter Subscribers section.
    • OPTION: Upload a file instead. Use the Choose File button.
  • Select the Compare Current List To Your Spreadsheet Addresses and Names.
  • Choose an email address to send the results. 
  • Click button Current List vs Your Spreadsheet With Names.

Reports will be sent to the email address chosen.

****See data requirements below the image.****

COPY & PASTE REQUIREMENTS

When pasting data into the above window, the format must be as shown below.

Option 1 - Email address and name
Separate with a comma.
          Example:
         joe@hotmail,Joe Smith
         [email protected],Sally Jones
         [email protected],Sue Ann Brown

Option 2 - Multiple email addresses for each Subscriber
Separate with a comma.    
         Example:
        joe@hotmail,[email protected],Joe Smith
         [email protected],,Sally Jones  (Sally does not have an additional address, so just an extra comma is shown.)
         [email protected],[email protected],Sue Ann Brown

Option 3 - Using other unique identifiers
The end of each line can be the Subscriber name, Membership ID or any other identifying data you store.
Example below showing Membership ID number instead of Subscriber name:

Separate with a comma.
         Example:
         joe@hotmail,1255
         [email protected],985
         [email protected],279

UPLOADED FILE REQUIREMENTS

  • The spreadsheet must have at least one column containing your member's email address.
  • The spreadsheet can have additional columns of alternative email addresses for each Subscriber.
  • All columns (except for the last column) must contain email addresses or be blank.
  • The last column can be their name, Membership ID or any other identifying data you store.

________________________________________________________________________

How the report works

The report will list all the various email addresses for each member.

Your input spreadsheet can have additional columns for alternative addresses.

The report will review our internal Changeaddress log to find if any Subscriber addresses were changed at any time, on any List. Then, it will list all of the addresses for that person on all of your Lists.

For example, you submit:

[email protected],[email protected],Sally Brown

We find she has changed [email protected] to [email protected] on one of your Lists. We now have three email addresses for that person and will review all your Lists for all email addresses.

The report is sent in TSV format (tab separated values).

  • Save the TSV attachment to your local computer.
  • Open the TSV file with Excel (or similar spreadsheet program).

________________________________________________________________________

Report Details

The report lists the Subscriber name along with their current email address.

Also listed are email addresses on your Mailing List but not shown in your membership database.

An Audit Trail is also included. This shows when members joined, unsubscribed, changed their email address, switched to Digest, etc.

Report Section: Members on Mailing Lists

This section shows your input spreadsheet with additional columns. Each column represents one of your Mailing Lists.

  • If a column has an email address, the Subscriber is part of that Mailing List.
  • If a column is blank, the Subscriber is not on that particular List.

Email addresses found on your Mailing List but NOT listed in your membership spreadsheet are shown at the bottom of this section.

Report Section: Audit Trail of Membership Roster

The next section repeats your input data, and shows what (if anything) changed for each Mailing List.  Each column represents each of your different Mailing Lists

For example:
If a person unsubscribed from a List, that column will show the date and how we were notified.  
NOTE: Long strings of text may extend into the next column.

The Audit Trail section only shows data for the email addresses you submitted.

Report Section: Summary Info

Shows
Input addresses:
Unique input addresses:
Same email address for different members

People on any mailing list:
Percentage of members on any mailing list:
People that have unsubscribed:
People that have changed their email address:
People not on any of our lists:
People on our lists, that were not on membership roster sent in:

Clean up your data and re-run the report

Use the report above to correct your data. Run the report again to verify your membership roster and our Mailing List are the same.