Managing Contacts | Gail Documentation

Contact lists are the foundation of outbound campaigns. This guide covers how to create, organize, and manage your contacts for effective outreach.

Contact lists are optional when saving a campaign — you can save a campaign as a draft and add contacts later via the Assignments API. However, you need at least one contact list or API assignment before you can launch a campaign.

Creating Contact Lists

To create a new contact list:

Navigate to Contacts in the left sidebar

Click Upload Contacts

Select whether you want them to be added to No List, an Existing List, or a New List

Enter a name for a New List

Upload your contacts

List Organization

Organize contacts into logical groups based on:

Campaign type (reminders, follow-ups, marketing)
Customer segment (new customers, renewals, etc.)
Geographic region
Product or service line

Adding Contacts

Manual Entry

For small lists or individual contacts:

Open your contact list

Click Add Contact

Fill in the contact details:

Name - Full name of the contact
Phone Number - Primary phone number (required)
Email - Email address (optional)
Custom Fields - Any additional data you need

Bulk Upload

For larger lists, upload a CSV or Excel file:

Click Upload Contacts

Select your file (CSV, XLSX, or XLS)

Map columns to contact fields

Review and confirm the import

CSV Format Example:

1 first_name,last_name,phone,email,account_number
2 Sarah,Chen,+15551234567,sarah@example.com,ACC-001
3 Marcus,Johnson,+15559876543,marcus@example.com,ACC-002

Phone numbers should include the country code (e.g., +1 for US). Gail will attempt to normalize numbers without country codes.

CRM Integration

Sync contacts automatically from your CRM:

Salesforce - Import leads, contacts, and accounts
HubSpot - Sync contact lists and segments
Custom Integration - Use the API to push contacts

See Integrations for setup instructions.

Contact Fields

Standard Fields

Field	Description	Required
First Name	Contact’s first name	Yes
Last Name	Contact’s last name	Yes
Phone	Primary phone number	Yes
Phone 2	Secondary phone number	No
Email	Email address	No
Company	Organization name	No
Tags	Labels for filtering	No

Custom Fields

Add custom fields to store campaign-specific data:

Go to Contacts → Select a Contact → Custom Fields
Click Add New Field

Name the field:

Text
Number
Date
Dropdown
Checkbox

Fill out the field

Custom Fields section with new field added

Custom fields can be referenced in your agent scripts to personalize conversations.

Contact List Sync

When you link a contact list to a campaign, new contacts automatically sync:

Real-time sync - Contacts added to the list are immediately queued for the campaign
Deduplication - Duplicate phone numbers are automatically detected
Status tracking - Each contact’s campaign status is tracked independently

Managing Contact Status

Each contact has a status within a campaign:

Status	Description
Pending	Waiting to be called
In Progress	Currently in a sequence
Completed	Successfully reached desired outcome
Failed	Could not be reached after all attempts
Opted Out	Requested not to be contacted

Bulk Actions

Perform actions on multiple contacts:

Add to list - Transfer contacts between lists
Add to campaign - Add selected contacts to a campaign
Delete Selected - Delete selected contacts

Do Not Call (DNC) Management

Maintain compliance with DNC regulations:

Automatic tracking - When a contact opts out, they’re automatically added to your DNC list
DNC import - Upload existing DNC lists to prevent calls
Cross-campaign - DNC status applies across all campaigns

Always honor DNC requests. Calling contacts who have opted out may violate regulations and damage your reputation.

Best Practices

Keep Data Clean

Validate phone numbers before import
Remove duplicates regularly
Update contact information when it changes

Respect Privacy

Only collect data you need
Store data securely
Honor deletion requests

Next Steps

Creating Campaigns - Set up campaigns for your contact lists
Sequences - Define outreach flows