Instant auto responders (a campaign that is sent immediately when a person subscribes to your list) will not be sent when you import contacts using the Import Contacts feature. This is to prevent problems or errors that can occur when trying to import large numbers of contacts.
However, if you would like to import your contacts and also send them your message, there are two different methods that you can employ. One would be to create a "1 hour" auto responder and the other would be to create an automation.
Creating a "1 hour" auto responder
The one hour auto responder is a campaign that will go out to your contacts one hour after you import them to your list. After creating the “1 hour” auto responder, you can import your list and all contacts that you imported will receive the auto responder campaign within one hour.
To schedule the auto responder to send 1 hour after a contact is added to your list:
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Go to Campaigns and click "Edit" for your auto responder
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Click on "Summary" to get to the Campaign Summary page
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Select "After a specific timeframe" from the "Send to new contacts" dropdown
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Type 1 in the "hours" box
- Click the green "Finish" button located on the top right of your screen to save your changes
Creating an automation
If you would rather send out an email immediately to imported contacts rather than a 1 hour auto responder, we recommend creating an automation instead. This automation would utilize the "Subscribes to list" trigger and a “Send Email” action. Once your automation is created, you would then make it active and import your contacts to your list. Your newly imported contacts will then be entered into your automation and receive your email. For more information on how to create an automation, refer to this help document.