Importing Club Members – Tips and Tricks

As a follow on to the post on Importing Club Members, we wanted to give some tips and tricks we have learned as more and more clubs are moving to RunSignUp.

Small Chunks – Import small chunks – maybe 100 at a time.  There are several reasons. First, we display all the imported data before you actually click the “Import” button. Displaying more than 100 is kind of slow, but more importantly it makes it easier to make edits.  RunSignUp shows all of the data being entered, and will automatically point out the errors.

Match Column Names – Make sure your column names on your imported spreadsheet match the RunSignUp names.  It will save you time and mistakes – especially if you are putting a large spreadsheet into smaller chunks like advised above.

Create the Right Questions in RunSignUp – When you are importing information, you may have specific data that you have captured.  For example you might have a question for if people are willing to Volunteer.  Two things to look out for.  First, does the data in your spreadsheet match the options in RunSignUp.  You might have an X meaning people are willing to volunteer, and in RunSignUp you allowed either a Yes or No answer.  So you will need to use “Find and Replace” in Excel to change the “X” to a “Yes”.  The second thing to watch out for is if you have data for each member and that RunSignUp is set to accept data for each member. In RunSignUp, you can set one answer for a family or have each member respond.  If you have data for all or most of the people, then you need to have the RunSignUp question set to ask each member.

Help Club Members Claim their Memberships – Once all the members are imported, now is the time to get everyone energized about Claiming their accounts! This is where they claim the information that you just imported as theirs and setting their own password. This will help them renew at the right time and keep all the information you entered. RunSignUp offers a very simple way for you to send Claim instructions. We also suggest that you enable the list of Members on the Info Sharing Menu in the Club Dashboard.

These are just a few of the suggestions. If you run into frustrations, don’t be afraid to email us and ask for help.  Many of the clubs that are moving over to RunSignUp go thru this initial ramp up phase, and we are here to help!