Clean up a customer list before a mailing
Find duplicates, fix capitalization and flag blank or broken fields in a customer list before you send a mailing or email.
Time: 30 min first time, 10 min after
You need
- General chat assistant on a company account that your business has approved for customer contact details
- A CSV or Excel export of your customer list
Before you start
- Customer names, addresses and emails are private data. Use only a company workspace tool that your AI rules approve for contact details. If you don't have one, don't upload the list; ask the AI to write spreadsheet formulas instead and run them yourself.
- Never upload card numbers, bank or routing numbers, tax IDs, account balances or notes fields. Delete those columns first.
- Keep the original export untouched. Work on a copy.
- For a long list, the AI may skip rows. Ask for counts and check them.
Steps
- {"do":"Export your customer list as CSV or Excel and save an untouched copy.","tip":"Look for Export on the customer list, or under Reports, in your accounting or job software."}
- {"do":"In a working copy, delete every column you don't need for the mailing.","tip":"Usually name, company, street, city, state, ZIP and email. Nothing else."}
- {"do":"Write down how many rows the file has.","tip":"You'll check this number against what the AI says."}
- {"do":"Start a new chat, upload the working copy and paste the prompt below."}
- {"do":"Read the list of suspected duplicates and decide each one yourself.","tip":"Two \"Bob Smith\" rows at different addresses may be two people."}
- {"do":"Download or copy the cleaned file and compare the row count with your number.","tip":"The cleaned count should equal the original minus the duplicates you approved."}
- {"do":"Spot-check ten random rows against the original before you use the file."}
- {"do":"Delete the chat and the uploaded file from the assistant if your tool allows it.","tip":"Check your company's rules. Some tools keep files in the chat history."}
The prompt
I'm attaching our customer list for a [POSTCARD / EMAIL] mailing. It has [NUMBER] rows. Please: 1) Fix capitalization in names, streets and cities (for example 'JOHN SMITH' to 'John Smith'), but leave emails lowercase and don't change spellings. 2) List possible duplicates with the row numbers and why you think they match. Don't remove any row yourself; I'll decide. 3) Flag rows with a blank or broken field: missing street, ZIP that isn't 5 digits, email without an @. 4) Tell me how many rows you changed, how many you flagged, and the total row count you see. Do not invent or fill in any missing address, ZIP or email. If you're unsure whether a change is right, flag it instead of making it. Give me the cleaned list as a downloadable CSV if you can, otherwise as a table.
Check the result
- The AI's total row count matches yours. If not, stop and find out why before using the file.
- Every duplicate you removed was one you approved, not one the AI dropped.
- No address, ZIP or email was filled in or "corrected" to something that isn't in the original.
- The cleaned file has no columns you meant to leave out.
Written, not yet tested.