How to make your VAN list into a Group


This guide will walk you through importing your list of contacts in VAN to having an Active group to be used for calling and texting in GetThru. For tips on building your list in VAN, check out our guide.


Getting started  

Navigate to the Group 'External Contact Lists' section in the Groups drop-down of the left side panel.

External Contact Lists

Navigate to the right side of the screen and click on "New Contact List."

new contact list button highlighted

Select the tool that you would like to import the list for.

Select the side of VAN you are looking to sync back to.

Locate the list you would like to use and click "Create List" to add your VAN list to your External Contacts List page.

create list button highlighted

You will be taken back to your External Contact List page. Locate the list you would like to use and click the three vertical dots to the right of that list. Click "New Group" to build your GetThru group. This will bring you to the Group creation wizard, where you will name your group and map your data for upload. To read more on basic Group creation, click here.create group sync delete

  • 'New Group' will import and validate the numbers into a GetThru group. 
  • "Sync" will pull an updated list copy if needed. 
    • When updating your list, you will have to create a new group after hitting "Sync" so that your updated contacts can be added or removed accordingly. 
    • NOTE - The "Update Group" button that appears when you hit "Edit" on your selected group will not have its contacts updated by the "Sync" button. The "Edit" button only allows you to rename the selected group, as it is the only editable field you can update on an active group.
  • "Delete" will purge the list from our systems. 


Mapping your data

VAN sync requires a few extra mapping steps during Group creation:


Required Fields

On the "Required Fields" page, you will map the three required fields - First name, Last name, and Phone number. choose required fieldsFor ThruText, to maximize your valid numbers, it is important to know where your specific VAN "houses" most of its cell numbers, as this can vary from state to state. The "Phone number" field defaults to "HomePhone," but you can also choose "CellPhone," "WorkPhone," or "Phone" (preferred phone). While we recommend using the field labeled "CellPhone," you'll have to check with your VAN administrator to see what works best for your state and committee.

For ThruText lists brought in from VoteBuilder, you must use the "CellPhone" column.

For ThruTalk numbers, the group will be built off the type of phone number you select (HomePhone, WorkPhone, Phone, or CellPhone.) However, both valid and invalid phone numbers will be callable as both cell phone and landline dials are available for calling. We have more details on that on our Group Details Page.


VAN Custom Fields  

To import survey questions, you will need to map your VAN ID fields. Mapping also enables GetThru to sync data back to your VAN committee. The mapping step will determine which side of VAN - MyVoters or MyCampaign - you will be able to sync survey data back to.


NOTE - Failure to map this data appropriately in GetThru will impact your survey questions sync to VAN. 

When importing a list from VAN through the API, you can only map "VanID" once. To VAN, you are choosing to map to the side of the committee that the list was created in.

MyVoters Custom Field

If you are importing a "Voter File" list, then you must map VanID to "VAN ID (Voter File)."VAN ID (Voter File)

MyCampaign Custom Field

If you are importing a "Campaign File" list, you must map VanID to "VAN Campaign ID."VAN Campaign ID

NOTE - Failure to map VAN custom fields can make VAN IDs unavailable at the time of export for both ThruText and ThruTalk. If mapping is missed, please refer to our ThruText and ThruTalk guides to prep your survey data for bulk uploading.

If you are using the MyVoter side of VAN and would like more information on the voter file-specific process in ThruText, please follow our guide Sync Responses - Canvass Results (MyVoter Only).


If you are using the MyCampaign/MyMembers side of VAN and would like more information on the Events process in ThruText, please follow our guide Sync Responses - Events (Campaign Side Only).


Using VAN in ThruTalk campaigns

To enable survey data to be imported to ThruTalk, you will need to create a VAN-enabled script and map your survey questions based on which side of VAN - MyVoters or MyCampaign - you will be importing your data from. 


If you want more information on setting up a mapped script in ThruTalk (New), please follow our guide, Mapping Script Questions in ThruTalk to VAN.


Mapped custom fields imported from VAN are visible to callers in ThruTalk. Additionally, custom variables can also be added to scripts! 


Importing additional Custom Fields

Some data in your VAN committee cannot be imported using a VAN key. This guide contains more information on how custom fields from your VAN committee work in GetThru. 


Review and Create your Group

Once your group has finished uploading and has an "Active" status, you can use that new VAN-imported group in GetThru!

active