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Accessing the import settings page

You can access the Import Settings page in two ways:

  • When creating a new import, you are automatically taken to this page.
  • If you are revisiting an existing import, click on Edit import from the top right corner of the import detail view.

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Section 1: Import source (top block)

The first block at the top of the page will vary depending on how you chose to import your contacts:

  • Webhook imports: Displays a unique Webhook URL and shows a sample payload of how contact data should be structured in JSON format.
  • App imports: Displays setup instructions specific to the connected app (e.g. Zapier).
  • CSV file imports: Displays the uploaded CSV files, with an option to add more.
  • Prospecting imports: Displays the currently selected prospect filters, with an option to edit.

No matter the source, the remaining configuration sections on the page are consistent.

Info: There are separate helpdesk articles available for each of the four import types—Webhook, App, CSV, and Prospecting—which explain their specific setup processes in detail.

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Section 2: Naming your import

Every import should have a clear and descriptive name. This helps identify imports later when running campaigns, nurturing flows, or audits. Click into the Name field and update it with a recognizable title, such as “Inbound Webhook – Q3 Leads” or “CSV Import – June Newsletter.”

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Section 3: Qualification questions

Qualification questions allow you to define specific criteria that contacts or companies must meet before they are officially imported into FirstQuadrant. This is a critical filtering mechanism to ensure only relevant, high-quality records are added to your workspace.

When you upload a list or connect a source (CSV, webhook, app, or prospecting), the contacts are staged but not yet fully imported. Qualification questions act as a gating layer: FirstQuadrant evaluates each staged contact against your specified criteria, and only those who pass all questions are included in the final import.

These questions are always binary (yes/no) and can target either the company or the contact. They are especially useful for narrowing your target audience to fit your ICP (ideal customer profile). For example:

  • Company-level questions might ask: Is the company a B2B SaaS?, Is the company SOC 2 compliant?, or Does the company have over 50 employees?
  • Contact-level questions might ask: Is this a senior-level decision maker?, or Is the contact based in Europe?

To create qualification questions:

  • Click Add question to open the builder.
  • Choose whether the question applies to a contact or a company.
  • Write your yes/no question.
  • Choose the source of the answer:
    • Perplexity (default): Uses external AI search to look up the answer.
    • Internal data: Pulls from FirstQuadrant’s enrichment data (best used when importing known records).
  • Decide whether a yes or no qualifies the record.

You can also in the advanced section:

  • Choose to qualify records with unknown answers (enabled by default).
  • Provide additional context or explanation for the question using the description field.

All contacts must pass every qualification question you set. If a contact fails even one, they will not be imported.

Tip: You can combine multiple unrelated questions for more refined control over your imports.

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Section 4: Qualifying rules

Qualifying rules are additional system-level checks applied after a contact has passed all qualification questions. These rules serve as automated filters that help ensure the validity and integrity of your imported data before final import.

You can enable or disable the following rule-based filters:

  • Company website is up: This rule checks whether the company’s domain is live and reachable. If the domain is down or does not resolve, the contact will be disqualified. This helps filter out inactive or defunct companies.

  • Email address is verified: Uses FirstQuadrant’s built-in email verification service to determine whether the email is likely deliverable. If the email fails verification, the contact is disqualified. This reduces the chances of bouncebacks in outbound campaigns.

  • Professional email is available: Ensures that contacts use work-related email domains (e.g. name@company.com) and filters out personal domains like Gmail, Yahoo, and Outlook. This is especially useful if you’re focused on B2B outreach.

  • Exclude existing contacts (enabled by default): If turned on, FirstQuadrant checks whether a contact already exists in your workspace. If yes, they will not be added to this import.

    If this option is turned off, existing contacts will still be included in the current import group. This is useful when you’re importing to segment for a specific campaign or initiative. Note that contacts are never duplicated even if they belong to multiple imports.

Note: These rules are only evaluated after contacts have passed the qualification questions. If a contact is disqualified by a qualification question, these rules are not applied at all.

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Section 5: Contact activation

Once contacts pass all qualification checks and rules, you must decide whether to import them as active or inactive. This choice determines whether FirstQuadrant will initiate any AI-based processing for the contact upon import.

  • Active: These contacts are imported with full AI context-awareness. FirstQuadrant immediately analyzes their conversation history, properties, related contacts, and any notes to determine what next steps (e.g., follow-ups, task suggestions, or outreach sequences) should be triggered. This setting is best used for leads that are currently part of your sales process or will be engaged soon.
  • Inactive: These contacts are imported passively. No next steps are generated, and the AI does not begin analyzing or planning outreach. This is ideal for cold contacts, archived records, or data you want to store and potentially engage with later.

Guidelines:

Use active if:

  • You have an existing thread or interaction with the contact.
  • You plan to follow up soon (e.g. agreed follow-up in 6 months).
  • You want FirstQuadrant to suggest and possibly automate next steps.

Use inactive if:

  • The contact is net-new and you’re not ready to reach out.
  • You’re storing the contact for nurturing later
  • You want to stage contacts over time without triggering action.

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Section 6: Notes (optional for active contacts)

When importing contacts as active, you can optionally attach a note that provides additional context for FirstQuadrant’s AI to evaluate during its reasoning process.

Here’s how it works:

  • A note is added automatically to the end of the conversation history for each active contact in the import.
  • That note becomes part of what the AI reviews when determining the contact’s status, urgency, and suggested actions.
  • These notes can include:
    • Descriptive context about how or why the contact was imported (e.g. “Imported via Zapier from lead gen form”)
    • Internal instructions for FirstQuadrant (e.g. “Follow up in 2 weeks with product demo link”)
    • Relationship info or meeting history (e.g. “Met at Web Summit 2024”)

Important: Notes are not just informational. FirstQuadrant uses them as active signals when evaluating next best actions. Even subtle instructions like “warm intro” or “follow-up post-trial” can significantly shape the suggested outreach strategy.

For full flexibility, see the separate help article on Using Notes in FirstQuadrant, including how to customize note behavior using fine-tuning settings.

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Section 7: Scheduling the import

You can choose when and how the contacts should be imported:

  • Import all rows immediately: All qualified contacts are imported at once.
  • Import on a recurring schedule: Specify a number of contacts to import periodically (e.g. 100 contacts per month).

Use case:

  • When importing from a large prospecting list (e.g. 100,000 contacts).
  • To conserve credits and stagger outreach.
  • To defer engagement or stagger workload.