When exporting or importing users through “OptimizeMember > Import / Export” and you notice the export file has strange characters instead of legible user data, this is something we have found that has been caused by Gzip Compression being activated on your server.
You may need to contact your web host to disable this temporarily so that you could export the user file properly.
You could also try the following code in the .htaccess file (please take backup of .htaccess file before attempting to modify it):
<IfModule mod_env.c> SetEnv no-gzip dont-vary </IfModule>
If the above code doesn’t work you will need to contact your web host and have them disable Gzip for you, and then contact them back to turn it on again after you are done.
We do recommend using Gzip Compression as that is one of the criteria that Google will measure when using the Google Page Insights tool, however disabling for a short time should not effect any SEO.
If you still have any issues with the user export file after disabling Gzip Compression, please contact our support team with your site logins and FTP access so we may assist further.