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Imports: Adding Contacts From a File

This article explains how to import contacts from a spreadsheet.

In your email marketing account, contacts can be added to your audience individually, but if you want to add multiple contacts at the same time it’s easiest to import them from a file.

Accepted File Formats

Our system accepts the following file formats for imports:

  • CSV (UTF-8 encoded only)
  • XLS
  • XLSX

Tip: You can import up to 65,000 contacts in a XLS or XLSX file. To import more contacts, use the CSV file format.

Important Tips

Permission to Send

Note: Rented or purchased lists are not allowed.

By importing contacts to your account, you are asserting that you have permission to email them. You must have proof that everyone on your list has either opted in to receive emails from you or that they have a clear relationship with your organization (e.g., a customer, employee, or volunteer). Additionally, you need to have emailed these contacts within the last 12 months to retain permission. For more information about permission to send, check out these articles:

Spreadsheet Settings

Spreadsheets containing multiple sheets cannot be processed, so make sure that the file you’re importing only has one sheet. Additionally, if your sheet has more than one row of headers, or if it contains large amount of formatting, the import tool likely will not be able to process it correctly, resulting in errors. As a best practice, use only one row of headers and for highly formatted sheets, try copying the data and pasting it, values only, into a new spreadsheet.

Data Formatting

If you’re importing data to contact fields, be aware that some field types require the data to be formatted correctly for a successful import.

Email Addresses

Note: Our system uses a contact’s email address as a unique identifier. As a result, it is not possible to update an existing contact’s email address using an import. Even if all other contact data is the same, if the email is different, then it will treat them as a new contact.

Email addresses should not contain any special characters, such as < >, [ ], { }, ;, or :.

Duplicate email addresses are deduplicated during the import process. If an email address appears more than once on a spreadsheet, the data from the first instance of that email will be overwritten by the second. If your file contains email addresses that are invalid or incorrectly formatted, such as [email protected] instead of [email protected], they are automatically moved to the Error status.

Tip: If the number of contacts in your audience doesn’t increase by the number of new contacts imported, it indicates that the file may have contained duplicate or invalid email addresses.

Numeric Fields

If you are importing number values, such as ages, phone number, or membership IDs, do not choose the numeric field type when creating a new contact field. Numeric contact fields only accept numerals and decimal points, no other characters, and they are only for fields that you may need to do math with. Use a short answer field type instead for these fields.

SMS Mobile Field

If you are importing phone numbers into your audience, do not import them to the SMS mobile field unless you will actually be sending SMS messages to these contacts. The SMS mobile field has specific requirements and can cause major import errors if the data in your sheet does not meet those requirements.

Archived Contacts

If your spreadsheet contains any contacts who are currently in the archive, the import will restore those contacts to your audience. Archived contacts in the Opt-out status or Error status will remain in the Opt-out status or Error status when restored.

This is especially important to keep in mind if you are approaching your contact limit. If an import restores Active contacts from the archive, then those contacts will contribute to your contact limit for the billing cycle.

Importing Contacts From a File

  1. Navigate to your Audience tab.
  2. Click on the Imports section in the panel on the left.
  3. Click on the Import contacts button.
  4. Upload your file by dragging it from your desktop or clicking Choose file to select it from your computer.
  5. Optional: Use the “Source” dropdown menu to choose the source of your import.
  6. Click on the radio button next to “Update their records” or “Leave them alone”, depending on how you’d like to handle imported data for existing contacts. See the “Other Import Options” section below for more information.
  7. Optional: Check the box next to “Trigger field change workflows” or “Trigger manual import workflows”.
  8. Click on the Continue button.
  9. Follow the on-screen instructions to map the contact data in your list to the contact fields in your account. You can also create new contact fields for the data you’re importing.
  10. Either create a new group to add your contacts to, or select an existing group, then click on the Continue button.
  11. After you’ve reviewed the Import Summary page, click on the Import button.

Import speed depends on the size of the file, as well as the import options selected.

Import Summary Overview

When you import a file, we automatically generate an import summary that lists the groups your contacts were added to, their status, and the number of contacts that were:

  • Added
  • Updated
  • Ignored due to duplication
  • Skipped due to a value error
  • Errored as a result of formatting

To view the import summary, navigate to the Audience > Imports page and click on the name of a completed import. Here’s an overview of the data that you’ll see in the import summary and a description of each element:

  • Contacts added: How many new contacts were imported.
  • Contacts updated: Any existing contacts whose contact records were updated.
  • Error rows: Rows skipped because there was a formatting or mapping issue.

You can click Download to generate a CSV file of your error contacts. The option to download the file is only available for 7 days after the import takes place. It includes information about the fields that were in error for each contact.

  • Duplicate rows: Rows that feature email addresses that have been duplicated on the sheet. These are counted uniquely. For example, if an address is listed 3 times, it will only show as 1 duplicate.
  • Skipped: Contacts on the spreadsheet that did not have an email address populated, which is the unique identifier in the app and why they were skipped.

Other Import Options

When importing a file, you’ll see a couple of options on the file import page, as explained below.

Update Existing Contacts

You can use a file import to bulk update data for existing contacts. For example, to add or replace details such as the person’s role at a company, geographic location, or membership status. If this is your first file import, and there are no existing contacts in your account, it doesn’t matter which option is selected. There are two options for how to handle the data imported:

  • Update their records: Select this option if you want to update existing contact records with data from your file. This option will import new contacts on the list, and it will also overwrite contact field values in your account with any new, or changed data in your file.
  • Leave them alone: Select this option if you just want to add new contacts. Any data associated with an existing contact’s email address will be ignored.

Warning: If you choose “Update their records” and a value is left empty in your imported file, it will overwrite any existing value stored in the contact field. For example, let’s say you update a contact’s record, adding “Chicago” to the contact field for “City”. If you later import a file containing that contact’s email address, and the value for “City” is blank, this will overwrite what was previously recorded in your account.

This method cannot be used to update an existing contact’s email address. Our system uses a contact’s email address as a unique identifier. As a result, it is not possible to update an existing contact’s email address using an import. Even if all other contact data is the same, if the email is different, then it will treat them as a new contact.

Trigger a Workflow

You can also use a file import to trigger automated emails. Read more about the contact import trigger and the field change trigger.