How to import a list of contacts

A contact import adds contacts from a CSV file, or updates contacts you already have. It's the usual way to move contacts over from an existing loyalty program, and a quick way to update an attribute for many contacts at once.

The import has 4 steps: File upload, Data, Marketing and Finalize.

Start the import

Go to Data → Imports.
Click New import and choose Contacts as the import type.

File upload

Upload your CSV file. Above the upload you choose how the columns are read:

Automatically set data types (Recommended): we try to match each column with the right data type.
Set all data types to text: every column is read as text. Pick this when a column holds numbers that must stay exactly as written, such as phone numbers or card numbers with a leading zero.

Click Next step.

Data

For each column in your file, click Assign and choose the attribute it fills in. Contacts are matched on email address: a row with an email that's already in your account updates that contact, and any other row creates a new one.

For each column you also choose a Write mode. It decides what happens to a contact you already have:

Skip if empty (the default): only updates the value if the file gives a new one. An empty cell keeps the value the contact already has.
Always overwrite: always writes the value from the file, even when the cell is empty. An empty cell clears the contact's value.
Append: adds the value to what the contact already has. Only offered for multi-select attributes. Use the attribute's internal values and separate them with a semicolon.

Click Next step.

Marketing

Choose whether new contacts are imported as subscribed to your marketing subscriptions. This only applies to contacts the import creates: contacts you already have keep their subscriptions, including contacts who unsubscribed. Importing the same file again with this switched on doesn't change that.

To subscribe contacts you already have, use a Marketing import with Subscribe contacts instead, and only for contacts who agreed to receive your marketing. See Subscribing many contacts to marketing at once, and when you shouldn't.

Click Next step.

Finalize

Check the summary of your file, then set:

Import name: so you can find the import later.
Date notation: how dates in your file are written, so they're read correctly.
Receive a notification when import is completed: switch this on to get an email when it's done.

Click Import.

Importing on the free plan

The free plan has a limit on the number of contacts in your account. When you reach the Finalize step, we check the email addresses in your file against it. If the file holds more new contacts than your plan has room for, you see the warning This import goes over your contact limit, with the number of contacts left on your plan and the number of new contacts in the file. Email addresses that are already a contact in your account don't count, and neither do invalid ones.

The warning doesn't stop you from importing. Click Discover all plans to upgrade first, or click Import to import as many contacts as fit.

When an import reaches the limit, it stops at the first row that would create a contact past it, and the rest of the file isn't handled. After you upgrade your plan, open the import and click Resume import. Rows that were imported successfully are skipped, and rows that failed or were never handled are imported again.

After you click Import

The import runs in the background, and you land on its page where you can follow its progress. Rows that couldn't be imported are listed there too, with the reason.

Want to email the contacts you just imported? Make a contact list from the import: see Creating a contact list.