Objective

Provides guidance on importing contacts into Business Marketing Messaging, including file formatting, field mapping (standard and custom), and completing the import with appropriate list and subscription settings.
 

Symptoms

• How to import a contact
   

Eligibility

• Access to the Business Marketing Messaging web portal
• A contact file in .csv, .xls, or .xlsx format

  NOTE: Recommended format is CSV UTF-8 (comma-delimited)

   
• Confirmed consent/compliance for all contacts you are importing
   

Procedure

1. Prepare your contact file
   1. Save your contact list as a .csv, .xls, or .xlsx.

      NOTE: Recommended format is CSV UTF-8 (comma-delimited)

       
   2. Format the phone numbers correctly.
      • If you do not include an international prefix, numbers are treated as matching your account’s preset location.
      • If importing numbers from other countries, include the correct international prefix.
      • For local numbers, the leading zero may be omitted—both formats can be accepted

        EXAMPLE: 412345678 and 0412345678

         
   3. [OPTIONAL] Include extra columns (e.g., location, appointment time, customer type) if you plan to map them to the custom fields.
      
      
2. Open the Import tool

   Start from All Contacts

   In the left menu, go to Contacts, then select All Contacts.
   Click Import

   

    

    

   Start from Lists

   In the left menu, go to Contacts, then select Lists.
   Click Import

   

    

    
3. Choose Import contacts from file. 

   TIP: You will typically see two options: Import contacts from a file and Sync contacts (only applicable if your account is connected to an integration such as HubSpot or Shopify)

   

4. Upload your file by clicking Choose file or by dragging and dropping it into the upload area.
   
   
5. Map columns to contact fields (and create custom fields if needed)
   1. Match each column from your file to the appropriate contact field.
      
      
   2. Expand rows (if available) to preview sample data and confirm mapping accuracy.
   3. If you need a field that is not listed, click + Add custom field and enter the following:
      • Field name
      • Field type
      • Character limit
        
        
        
6. Finalize import settings
   

   TIP: This is optional, but under Add to lists, choose one or more pre-existing lists to add all imported contacts to (optional).

    
   1. Choose what you want to do with the imported rows:
      • Add/update contacts, or
      • Unsubscribe contacts (useful when importing a suppression list from another system)
        

        TIP: This is optional, but if your file includes list names, select the column that contains them. 

        If a list does not exist, it will be created.

         
   2. Check the consent/compliance confirmation box, then click Import.
      
      
7. After the import is completed, review the results summary. You can download files that show which contacts succeeded and which failed.
   
   
   

   TIP: To review previous imports, go to Contacts, then History.

    

Escalation Information

Change Log