Importing your contacts into SendinBlue

SendinBlue enables you to send email campaigns, SMS campaigns, and marketing automation messages to your contacts. To do this, you first need to import your contacts into SendinBlue.

Import your contact's email address(s) as a minimum. However, you may import as many additional data fields (we call them contact attributes) as desired, such as first name, last name, birthday, mobile phone number, etc. 

Good to know: You may define your contact attributes before uploading your contact list or during the import process. You may set up additional contact attributes anytime.  

Import methods

There are several ways to import your contacts into SendinBlue. Go to the Contacts page and click on the Import contacts button to see all the options.

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On the next page, choose to add contacts by uploading a file or by copying and pasting them from a spreadsheet.

To grow your audience and automatically add new contacts to your SendinBlue account, you can:

  • create and promote a Landing Page with a built-in subscription form, or
  • create a subscription Form to embed on your website

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1. Importing contacts from a CSV or TXT file

Most SendinBlue users prefer this import method. You may import your contact list formatted as a CSV or TXT file.

Most website CMS (Prestashop, WordPress, etc.) and CRM solutions (Pipedrive, SalesForce, etc.), allow you to download your contact list as a CSV file. Typically, you may import this file directly into SendinBlue. Or, you may download our sample import file, add your contacts to the sample, and import this file. 

To learn more about setting up a contact import file: 

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2. Adding contacts manually

You may add contacts manually. This method allows you to add new contacts one by one. For a large import, we suggest you use the import or copy/paste methods.

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3. Copying and pasting contacts

To import contacts using the copy/paste method, copy and paste them directly into the empty field in SendinBlue. (You can add up to 500 contacts without importing them from a CSV or TXT file.)  

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Add each new contact on a new line and place a separator between each piece of information about your contact. 

Each contact and its attributes must be separated by either a comma ,, semicolon ;, or tab        as shown in the example below.

EMAIL SURNAME NAME SMS
john@example.com Smith John 33123456789
harry@example.com Pierce Harry 33111222222
howard@example.com Paige Howard 33777888898

Good to know: You may include a header row to specify the name of each contact attribute in the import but this is not required.   

Importing contacts

To import contacts, select one of the methods mentioned above. In our example, we've chosen to import contacts using a CSV file. To do this, go to the Contacts page.

1. Upload your file 

Click on the Import contacts button.

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Then, click on the desired method. Here we have chosen to import a file.

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Click on Select your file and select the desired CSV file, or drag and drop your file within the outlined area.

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Next, you will see a preview of the contacts and attribute data to be imported from your file. The column headers shown in the preview are the same as the headers in your import file. 

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If the contacts and attributes are separated correctly, click Confirm your file to move to the next step. 

2. Mapping data 

In this step, you will indicate how SendinBlue should match the data from your file to your SendinBlue contact list. If you have already defined your contact attributes in your SendinBlue settings, we will attempt to correctly match the data from your file to an existing contact attribute. 

To match the data to a different contact attribute or mark the data as "do not import", click in the Contact attribute drop-down menu and choose your preferred option. 

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You may also choose to Add a new attribute to define a new contact attribute. 

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3. Select a list

Now, choose the list(s) to which your new contacts will be added. You may select one or multiple existing lists, or create a new list. 

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Finalize your import 

Before importing your contacts, you will be asked to confirm several important settings. 

Default settings 

  • If any contacts in your import already exist in your SendinBlue contact list, their attributes will be updated to reflect the current import. 
  • Your email contacts will not be blacklisted. 
  • Your SMS contacts will not be blacklisted. 

Click on the toggle next to each option to choose the opposite of the default setting. 

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Opt-in agreement

SendinBlue may only be used to send emails or SMS messages to contacts who have officially agreed (opted in) to receive your messages. Please review our opt-in guidelines to ensure you are only importing opt-in contacts and then check the box.

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Click Confirm your import to begin your import. 

You will be redirected back to your Contacts page.Large imports may take a few moments to fully process. 

Once completed, a banner will summarize the details of your import, including the number of added contacts, number of duplicates, number of invalid email addresses, etc. You will also receive an email notification confirming this summary. 

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What's next? 

 

 

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