Importing contacts

Import contacts

Use this article to import existing contacts into Zeffy, including names, email addresses, phone numbers, addresses, preferred language, notes, tags, and company names.

If you want a walkthrough before importing, watch the video below.

Start a contact import

  1. Log in to your Zeffy account and go to Contacts.

  2. In the top right, click Add contact.

  3. Select Import contacts.

Add contact menu with Import contacts option

The contact import limit is 10,000 records per file. If you need to import more, split your spreadsheet into multiple files first.

Choose how to import contacts

When you select Import a file, you can either upload a file or manually enter data in Zeffy's workbook.

Import options for upload file or manually enter data

Import contacts with a file upload

If you already have your contacts in a spreadsheet, use the upload option.

Start from the contact import template if you need the correct structure.

  1. Select Upload file.

  2. Choose your .xlsx file from your device.

  3. Wait for the Job completed status and upload success message.

  4. Review the mapping between your spreadsheet columns and the destination fields in Zeffy.

  5. Click Continue.

  6. Review the final mapped workbook, then click Submit.

  7. After the import finishes, you are redirected to Contacts and a confirmation message appears.

Imported contacts are automatically tagged using the format Import [month/day/year] so you can find that batch again later.

Available fields for mapping

Zeffy supports the following contact fields during import.

  • First Name

  • Last Name

  • Email

  • Language with supported values EN, FR, or ES

  • Address

  • City

  • Region

  • Postal Code

  • Country with supported values CA or US

  • Phone

  • Note

  • Tags

  • Company name

Custom fields are not available on contact pages. Only import data that matches Zeffy's available fields.

Prepare your spreadsheet correctly

Keep first names and last names in separate columns. Zeffy cannot split combined name data after upload.

Email is the primary identifier for a contact in Zeffy. Add one email address per contact whenever possible.

If the same person uses more than one email address, importing both can create duplicate contacts. If needed, add an alternate email in the Note field instead.

The Note field is an open text field for contact-specific comments.

Tags help you segment contacts later and create mailing lists. Every imported contact also receives an import-date tag automatically.

Manually enter contact data

If you do not want to upload a spreadsheet, choose Manually enter data to work directly in Zeffy's embedded workbook.

All workbook fields are optional.

While email is not required, it is still the primary contact identifier in Zeffy. If you import a contact without an email and that person later completes a Zeffy transaction with an email address, Zeffy can create a duplicate contact record.

The workbook highlights formatting errors in red.

  1. Enter the contact data in the workbook.

  2. Review any highlighted errors.

  3. Click Submit in the top right.

Submit button in the manual contact import workbook

After the import finishes, you are redirected to Contacts and a green success message appears.

Paste email addresses into Zeffy

If you only need to import email addresses, use the paste option.

This method only imports email addresses. Other contact details must be added later on each contact profile if needed.

What to do next

After your contacts are imported, organize them with Create lists and segments or send an email with Send emails to contacts.

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