Import Contacts from a Spreadsheet
Import Contacts from a Spreadsheet
Purpose: This article walks you through importing contacts into Sure Send from a CSV file — including preparing your file, mapping columns to fields, configuring import settings, and understanding how duplicates are handled.
Note: This article covers the Import Contacts feature for adding contacts to your CRM database. If you're uploading a list for email marketing, see the newsletter list import under Newsletters → Lists — that's a separate feature with a different field set.
Before You Begin
To import contacts, you'll need:
- Admin or Owner access to your Sure Send account
- A CSV file (.csv format only) with a header row
- An Email Address column in your file — this is the only required field
Important: Import Contacts is an admin and owner function only. Member users do not see this option in their settings and cannot run imports themselves. If an agent on your team has a spreadsheet they need imported, an admin or owner will need to handle it on their behalf. When running the import, you can use the "Assigned To" column to map each contact to the correct agent automatically — so they'll land on the right person's desk even though you're running the import centrally.
Tip: If you're exporting from another CRM like HubSpot, Follow Up Boss, or Sierra Interactive, most platforms let you export contacts as a CSV. Use that export directly — Sure Send's auto-mapping will recognize common column header names.
Other Ways to Get Contacts Into Sure Send
If CSV import isn't the right fit — or if your agents need to add contacts on their own — here are the other options:
| Method | Who Can Do It | How It Works |
|---|---|---|
| Add New Lead (manual entry) | All users (including agents) | Click the Add New Lead button in the top navigation to create contacts one at a time |
| Email Parsing | All users (including agents) | Forward emails to your team's lead email address (found on your Profile page) to automatically create contacts |
| Integrations (Sierra, FUB, Lofty, etc.) | Admin/Owner only | Connect a third-party CRM under Settings → Integrations to sync contacts continuously |
| Forms | Admin/Owner only | Build lead capture forms under Settings → Forms and embed on websites or share as links |
| API Tokens | All users (own scope); Admin/Owner (team scope) | Create API tokens under Settings → API Tokens for custom integrations or Zapier |
| Pixel Tracking | Admin/Owner only | Install tracking code on your website under Settings → Pixel Tracking |
Tip: For agents who need to bring in their own contacts, the two options they can use without admin help are Add New Lead (one at a time) and Email Parsing (forwarding emails to the team's lead address).
Preparing Your CSV File
Your CSV file should have column headers in the first row. Sure Send supports up to 36 built-in fields plus all of your team's custom fields.
Required: Your file must include an email address column. Rows without a valid email address will be skipped.
Formatting tips:
- Phone numbers should include area codes (at least 10 digits)
- Tags should be comma-separated within a single cell if you're including multiple tags per contact (e.g., "Buyer, Referral, VIP")
- Dates should be in a standard format (e.g., 2025-01-15 or 01/15/2025)
- If your spreadsheet has a "Full Name" column, Sure Send will automatically split it into first and last name
Available Fields
Sure Send can map your CSV columns to any of the following fields:
Contact Information
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Email Address | Used to match existing contacts. |
| Email 2 | Secondary email address |
| Full Name | Automatically splits into first and last name |
| First Name | |
| Last Name | |
| Phone (Primary) | Include area code |
| Phone Type | mobile, home, or work |
| Phone 2 | Second phone number |
| Phone 2 Type | mobile, home, or work |
| Phone 3 | Third phone number |
| Phone 3 Type | mobile, home, or work |
Address Fields
Sure Send supports up to three addresses per contact:
| Field | Address 1 | Address 2 | Address 3 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Street | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Line 2 (Apt/Suite) | ✅ | — | — |
| City | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| State | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Zip | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
| Country | ✅ | ✅ | ✅ |
CRM Fields
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Stage | Matches by stage name. Must match an existing stage in your account. |
| Assigned To | Matches by the user's email address in Sure Send |
| Lead Source | Sets the lead source for each contact |
| Company Name | Links the contact to a company (creates the company if it doesn't exist) |
Timestamps
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Created Date | Preserves the original created date from your previous CRM |
| Last Activity Date | |
| Last Contacted Date |
Other
| Field | Notes |
|---|---|
| Notes | Creates a note on the contact record |
| Tags | Comma-separated. Tags are created automatically if they don't already exist. |
Custom Fields
Every custom field your team has created in Sure Send also appears as a mapping option. Custom fields show under the Custom Fields group in the mapping dropdown. All custom field types are supported (text, number, date, dropdown, multi-select).
Tip: If you're importing data that includes fields unique to your business — like "Loan Type," "Preferred Area," or "Birthday" — create those as custom fields in Sure Send first, then they'll appear as mapping options during import.
How to Import
Step 1: Upload Your File
- Click Settings in the left navigation
- Under Lead Capture, click Import Contacts
- Drag and drop your CSV file into the upload area, or click to browse and select it
- Wait for the file to upload and process — you'll see a progress bar
Note: Files can be up to 250MB. Only
.csvfiles are accepted. If your data is in Excel format (.xlsx), save it as CSV first.
Step 2: Map Your Columns
After upload, you'll see a mapping screen showing each column from your CSV alongside a dropdown to select the matching Sure Send field.
- Sure Send auto-maps columns based on common header names. For example, a column named "First Name" or "fname" will automatically map to the First Name field.
- Review each mapping and adjust any that weren't matched correctly
- Use -- Skip Column -- for any columns you don't want to import
- Fields are organized into groups (Contact, Name, Phone, Address, CRM, Timestamps, Custom Fields, Other) to make them easier to find
- The email field is highlighted as required — make sure it's mapped
Step 3: Review and Configure
Before starting the import, you'll see a review screen with configuration options:
- Source Label — defaults to "CSV Import." You can change this to something specific (e.g., "HubSpot Migration Jan 2026" or "Open House Attendees")
- Assignment — optionally assign all imported contacts to a specific user, pond, or group
- Default Stage — optionally set a default stage for new contacts
- Preview — shows the first 5 rows of your file with the mapped fields so you can verify everything looks correct
Tip: The Source Label and Assignment settings apply to the entire import. If your CSV has an "Assigned To" or "Stage" column mapped, those per-row values will take priority over the defaults you set here.
Step 4: Processing
Click to start the import. You'll see real-time progress showing:
- Total records processed
- Records added (new contacts)
- Records updated (existing contacts matched by email)
- Records failed (skipped due to errors)
The import runs in the background — you can navigate away and come back to check progress.
How Duplicates Are Handled
Sure Send matches existing contacts by email address (case-insensitive). When a match is found, the import merges new data without overwriting existing data:
| Field | What Happens on Duplicate |
|---|---|
| Name | Fills in first/last name only if currently blank |
| Email 2 | Adds if it's a new email address |
| Phones | Adds phone numbers that don't already exist on the record |
| Addresses | Adds a primary address only if the contact doesn't have one |
| Notes | Always creates a new note |
| Tags | Adds any tags that aren't already on the contact |
| Company | Links to a company only if the contact isn't linked to one |
| Stage | Not changed on existing contacts |
| Assignment | Not changed on existing contacts |
| Lead Source | Not changed on existing contacts |
| Custom Fields | Updates values (overwrites existing custom field values) |
Important: There's no option to skip duplicates or overwrite all fields. The import always merges — it fills in gaps and adds new data without replacing what's already there. The exceptions are custom fields, which do get updated to the new values.
After the Import
- Imported contacts appear in All People — there's no separate import view
- Contacts are not automatically tagged as imports unless you mapped a Tags column that includes an import tag
- Automations are not triggered by imported contacts — this is by design to prevent bulk imports from firing hundreds of automated emails or texts
- Engagement scores are not calculated during import
- Sure Send reindexes your contact database after the import completes, so new contacts will appear in Smart Lists and search results shortly after
Tip: If you want to easily identify imported contacts later, add a tag like "HubSpot Import" or "Jan 2026 Migration" to a Tags column in your CSV before importing.
Error Handling
If any rows fail during import, you'll see the error count on the processing screen. After the import completes, you can expand the error details to see which rows failed and why.
Common errors:
| Error | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Missing email address | Row has no email value | Add email addresses to your CSV and re-import the missing rows |
| Invalid email format | Email doesn't follow standard format (e.g., missing @ or domain) | Fix the email address in your CSV |
| Invalid phone number | Phone number is too short or contains invalid characters | Ensure phone numbers include area codes (10+ digits) |
| Invalid date | Date field has an unrecognizable format | Use a standard format like YYYY-MM-DD or MM/DD/YYYY |
Sure Send logs the first 100 errors. If your file has more than 100 errors, the summary will indicate how many total errors occurred.
Tip: Rows that fail are simply skipped — they don't stop the rest of the import. You can fix the failed rows in your CSV and re-import just those rows. Since matching is by email, contacts that already imported successfully will just be updated (merged), not duplicated.
Import Contacts vs. Newsletter List Import
Sure Send has two separate CSV upload features. Here's the difference:
| Import Contacts | Newsletter List Import | |
|---|---|---|
| Location | Settings → Lead Capture → Import Contacts | Newsletters → Lists → [List] → Import |
| Purpose | Add contacts to your CRM database | Build an audience for email marketing |
| Who can access | Admin/Owner only | Admin/Owner only |
| Available fields | 36+ built-in fields plus custom fields | 11 basic fields (name, email, phone, address) |
| Tags, notes, stage | ✅ | ❌ |
| Assigned To | ✅ | ❌ |
| Custom fields | ✅ | ❌ |
| Max file size | 250MB | 10MB |
| Auto-mapping | Smart pattern matching | Basic |
Use Import Contacts when you're migrating a database or adding contacts to your CRM. Use the Newsletter List Import when you're uploading a one-time audience for a specific email campaign (like event attendees or a purchased list).
Troubleshooting
My import is stuck or taking a long time
Large imports (thousands of contacts) can take several minutes to hours. The progress indicator updates every few seconds. If it appears stuck, navigate away and come back — the import continues in the background.
I uploaded the wrong file
If you haven't started processing yet, you can go back and re-upload. If the import has already started, let it complete and then delete any unwanted contacts manually or with a bulk action.
My columns didn't auto-map correctly
Auto-mapping uses pattern matching on your column headers. If your headers are non-standard (e.g., "Cell #" instead of "Phone"), you'll need to manually select the correct field from the dropdown for that column.
I don't see my custom fields in the mapping dropdown
Custom fields must be created in Sure Send before they appear as mapping options. Go to Settings → Custom Fields & Data → Custom Fields, create your fields, then restart the import.
Some contacts weren't assigned to the right user
If you mapped the "Assigned To" column, make sure the values in your CSV are the email addresses of your Sure Send users — not their names. Assignment matches by email address.
Stages aren't being set on existing contacts
By design, the import does not change the stage on contacts that already exist in Sure Send. Stages are only set on newly created contacts. If you need to bulk-update stages on existing contacts, use a Smart List and bulk edit instead.
What's Next
[Tags: Setup & Use →]