Maintaining accurate and up-to-date contact information is crucial for effective communication and successful campaigns. By updating your contacts' information in Brevo, you can ensure that your messages are reaching the right people, with the right information. 

There are two ways you can update multiple contacts at once:

• Update multiple contacts with an import: Import a file with updated information about multiple contacts at once.
• Edit a single attribute for multiple contacts: Edit a contact attribute with the same value for multiple contacts at once.

Additionally, you can allow your contacts to update their own information by using an Update Profile form. To learn more, check our dedicated article Update your contacts details and preferences (Update Profile form).

Update multiple contacts with an import

To update multiple contacts at once with an import, you need to export your existing contacts and update the file with your new information. Then, you need to re-import the file as you'd do to import new contacts.

📤 Step 1: Export your existing contacts

To update your existing contacts, we recommend you export them directly from Brevo:

1. Go to Contacts.
2. Optional: Segment your contacts. For example, you can export contacts for whom the attribute "WhatsApp" is empty. To learn more about creating a segment, check our dedicated article Create a segment to filter your contacts.
   
3. Select the contacts that you want to export:
   
   
   1. To select multiple individual contacts, select the checkboxes next to the contacts.
   2. To select all of the contacts on your current page, select the checkbox at the top left of the table.
   3. To select all the contacts on your current list or database, select the checkbox at the top left of the table and click Select all contacts.
4. Click More actions > Export.
   
5. Select the attributes that you want to export. 
   
   ❗️ Important

   Make sure you include at least one unique identifier for each contact. The EMAIL attribute is selected by default, but you can also select the Contact ID (generated by Brevo), SMS, WhatsApp, Landline number, or external ID to identify your contacts. If you don't include one, your contacts will be re-imported as new contacts, resulting in duplicates in your database.
6. Select the field separator to use in your file.
7. Click Export.
   
8. Once available, download your export file from your Notifications.

🔁 Step 2: Update the file

Once you've exported your contacts, you can update their information in the file. Make sure you keep the right file structure and attribute format as explained in our article about formatting your contact import file.

Example of an original export file	Example of an updated export file

📥 Step 3: Re-import your contacts

Once you have updated and saved your file, you can re-import it into Brevo. To learn how to re-import your contacts, check our dedicated article Import your contacts to Brevo. Then, at the Finalize your import step, you need to specify that you want to update your existing contacts with the new information according to the following instructions:

1. In the Contacts management section, configure the import settings:
   
   
   • Keep the Update the attributes of the existing contacts option toggled to update your existing contacts with the new information from your file.
   • If you deleted some information from your file and want to delete it from your database, toggle the Import empty fields to erase existing attribute data option. If you don't want to delete any information, keep the option untoggled.
   • If you want to blocklist your contacts, toggle the relevant blocklist options.

Step 4: View your import report

Once your import is completed, a banner that summarizes the details of your import will be displayed, and you will receive an email notification. To view your import report, click See import report in the banner or click the bell icon 🔔 next to the account dropdown and click the link in your last notification.

From there, you can find:

1. The import date and source.
2. The number of imported contacts, including new contacts, updated contacts, and unchanged contacts.
3. Optional: Error messages if you import a contact ID that does not exist or an email address in the wrong format. You can download the table with the error messages to easily correct your data before re-importing it.
4. Optional: Information about the blocklisted contacts.
5. Information about the list(s) the contacts were added to.

Edit a single attribute for multiple contacts

You can edit the same attribute for multiple contacts at once directly from the Contacts page. For example, this can be useful if multiple contacts register for an event on the same date and you want to store this date in a custom attribute you've created.

1. Go to Contacts.
2. Optional: Segment your contacts. For example, you can segment the contacts for whom the custom attribute "EVENT_DATE" does not have any value. To learn more about creating a segment, check our dedicated article Create a segment to filter your contacts.
   
3. Select the contacts you want to update:
   
   
   1. To select multiple individual contacts, select the checkboxes next to the contacts.
   2. To select all of the contacts on your current page, select the checkbox at the top left of the table.
   3. To select all the contacts on your current list or database, select the checkbox at the top left of the table and click Select all contacts.
4. Click More actions > Edit.
   
5. Select the attribute you want to update.
6. Enter the new value. This value will be applied to all the contacts you selected.
7. Click Update to confirm.
   

The attribute has been updated for the selected contacts.

⏭️ What's next?

• Import options for importing your contacts to Brevo
• Format your contact import file
• Importing blank contact attributes
• Update your contacts details and preferences (Update Profile form)

🤔 Have a question?

If you have a question, feel free to contact our support team by creating a ticket from your account. If you don't have an account yet, you can contact us here.

If you’re looking for help with a project using Brevo, we can match you with the right certified Brevo expert partner.