When importing your contacts to Brevo, certain data, such as email addresses and phone numbers, need to be in a specific format to be imported correctly. Therefore, before importing your contacts, we recommend following this article to properly set up the file that contains your contacts' information.

📂 File requirements

• There is no limit on the number of contacts you can import at once. However, your file should not exceed 250MB. If your file exceeds this limit, split it into smaller files that you will import separately.
• Include only one sheet in your file.
• Save your file in one of the following formats and make sure the separator is either a semicolon, a comma, or a tab:

• Save your file with UTF-8 or Windows-1252 encoding. These types of file encoding allow for reading the content of your file when it contains special characters.

🛠️ Create your file

In this article, for illustration purposes, we will create a .CSV file from scratch to import contacts with default and custom attributes for a yoga instructor. You can easily adapt this use case to your needs by following the requirements and guidelines provided in this article.

Step 1: Set up your file with contact attributes

1. Open your spreadsheet program (Excel, Google Sheets) to create a new file. You have 3 options to get started:
   • You can download our sample .CSV file.
   • You can export the contacts you already have in Brevo (Export your contacts from Brevo) or in another app.
   • You can start from scratch.
2. In the header row of your file, add the information you want to import about your contacts. Each cell represents a piece of information that will be mapped to a Brevo contact attribute and imported.
   In our example, we added default attributes like EMAIL or FIRSTNAME, but also included custom attributes about the yoga classes (FIRST_CLASS, LEVEL, FREE_TRIAL). 
   
   Use the tabs below to understand more about all the available contact attributes ⬇️
   
   Default contact attributes Custom contact attributes

   By default, some contact attributes are automatically created by Brevo. They require a specific format to be imported correctly:

   🆔 CONTACT_ID

   The CONTACT_ID attribute is automatically created by Brevo when you import your contacts. It is a fixed number that cannot be changed. You can only retrieve the contact ID of your contacts by exporting them from Brevo. We recommend including the CONTACT_ID attribute in your file only if you want to update your existing contacts through an import.

   

   👤 FIRSTNAME/ LASTNAME

   To import the first name and last name of your contacts, use the FIRSTNAME and LASTNAME contact attributes.

   

   ✉️ EMAIL

   To import the email address of your contacts, use the EMAIL contact attribute.

   

   📱 SMS / WHATSAPP / LANDLINE_NUMBER

   💡 Good to know

   Contacts can have the same phone number for SMS, WhatsApp, and Phone. Separate blocklists are used when a contact unsubscribes from SMS, WhatsApp, or Phone.

   To import the phone number of a contact, use the following default contact attributes as your column headers:

   • SMS for the phone number used for SMS messages.
   • WHATSAPP for the phone number used for WhatsApp messages.
   • LANDLINE_NUMBER for the phone number used for calls through the Phone app.

   Always include the + sign and the country code at the beginning of the phone number, and do not separate the digits by any special character. 

   

   You can create custom contact attributes in Brevo to fit your needs. They require a specific format to be imported correctly, which is based on the attribute type:

   🔠 TEXT

   Text-type attributes store a string of alphanumeric characters, such as a word, a phrase, or a sentence. You can use a text type attribute to import additional data about your contacts. When imported, text type attributes have no limit of characters.

   

   🔢 NUMBER

   Number-type attributes store a string of numerals or numbers written in decimal format. You can use a number type attribute to import numbers or currency values to your contacts.

   

   🔢 DATE

   Date-type attributes are used to store a date value. Keep the format of the value under this attribute similar to the format selected under your account settings (DD-MM-YYYY or MM-DD-YYYY).

   

   💡 Good to know

   Hyphens - and slashes / are interchangeable. For example, 13-03-2022 and 13/03/2022 are considered the same.

   🗂️ CATEGORY

   Category-type attributes store a set of possible values. For instance, you can create a contact attribute named LEVEL and define the possible values as BEGINNER, INTERMEDIATE, and EXPERT. The attribute of each contact will then only contain one value among those three.

   

   💡 Good to know

   You also have the option to include the ID number of the value, instead of the value itself. You can view the ID number of a value by clicking the cog icon ⚙️ next to the desired contact attribute on the Contact Attributes page.

   ✖️ MULTIPLE-CHOICE

   Multi-choice-type attributes store a set of possible values. For instance, you can create a contact attribute named SPORTS and define the possible values as BASEBALL, FOOTBALL, and YOGA. The attribute of each contact will then contain one or more values among those three.

   Multiple-choice-type contact attributes should follow the format: ['Option1'|'Option2'|'Option3'].

   

   💡 Good to know

   You also have the option to include the ID number of the value, instead of the value itself. You can view the ID number of a value by clicking the cog icon ⚙️ next to the desired contact attribute on the Contact Attributes page.

   👍👎 BOOLEAN

   Boolean-type attributes can only store Yes or No as a value. 

   

When you import your file in Brevo, you will be able to directly create new attributes. You don't necessarily need to create them beforehand.

Step 2: Add your contacts' information to the file

You can now fill up the file with your contacts' information:

• You can copy the data from another program or an exported file, or
• You can type it directly into the file.

Make sure that each column contains information that corresponds to the attribute in the header row of your file and that each row contains information about a single contact:

Step 3: Verify the format of your data

Now that your file contains all the data you want to import, take some time to ensure that it is correctly formatted. Incorrectly formatted data can result in incorrect information being imported or information not being imported at all.

For instance, here are some things we recommend you check:

• The email address of your contacts: ensure that the email addresses in your file are valid and that they aren't missing any part.
  In our wrong example below, the email address is missing the domain suffix:
  

  ❌

  rose@example

  ✅

  rose@example.com

• The phone number of your contacts: ensure that the phone numbers in your file include the + sign and the country code and that the digits are not separated by any special character.
  In our wrong example below, the phone number is missing the + sign and the country code, and the digits are separated by special characters:
  

  ❌

  (337) 456-9342

  ✅

  +13374569342

• The multiple-choice-type contact attributes: ensure that the multiple-choice-type contact attributes in your file follow the format: ['Option1'|'Option2'|'Option3'].
  In our wrong example below, the options are separated by a comma instead of a vertical bar, and each option is missing the single quotation marks.
  

  ❌

  [Baseball,Volleyball,Dance]

  ✅

  ['Baseball'|'Volleyball'|'Dance']

Step 4: Save your file

Once you have completed and properly formatted your file, save it in either .CSV, .XLSX, or .TXT format using UTF-8 or Windows-1252 encoding.

Use the accordions below to learn how to encode a file in UTF-8 using various spreadsheet editors ⬇️

Step 5: Import your file into Brevo

It's now time to import your contacts' details into Brevo! You'll find all the details in our dedicated article Import your contacts to Brevo.

❓ FAQs

⏭️ What's next?

• Import your contacts to Brevo
• Why can't I import my contacts?

🤔 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.

• CSV_sample.csv342 Bytes