Import contacts from a spreadsheet

EffortSpreadsheetPlanFree

Bring your whole list in at once: store customers, event sign-ups, the list that lived in your old CRM. In a few minutes, everyone is in BIP, with tags and fields ready to segment.

#What you'll get

• Your whole list inside BIP, with no duplicates: anyone who already exists by email or phone is updated.
• Phone numbers in international format, ready for WhatsApp, even if the spreadsheet only has the area code and number.
• A batch tag on every contact (for example trade-show-april-2026), so you can build the segment right away.
• Dates, cities and other data in custom fields, ready for criteria like birthdays and radius.

#How it works

1. 1Upload the spreadsheet and link each column to a BIP field
2. 2Validate: BIP checks name, email and phone row by row
3. 3Import: new contacts are created and existing ones are updated

BIP recognizes each person by email or phone. When a row matches a contact that already exists:

• the name from the spreadsheet takes over;
• new emails and phone numbers are added to the profile;
• tags are added (an import never removes tags);
• filled-in custom fields are updated, and empty cells keep the current value (or clear the field, if you choose that in the mapping);
• an archived contact comes back to the list.

#Step by step

#1. Create the custom fields

Name, email, phone and tags already exist on every contact. For any other data in the spreadsheet (date of birth, city, plan), create the field before importing. That way it shows up in the mapping.

1. In Settings → General, go to Fields and click Add Field.
2. Choose the Field Type: String (text), Number, Boolean, Date, Phone, Location or Array (list).
3. Fill in the Field Name (for example, Date of birth) and click Save.

dash.bip.marketing/…/settings

Screenshot coming soon

#2. Upload the file

1. In Leads, click Import Leads. The importer has four steps: Upload File, Map Columns, Validate Data and Import Leads.
2. Drag the spreadsheet onto the upload area or click Browse Files. BIP accepts CSV, XLS and XLSX up to 200 MB. For XLS and XLSX, it reads the first sheet.
3. Check the Leads Preview: the total number of rows and columns and the file's data, page by page.
4. Click Next Step.

dash.bip.marketing/…/leads/import

Screenshot coming soon

#3. Map the columns

1. BIP suggests the mapping from the header: columns containing "email" or "e-mail" go to Email; "nome", "name" or "usuario" go to Name; "telefone", "phone" or "cel" go to Phone.
2. Under Lead Field, adjust each column: choose Name, Email, Phone or Tags under Standard Fields, or one of the Custom Fields. The Sample Data column shows a real value so you can double-check.
3. Leave anything that shouldn't come in as Skip this column.
4. Decide what to do with empty cells. With Clear fields for blank cells off (the default), an empty cell keeps what the contact already has. With it on, an empty cell in a custom field clears that field on the contact.
5. Click Next Step.

The mapping needs Name plus Email or Phone (or both). Each BIP field takes only one column. In the column linked to Tags, separate multiple tags with commas: customer, vip.

dash.bip.marketing/…/leads/import

Screenshot coming soon

#4. Validate the data

1. Under Default Country Code, choose the country for phone numbers that came without a code: Brazil (+55), Portugal (+351), United States (+1), Spain (+34) or France (+33). With Brazil, 11 91234-5678 becomes +5511912345678. Changing the country reruns the validation instantly.
2. Under Tags, add the batch tags. They go on every contact in the spreadsheet, new or existing.
3. Watch the validation: BIP shows how many records were processed, how many are valid, how many have warnings and how many have errors.
4. If there are problems, check Most Common Issues (with sample rows) and Issues by Column. Fix them in the spreadsheet and upload it again, or continue with the valid rows.

• Error: the row is left out. This happens when the name is missing or when the email and the phone are both invalid.
• Warning: the row goes in. The invalid email or phone is dropped and the contact is imported with the other one.

dash.bip.marketing/…/leads/import

Screenshot coming soon

#5. Confirm and import

1. Click Next Step. The Confirm Import window shows the Total Records, the Valid Records to Import, the records with errors (which will be skipped), the ones with warnings (which will be imported) and the batch tags.
2. Click Import N Record(s).
3. Keep the page open until Import Complete appears. The progress bar shows how many were processed and imported and, if any, how many failed.

dash.bip.marketing/…/leads/import

Screenshot coming soon

#Ready to copy

#Spreadsheet template

Copy, paste into a text editor and save as contacts.csv. First, create the Date of birth (type Date) and City (type Location) fields. Dates are day/month/year.

name,email,phone,tags,date_of_birth,city
Marina Alves,marina.alves@example.com,11 91234-5678,"customer, vip",12/05/1990,"Curitiba, PR"
Tiago Pereira,tiago.pereira@example.com,,customer,03/11/1985,"Porto Alegre, RS"
Sofia Costa,,21 99876-5432,newsletter,27/08/1994,"Niterói, RJ"

#Format for each field type

A value in the wrong format is skipped only for that field; the rest of the row comes in normally. Location is always saved as a city.

#Batch tags

Use a pattern that says where the person came from and when:

import-2026-10
trade-show-april-2026
old-crm
downtown-store-customers

#Batch segment

In Segments, one criterion is enough to reach only the people from this import:

#How to measure

• The Import Leads step closes with the final numbers: processed, imported and, if any, the ones that failed. When it finishes, BIP confirms the total with the message Import completed successfully.
• In Segments, create the batch segment (Tags → Includes any → the batch tag). The live count shows how many contacts have the tag: that's the real size of the list you just brought in.
• If the count is lower than expected, go back to the spreadsheet and check rows with no name or without a valid email or phone. Import again: anyone already in is simply updated.

#Frequently asked questions

#Does importing duplicate people already in BIP?

No. BIP recognizes the contact by email or phone and updates the existing profile: it adds new emails, phone numbers and tags and updates the filled-in fields. You can import the same spreadsheet again without worry.

#Does importing contacts count as a send?

No. Importing, storing and segmenting contacts don't use sends. Only the email or WhatsApp message that goes out to a person counts.

#Why didn't some rows come in?

Every row needs a name with at least 2 characters and a valid email or phone. Rows without them show up as errors in validation or as failures at the end of the import. Fix them in the spreadsheet and import again.

#My spreadsheet came in with garbled accents. What do I do?

Save the file as CSV UTF-8 (in Excel: Save As → CSV UTF-8) or upload the XLSX directly, without converting it. Then run the import again.

#See also

• Getting started with BIP
• Segments: the 10 criteria to filter contacts
• Campaigns: one-time, recurring and API-triggered
• BIP API: keys, contacts, events and triggers