Your contact list is the heart of your email marketing. Importing it carefully, with clean columns and a clear record of how people agreed to hear from you, saves time later and keeps your sending reputation healthy.
Prepare your file
BumbleBlast imports CSV files. Excel, Numbers and Google Sheets can all save a sheet as CSV (look for “Download” or “Save as” and choose CSV).
- The first row must be column headings, such as Email, First name, Last name, Company, Phone, City.
- One column must hold email addresses. Every other column is optional.
- One person per row. If someone appears twice, the first row is used and the duplicate is skipped and listed for you.
- Up to 10 MB or 50,000 rows per file. Split a bigger list into several files.
Coming from another email tool? Most tools, including Mailchimp, can export your audience as a CSV file. Export only the people who are still subscribed there, or remove anyone who unsubscribed before you import. You’re responsible for honouring opt-outs that happened elsewhere.
Upload and match columns
- Go to Contacts → Import and choose your file, then Upload and continue.
- Under Which column is which?, match each column in your file to a BumbleBlast field. A preview of the first rows helps you check you’ve got it right. Columns you don’t need can be ignored.
- Optionally, add everyone to one or more lists, for example “Newsletter” or “Open house sign-ins”, so they’re easy to send to later.
- Decide whether to update existing contacts with values from this file. If you do, new values replace old ones, but an empty cell never erases what you already have.
Record how people agreed
Before importing, you choose how the people in the file agreed to receive email from you. BumbleBlast stores this with every contact, so you can show it later if you’re ever asked.
- Express consent: they opted in, for example through a signup form or by ticking a box.
- Implied: existing customer: a purchase or contract with you in the last two years.
- Implied: inquiry: they asked you about your products or services in the last six months.
- Implied: conspicuously published: their address is publicly listed without a “no marketing email” note, and your message is relevant to their role.
Add a short note in Details, such as “newsletter signups from our website, 2024–2026”. Finally, confirm that everyone in the file agreed to receive email from you and that the list wasn’t bought or scraped. If a file mixes people who agreed in different ways, split it and import each part with the right consent.
Implied consent under Canada’s anti-spam law doesn’t last forever. Ask those contacts for express consent before it runs out. Our consent guide explains the rules.
What happens to each row
- New email address: a new contact is created, with the consent you recorded.
- Address already in BumbleBlast: the contact is kept, and updated only if you chose to update existing contacts.
- Someone who unsubscribed or is suppressed: they stay unsubscribed. An import never re-subscribes them.
- Missing or invalid email: the row is skipped and listed so you can fix it.
When the import finishes, you’ll see how many contacts were added, updated and skipped. Every import is also listed under Recent imports.
Tips for a clean import
- Try a small file first. Import ten rows, check the result, then import the rest.
- Tidy names and capitalisation before importing, so personalised greetings look right.
- Tag as you go. After importing, sort your contacts by Newest first, tick the new ones and use Add tag to label them by source or interest, such as “Open house” or “Buyer”.
- Never import a bought or scraped list. It’s against our rules and anti-spam laws, and it’s the fastest way to land in spam folders.