Import contacts from a CSV

If your list sits in a spreadsheet, in Mailchimp, in Kit or in Kajabi, you move it in with one file. It takes a minute, and you don’t map any fields — Idun Blue reads the column headers itself.

The columns that count

Only one column is required:

Column	Required	What it does
email	Yes	The key. Rows without a valid address are skipped.
name	No	Full name.
first_name + last_name	No	Used when name is missing — they’re joined into one name.
tags	No	Several tags in one cell, separated by comma or semicolon.

Header names are read case-insensitively, and first name / firstname work as well as first_name. If you export from Kajabi, the subscription-status column is recognised too — anyone who opted out of email stays unsubscribed.

The file can be up to 10 MB and 10,000 rows. More than that, split it up.

Semicolon or comma?

Both work. Excel in many European locales saves with semicolons; Idun Blue looks at the header row and works out which one you used.

Example

email,name,tags
[email protected],Anna Svensson,"vip, yoga"
[email protected],Erik Johansson,lead
[email protected],Maria Nilsson,

Save it as UTF-8. If you don’t, accented letters turn into question marks. In Excel the format is called “CSV UTF-8”.

Run the import

1. Go to People.
2. Click + Import CSV at the top right.
3. Drag the file in, or click to pick it.
4. You’ll see the first rows and three badges: email, name, tags. Green means the column was found. If email is missing, Idun Blue tells you straight away — your header row isn’t right.
5. Add an extra tag if you want. Everyone in this file gets it on top of their own tags. import-2026-07 or from-mailchimp will make you happy in three months.
6. Click Import.

What happens to duplicates

The email address is the key. If it already exists, no new contact is created — the existing one is updated:

• The name is overwritten if your file has a name on that row.
• Tags are merged. Old tags aren’t lost.
• Subscription status only moves one way. An import can unsubscribe someone, but never re-subscribe someone who opted out. That’s deliberate — a person who said no shouldn’t land back on the list because you uploaded an old file.

Read the result

When the import finishes you get four numbers:

• Imported — new contacts.
• Updated — addresses that already existed.
• Skipped — empty or invalid addresses.
• Errors — rows that couldn’t be read, with row numbers so you can find them in the file.

Afterwards

Filter on your import tag in People and check that the names look right. Question marks instead of accented letters means the file isn’t UTF-8 — save it again and re-import, it won’t create duplicates.

If the imported people should know they’re here now, send a broadcast to that tag. See Send broadcasts.

If something goes wrong

• “CSV is missing an email column” — the header row isn’t the first row, or the column is called something else. Rename it to email.
• Odd characters — the file isn’t UTF-8.
• Lots skipped — look for spaces inside addresses or rows with no @.

Tips

• Test with ten rows first. If it looks right, run the whole file.
• Clean the list before importing. Addresses that have bounced for two years hurt your sender reputation and push your email into everyone else’s spam folder too.
• Always tag on import. It costs nothing and lets you find the group again.