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Importing leads from a CSV or Excel file

  • Updated

In this article, you will learn how to prepare a CSV or Excel file with lead data, how to import it into one or several studios and how to deal with rows that could not be imported.

Contents

Quick Guide

  1. Go to Leads / Generation / Lead import and click Download CSV template. For the Excel template, open the arrow next to the button and choose Download Excel template.
  2. Enter one lead per row below the header row and save the file.
  3. Click Import and select the file.
  4. Tick the consent checkbox and, if required, the duplicate check.
  5. Start the import and follow its status in the history table.
  6. If rows were rejected, download them with Download Failed / Skipped, correct them and import them again.

Prerequisites

  • Permission: Member acquisition / Manage lead imports. Read access lets you open the page, see the import history and download the templates and the reports of rejected rows. To start an import, your role also needs the create right of this permission. You assign the permission in the role settings.
  • Studios: you need the create right in every studio the file imports leads into.

Preparing the file

Lead import page with the template buttons, the Import button and the import history.

The import only accepts files that follow the template exactly. Start with a template every time:

  1. Go to Leads / Generation / Lead import.
  2. Click Download CSV template. For the Excel template, open the arrow next to the button and choose Download Excel template.
  3. Keep the header row exactly as it is. Do not rename, move, add or delete columns.
  4. Enter one lead per row below the header row.

The template is created in your interface language, and so are the column headers. The import checks the headers against your interface language at the time of the import. Download the template in the same interface language you import with. A file with headers in another language is rejected.

The template has 14 columns in this order:

Column Required Accepted values and format
Studio Prefix Optional Empty: the lead is created in the studio you import in. Otherwise the studio prefix of the studio the lead is created in (see Importing into several studios).
First Name Required Free text.
Last name Required Free text.
Email Required if Telephone number is empty A valid e-mail address.
Telephone number Required if Email is empty Digits with an optional leading +. Spaces, brackets, dots, slashes and hyphens are allowed. The number is saved as the lead's mobile number.
Birthday Optional The date format of your interface language, as shown in the import dialog. In an Excel file, a cell formatted as a date is also accepted.
Notes Optional Free text. It is saved as a note on the lead.
Campaign Optional The name of an existing campaign (see Assigning a campaign).
Gender Optional Female, Male or Other in your interface language, or the codes FEMALE, MALE or UNISEX. Upper and lower case and accents are ignored.
Street Optional Free text.
House number Optional Free text.
ZIP / Postcode (the column name depends on the English variant of your interface) Optional Free text.
City Optional Free text.
Country Optional A two-letter country code, for example DE, or the country name.

Header row of the Excel template with the 14 columns.

A lead therefore needs at least a first name, a last name and an e-mail address or a telephone number. Rows that break a rule are not imported. All other rows are imported.

Limits

  • File format: .csv or .xlsx, one file per import.
  • File size: up to 5 MB.
  • Rows: up to 10,000 lead rows per file, not counting the header row. Split larger lists into several files.
  • Excel files: exactly one sheet.
  • CSV files: the separator is detected automatically.
  • Only one import can run per studio at a time. A file that imports into several studios can only start when no import is running in any of them.

Running the import

  1. Select the studio you want to import in at the top of the software.
  2. Go to Leads / Generation / Lead import and click Import. The dialog Import opens.
  3. Select your file.
  4. Tick I confirm that I have the necessary consent to process these lead records. This checkbox is required.
  5. If you want to skip leads that already exist, tick Check imported entries for possible duplicates (first name, last name, birthdate, email).
  6. Click Import. The button is only available once a valid file is selected and the consent checkbox is ticked.

    Import dialog with a selected file, the consent checkbox and the duplicate check.

Do not switch the studio while the dialog is open. The import runs for the studio that was selected when you opened the dialog, and switching blocks the import.

If the whole file breaks a rule, for example because the headers do not match, the software shows a message and does not start the import (see Troubleshooting).

When the duplicate check applies

The duplicate check only covers rows that contain both a birthday and an e-mail address. For these rows, the software compares first name, last name, birthday and e-mail address with the existing leads in the target studio. If all four match, the row is skipped and not imported. Rows without a birthday or without an e-mail address are not checked for duplicates, even when the checkbox is ticked.

Importing into several studios

One file can create leads in several studios. Use the column Studio Prefix for this:

  • Leave the cell empty to create the lead in the studio you import in.
  • Enter the studio prefix of another studio to create the lead there.

Please note:

  • Your role needs the create right of Member acquisition / Manage lead imports in every studio the file names. Otherwise the import does not start.
  • A row with an unknown studio prefix is not imported.
  • The import appears in the history of the studio you import in.

Assigning a campaign

To assign imported leads to a campaign, enter the campaign name in the column Campaign. Upper and lower case are ignored. The row is not imported if:

  • no campaign with this name exists or the campaign is not available for the target studio, or
  • several campaigns have this name.

Leave the cell empty if the lead should not belong to a campaign.

What the imported leads look like

Each imported row creates a new lead in its target studio:

  • The lead is open, so it is neither won nor lost.
  • The origin of the lead is Import leads.
  • If the row contains a campaign, the lead belongs to that campaign.
  • The remaining columns fill the lead's contact data, address and notes.

Following the import in the history

The page Leads / Generation / Lead import lists the imports of the selected studio in a table. The table updates by itself while an import runs, so you do not need to reload the page.

Column Content
Date When the import was started.
File name The name of the imported file.
Status The current state of the import, for example Being processed while it runs and Generated when it is complete. Failed means the import could not be completed.
Created The number of leads created.
Rejected The number of rows that were not imported: rows with errors plus rows skipped by the duplicate check.

Import history with a completed import, 2 leads created and 1 row rejected.

If there are no imports yet, the table shows No import history available.

Downloading rejected rows

For a complete import with rejected rows, you can download a report:

  1. In the history table, open the menu (three dots) of the import.
  2. Click Download Failed / Skipped.

    Row menu of an import with the option to download failed and skipped rows.

The report is an Excel file in your interface language. It contains:

  • Source row number: the row in your original file.
  • The 14 template columns with the values from that row.
  • Status: Failed for rows with errors, Skipped for duplicates.
  • Reason: why the row was not imported. Several errors in one row are listed together.

Correct the rows, copy them into a fresh template and import them again. Remove the extra columns Source row number, Status and Reason first, otherwise the headers do not match.

Please note:

  • The menu is inactive while an import runs, when the import failed as a whole and when no row was rejected.
  • To download the report, your role needs read access to Member acquisition / Manage lead imports in every studio the import created leads in.

Troubleshooting

The import does not start

These messages concern the whole file. No lead is created.

Message Solution
Import file is too large Reduce the file to 5 MB or less, or split it into several files.
Unsupported import file format Save the file as .csv or .xlsx.
Import file is unreadable Download a fresh template, copy your data into it and save it again.
Invalid column headers Download the template in your current interface language and keep its header row unchanged.
Row limit exceeded Split the file so that each file has 10,000 lead rows or fewer.
Invalid number of sheets Delete all sheets except the one with the lead data.
The import contains no lead rows. Enter at least one lead below the header row.
A lead import is already processing for one of the selected studios. Wait until the running import in that studio is complete, then start the import again.

Single rows are rejected

These reasons appear in the column Reason of the report. Errors found while checking the file start with Validation error:. Only the affected rows are not imported.

Reason Solution
missing field "First Name" or missing field "Last name" Enter the first name and the last name.
email or phone number missing Enter an e-mail address or a telephone number.
invalid value for "…" followed by the column name Correct the value in that column. Typical causes: an invalid e-mail address, a telephone number with letters, a birthday in another date format, a gender or country that is not recognised, or an unknown studio prefix.
Campaign with name "…" does not exist Check the spelling of the campaign name and that the campaign is available for the target studio.
Multiple campaigns match the supplied name. Several campaigns have the same name. Give the campaigns unique names and import the row again.
Invalid number of columns in row … In a CSV file, every row must have exactly the 14 template columns. In an Excel file, delete any content to the right of the column Country.
Data already used in an existing entry (status Skipped) The duplicate check found a lead with the same first name, last name, birthday and e-mail address. No action needed if the lead already exists.

Note: This article was created with the help of artificial intelligence and editorially reviewed.

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