Contact list importing allows you to upload your external contact phone/email list and use it with SMS/Email marketing channel in ManyChat. This feature is available to all users, both Pro and old Free accounts, signed up before December 10, 2020. All others should first contact the support team to unlock it.
You can upload only those contacts that gave you consent to receive SMS or Email - note that you are responsible for collecting such consent outside of ManyChat. When you upload contacts to ManyChat, your contacts will be automatically considered opted-in to the bot. Importing and creating new contacts will also affect your monthly PRO subscription.
NOTE: Effective December 10, 2020, new Free accounts will be limited to 1,000 contacts which include all subscribed, unsubscribed, and deleted contacts. This feature is only available for Pro not Free accounts.
Got to Contacts -> Import
Click Select your file
New Free plan is limited to 1,000 contacts including subscribed, unsubscribed, and deleted contacts. Once you reach the limit, you'll need to upgrade to a new Pro plan that has unlimited contacts with tier pricing.
Select your CSV file with the contact list:
NOTE: If you'd like to import a large number of contacts, we highly recommend importing them in separate chunks, each containing no more than 20,000 lines. We also recommend naming each column in the first row (First Name, Last Name, Phone, Email, Country, etc).
Check that you have selected the correct file and mark the checkbox at the bottom. Click the blue Next button to proceed.
Match CSV columns to System and Custom Fields:
NOTE: You must select Full Name/First Name/Last Name/Gender/Phone/Email System Fields for the corresponding columns in your CSV. Before you import, make sure Phone contains the country code. If it doesn't have a country code, the contact won't be treated as "Opted-in" for SMS. You will be able to change Phone only afterward. Make sure it contains country code when importing. If it doesn't have a country code – the contact will not be treated as "Opted-in for SMS". Changing Phone numbers is only permitted after the import.
Please save all other values to Custom Fields - you can create them right in the drop-down or in Settings > Custom Fields.
The data gets matched with the data of existing contacts. The system gets data from the CSV file and maps it to System and Custom Fields. If Phone or Email in the file matches those that are tied to an existing contact, ManyChat will update the data to match the CSV file. If the system doesn't find any matches in Email and/or Phone, it will create a new contact.
Check the number of columns for import and select/create Tag for the imported contacts:
You can add or delete several Tags. Click Confirm Import.
The circular progress bar indicates the contacts are importing. You'll see the number of created and updated Contacts.
Head to the Contacts tab and check your new contacts. In the example below, contacts were uploaded without First Name and Last Name - their name will be based on their Email or Phone.
Please note that you are not able to edit the imported contact's name and avatar. Here's how you will see their contact card in case their name is not added:
