With Heymarket Web, you can import contacts from a CSV into Heymarket.

Setting up the CSV

1. Download the CSV file (at the bottom of the article) to your computer and open it. Alternatively, you can create your own CSV file.
2. Populate the first row of the CSV with fields/columns for searching contacts in Heymarket. Required fields/columns are First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number. Optionally, you can include a field/column called List to import contacts directly into Heymarket lists.
3. You can also add as many custom fields/columns as you like. Some examples of custom fields include: email address, street address, sales stage, and account status.

4. In the CSV file you can include a column Opt Out. If included, you will have to include the following values:

   For true: “yes”, “y”, “true”, “t”, “1”,

   For false: “no”, “n”, “false”, “f”, “0"

Example CSV 1

Import Options

When Preserve existing field values and list memberships is checked, the two Replace options are greyed out. Preserving a contact and replacing its data cannot happen at the same time. When either Replace option is checked, Preserve is greyed out. Skip automations enrollment is independent of the other three and can be toggled in any combination.

Importing Contacts

1. If you haven't already done so, set up your Heymarket Web account or sign in.
2. Click on 'Contacts' on the left side.
3. Click on 'Import Contacts' in the top-right corner.
4. You can now import contacts from the CSV file. You can also include custom fields (columns) that can be searched for within Heymarket. NOTE: first name, last name, and number are required columns.
5. Click on Replace duplicate contacts to have the import overwrite existing contacts in Heymarket that have the same phone number.  
6. Click on Replace list memberships to have the import overwrite existing contact lists.

Example CSV 1 with "Replace duplicate contacts" and "Replace list memberships" checked

Using the above examples, you will notice that the List row changed from Potential Client to Client, which will remove John Doe from the Potential Client list and add him to the Client list.

With our Zapier Integration, you can also automate this process with your favorite contact management system.

When your Contact Import finishes, an email will be sent to Team members who are in the Owner, Team Administrator, and Contact Administrator roles notifying of the completion of the contact import.  

Preserving existing contact data

When you import a CSV that includes contacts already in Heymarket, you can choose whether the import updates those contacts or leaves them untouched. By default, Heymarket preserves existing data. Your import will only fill in fields that are currently empty and add the contact to the destination list. Nothing is overwritten or removed.

How Preserve works

When Preserve existing field values and list memberships is checked, the import behaves as follows:

• Contacts in your CSV that match an existing contact (by phone number or email) are not overwritten. Only fields that are currently empty on the existing contact are populated from the CSV.
• List memberships are additive. The matched contact is added to the destination list and is never removed from any list they are already in.
• Tags are additive. Tags are never removed by an import in Preserve mode.
• New contacts in your CSV — those that don't match any existing contact — are still created normally.
• New custom fields referenced in your CSV are still created automatically, the same as before.
• Blank cells in your CSV never overwrite existing values. This is true in any import mode, but it is especially relevant when Preserve is on.
• Opt-out and consent fields are never modified by an import, regardless of which options are selected.

When to use Preserve (the default)

Leave Preserve on whenever you are adding net-new information to your contact database without intending to change what is already there. Common cases:

• You exported a contact list from another system and want to add the new contacts without touching existing ones.
• You have a CSV that fills in a single field — for example, a "Company" column — for contacts that don't have it yet.
• You're adding contacts to a new list without removing them from their current lists.

When to turn Preserve off

Uncheck Preserve when you intentionally want to overwrite or replace existing data. You'll then choose one of the two Replace options:

• Replace duplicate contacts — use when your CSV is the source of truth and existing values in Heymarket should be overwritten with the values in the CSV.
• Replace list memberships — use when the destination list should be the only list each matched contact belongs to. This will remove matched contacts from every other list they are in.

Contact Import Reports

You can view the status of your imports, by clicking on the Contact Imports tab within contacts.

This report will show you imports in progress, completed, and failed. You will also be able to view warnings or errors related to the uploads.

FAQ

If your contact import throws an error message, please verify

• Ensure that there are no special characters within the CSV. This tool can help detect and flag special characters that are not supported. Note that any characters highlighted in red that are not 0x0009 will cause the import to fail.
• The first row in the columns must contain the First Name, Last Name, and Phone Number. As a note, these must match exactly as listed above.
• Hyphen on names should be subtituted with space instead. Hyphen are still considered as special character which can make your import fail.
• The CSV file being imported must be < 1 MB in size.
• All contact must contain either First Name, Last Name, or a Phone Number. 
• If you only have a Business Name, you may split the business name in half or put ‘Business’ under your First or Last name field. As long as the two columns have data under them, your import should work.
• Make sure phone numbers are in the same format.
• Blank cells in your CSV are always ignored. They will not overwrite existing values, regardless of which import option is selected.
• Will I lose my message history if I imported my contacts from a CSV file and selected 'Replace Duplicate Contacts'? When importing contacts from a CSV file in Heymarket, you’ll lose message history if:
  • The contact’s privacy setting is ON (checkable at https://app.heymarket.com/admin/fields/).
  • You select ‘Replace List Membership’ during import.
• Please make sure that the file format is CSV.

Here is a sample CSV file that you can populate with your contacts to import into Heymarket: