CSV Upload

Learn how to add or update contacts by uploading a CSV file to Brew

The CSV upload feature allows you to easily import new contacts or update existing ones in bulk. This is particularly useful when migrating from another platform or when you need to add a large number of contacts at once.

Bulk import

Add thousands of contacts at once with a simple spreadsheet upload

Automatic deduplication

No need to worry about duplicates—Brew handles them automatically

Custom properties support

Include any custom fields you want to add or update with your contacts

Getting Started with CSV Uploads

1. Prepare your CSV file

   Create a CSV file with the following columns:

   Required column:

   • Email - The contact’s email address

   Recommended columns:

   • First Name - The contact’s first name
   • Last Name - The contact’s last name

   Optional column:

   • Subscribed - Whether the contact is subscribed (use true or false, defaults to true if not specified)
   • Any custom properties you’ve created in Brew

   Download our example CSV template to ensure your file is correctly formatted.

2. Access the import screen

   1. Go to the Audience page
   2. Click the Add Contacts button in the top right corner
   3. Select CSV Upload from the dropdown menu
3. Upload your CSV file

   1. Drag and drop your CSV file into the upload area or click to browse your files
   2. Wait for the file to upload and process
4. Map CSV columns to Brew properties

   After uploading, you’ll see a column mapping screen:

   1. Ensure each CSV column is correctly mapped to the corresponding Brew property
   2. For any columns that don’t have a default mapping, select the appropriate property from the dropdown
   3. Click Continue when the mapping is complete

   If your CSV contains columns for custom properties that don’t yet exist in Brew, they will be automatically created during the import process.

5. Review and confirm

   Review the import summary, which shows:

   • Total contacts to be added or updated
   • Any potential issues or errors
   • Option to trigger automations for new contacts
   • Option to add contacts to subscription groups
6. Complete the import

   Click Complete Import to finalize the process.

   You’ll see a success message when the import is complete, and your contacts will be available in your Audience.

Adding Contacts to Subscription Groups During Import

During the import process, you can optionally add the imported contacts to one or more subscription groups:

1. Enable subscription group option

   On the review screen, toggle on Add to subscription groups
2. Select subscription groups

   Choose the subscription groups you want to add the contacts to from the dropdown menu

3. Complete the import

   Continue with the import process as normal

   This will only add contacts to the selected groups - it won’t remove them from any groups they might already belong to.

Updating Existing Contacts

You can also use CSV upload to update existing contacts:

Matching existing contacts

Brew identifies existing contacts using the email address:

• If an email in your CSV matches an existing contact, that contact will be updated
• If no match is found, a new contact will be created

Partial updates

When updating contacts, empty cells in your CSV will not overwrite existing data.

If you want to clear a field, you must use the value null (4 characters, all lowercase) in the CSV cell.

Subscription status

Important notes about the Subscribed column:

• If not included, all new contacts will be marked as subscribed by default
• To import unsubscribed contacts, include a Subscribed column with false values
• The importer will not re-subscribe contacts who have previously unsubscribed

Triggering Automations for Imported Contacts

You can optionally trigger automations when importing contacts:

1. Enable automation triggers

   On the review screen, toggle on Trigger automations
2. Understand which automations will trigger

   This will trigger:

   • For new contacts: Automations with “Contact added” triggers
   • For updated contacts: Automations with “Contact updated” triggers
   • If adding to subscription groups: Automations with “Added to subscription group” triggers
3. Complete the import

   Continue with the import process as normal

   Be careful when enabling this option with large imports, as it could trigger a high volume of emails.

Viewing Import History

You can view a history of your past CSV imports:

1. Go to the Audience page
2. Click Add Contacts → CSV Upload
3. Click View imports
4. This shows all previous imports with details like:
   • Import date and time
   • Number of contacts imported
   • Success/error rates
5. Click on any import to see detailed information

Troubleshooting Common CSV Issues

Duplicate contacts

If your CSV contains duplicate email addresses:

• Only the last row with that email will be imported
• You’ll see a warning in the review step showing the number of duplicates

To avoid this, deduplicate your CSV before uploading.

Invalid email formats

Emails must be in a valid format (e.g., [e-mail]).

Invalid emails will be flagged during the review step and will not be imported.

Encoding issues

If your CSV contains special characters:

• Ensure your CSV is UTF-8 encoded
• If you see garbled text in the column mapping screen, try re-exporting your CSV with UTF-8 encoding

Large file handling

For very large CSV files:

• There’s a 10MB file size limit
• For files with 100,000+ contacts, the import may take several minutes
• Consider splitting very large files into smaller batches

Need support?

We’re here to help!

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Book a call with the founders — we have time slots open most days

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Immediate support

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We’re more than happy to help you with your CSV imports. Ping us on Slack (we should have connected with you by now) or through one of the mechanisms above.