Import contacts from Excel to CRM without manual data entry

When you import contacts from Excel to CRM, a forgotten client base gets back to work. Over several years, a beauty salon collected its client base in Excel. While the spreadsheet sits on the administrator's computer, these people don't come back. An export from the previous CRM and contacts from a trade show sit idle in the same way.

Import moves such a base into the CRM without manual entry. Before uploading, the system checks every row and filters out broken phone numbers and rows without contacts. Then you can run an AI outbound calling bot on the base or send an SMS broadcast and bring back those who haven't bought in a while.

Export your base to Excel or CSV and upload it yourself — import, like all CRM features, is available on any plan. Don't want to deal with files? We'll move the base for you: order a turnkey setup — the button is at the end of the article.

Watch the two-minute video, and below you'll find the step-by-step setup.

Why upload your client base to CRM

• Moving from Excel or another CRM: clients are transferred without manual entry. Managers work in the CRM from day one instead of retyping spreadsheets.
• Base reactivation: uploaded leads can be called by a voice bot or sent an SMS. A bot minute costs $0.12 on average (it depends on the length of the instruction and the bot's replies), an SMS from $0.0748 depending on the carrier. Old clients come back without spending on new ads.
• Trade shows and events: enter the name of the trade show in the “Source” column. Later you'll see how many clients it brought.
• A clean base: broken phone numbers and rows without contacts won't get into the CRM. The robot won't call numbers that don't exist.
• Duplicates under control: you can skip duplicates of existing leads, so the client isn't called twice.

How import from Excel and CSV works

Import goes in three steps: “File” → “Columns” → “Import”.

1. You upload a file. The csv, xls, xlt, xml and xlsx formats are supported.
2. You match each file column to a field of the customer profile in CRM: “Name”, “Phone (main)”, “E-mail (main)”, “Source” or your own field. If the column header matches the field name, the field is selected automatically.
3. The system checks all rows and starts the import.

Records without a phone number and email are not uploaded. Deals have a separate import: with the amount, category and payment purpose.

How to upload a client base to CRM: step by step

1. 1
   Open import

   The “Leads” → “Import leads” menu. For deals — the deal list → “⋯” → “Import deals”.
2. 2
   Prepare the file

   If needed, click “Download template” and fill it in. Delete unneeded columns from the file entirely instead of just clearing them: an empty column still shows up for mapping, and you'll have to ignore it.
3. 3
   Upload the file

   Drag it into the upload area or click the area and choose the file.
4. 4
   Match the columns

   Choose a field for each column. Set “Ignore” for the ones you don't need. When there are many of them, the “Ignore all fields” button sets it for every column with nothing selected.
5. 5
   Check for errors

   Look at the “File check” block.
6. 6
   Tick the settings

   In the “Import settings” block.
7. 7
   Start

   Click “Start import”.

File check before import

The browser reads all rows itself and shows the result: “All N rows are fine” or how many rows have errors. It checks:

• phone numbers — letters in the number, numbers that are too short (fewer than 10 digits) and too long (more than 15);
• email — an invalid format;
• dates and numbers — anything that couldn't be recognized;
• encoding — garbled text and broken characters.

The table shows the first 30 errors, and the “Download the error list” button saves the full list as a CSV. Rows with errors won't get into the import. If you need them, fix the file and upload it again.

Import settings: how to avoid uploading duplicates

A duplicate is a record of a client who is already in the CRM.

• “Upload only Russian mobile numbers” — only records with Russian mobile numbers are uploaded. For bot calling, tick it unless you call landlines, such as company receptionists.
• “Import duplicate leads” — without this checkbox, duplicates of existing leads aren't uploaded.
• “Create duplicate contacts on import” — by default, if a contact with this phone number or email already exists, the data is added to it. With the checkbox, a separate contact is created, and “Import duplicate leads” turns on automatically.

Next to the start button, you can see how many records will go to the CRM, for example “up to 1,250 leads to import”.

If there is no field for a column

Choose “+ Add field” in the column's list. Set the type and name — the field appears in the project's card right away, and the column is uploaded into it. This requires the “CRM settings” right. Which field types exist is covered in the article custom fields in CRM.

Before calling with a bot, tag the upload: add a “List” column with the value “List 1” to the file and import it into a category field. In the bot's “Launch conditions”, you can then pick the list you need and compare which one brings more clients — see “AI outbound calling bot”.

Import progress

After the start, the “Importing leads” card with a percentage appears at the bottom right of any page in your account. Only one import can run in a project at a time. There are no other limits on the size of the base: the 40 MB limit applies only to the file check in the browser.

Read also: Custom fields in CRM: how to add your own client data, AI outbound calling bot: call your contact list without wasting budget, CRM for small business: how to never lose a single lead