Import SMS Marketing Contacts to Mailchimp

Add SMS contacts to your Mailchimp audience to grow your SMS Marketing program. Upload a comma-separated value (CSV) file or an unformatted text (TXT) file, or copy and paste SMS contacts from a spreadsheet. You can also auto-update existing SMS contacts with an import.

In this article, you'll learn how to import SMS contacts to Mailchimp.

Before you start

Here are some things to know before you begin this process.

• This article covers how to import SMS contacts to your Mailchimp audience. To learn more about how SMS Marketing works, check out About SMS Marketing with Mailchimp. To learn how to import email contacts to your Mailchimp audience, check out Import Contacts to Mailchimp.
• SMS Marketing is available as an add-on feature for customers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, and Canada with the Essentials plan or higher.
• At this time, you can only import SMS contacts from the country that’s associated with your SMS Marketing program. For example, if your sending country is the UK, you can import SMS contacts with a UK phone number.
• You must be an account Owner, Admin, or Manager to import SMS contacts. Learn more about the different user levels in Mailchimp.
• Before you can import SMS contacts to your Mailchimp audience, you need to submit an application. You can import contacts while your application is processing.
• In Mailchimp, you can categorize your SMS contacts based on their SMS subscription status, such as subscribed or non-subscribed. You can only import 1 status at a time.
• An email address isn’t required if you import SMS contacts with an SMS phone number.

SMS consent

The first step to building a successful audience is to get consent from contacts who want to receive your marketing text messages. Consent isn't only common courtesy, it's required by Mailchimp's Standard Terms of Use. If you don’t yet have SMS consent from your contacts, check out Create and Promote an SMS Signup Form.

Although people talk about consent in a variety of ways, it's something very specific when it comes to SMS marketing. SMS consent is expressed, verifiable permission by an individual to receive marketing text communication from you.

When you use Mailchimp's SMS signup form, we track and record the date and time of the consent request and approval once provided by the individual, so you have a verified consent record. You must secure this consent before you send someone an SMS with Mailchimp. Never assume you have permission, and when in doubt, get confirmation.

Any list of contacts obtained from a third-party source, no matter how reputable, violates our terms and puts you at risk.

Email consent is different from SMS consent. In order to send text messages with Mailchimp, you need to acquire specific SMS consent from your contacts.

SMS phone number field

The SMS phone number field is required for SMS contacts. This field is specific to Mailchimp’s SMS Marketing, and it’s different from the phone number field. Use the SMS phone number field to import SMS contacts who have opted into your SMS marketing. You can only import SMS contacts from your sending country.

In your SMS Marketing program, format SMS phone numbers based on the sending country. SMS phone numbers imported into Mailchimp will display in the e.164 format. Phone numbers that follow the e.164 format include the following:

• Begin with a + sign
• Have a 1–3 digit country code
• Subscriber number: includes area code, up to 12 digits.

• View the subscription status of your SMS contacts in the SMS Marketing column on the contact table for your audience. An SMS contact’s subscription status is also stored in their contact profile.
• At this time, the SMS phone number field isn’t supported with the Mailchimp Marketing API.

Import SMS contacts from a file

The file import process has 2 steps. First, prepare a spreadsheet of SMS contacts outside of Mailchimp, then save it as a CSV or TXT file. Next, use our import tool to upload your file and add your SMS contacts to your Mailchimp audience. If you import subscribed SMS contacts, be sure that you have SMS consent to send them SMS marketing content. You can only import SMS contacts from your sending country.

Prepare for import

To prepare your import file, follow these steps.

1. In a spreadsheet program like Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, open a blank worksheet.
2. Create a column for SMS phone number. This field is required to import SMS contacts.
   
3. Create and label additional columns for any other information you want to import or update. To learn how to format other types of data, check out Format Guidelines for Your Import File.
4. Add your contacts' information into the relevant fields in the spreadsheet.
5. Save the file in a CSV or TXT format. These options can usually be accessed from the File menu in your spreadsheet program, labeled as "Export as .CSV,” “Export as .TXT,” “Download as .CSV,” or “Download as .TXT.” Spreadsheet programs may vary.

Nice job! Now that you've prepared your import file, you're ready to import.

Import your file to Mailchimp

The SMS phone number field is required for SMS contacts. Ensure that you have SMS consent from your SMS contacts before you import them as subscribed SMS contacts.

To import SMS contacts to Mailchimp, follow these steps.

1. Click SMS.
2. In the Next steps section, click Add contacts.
3. Click Upload a file, then click Continue.
4. Click Browse to choose the import file from your computer, or drag and drop your import file into the Drag and drop a file section.
5. Click Continue to organize.
6. Use the Current audience drop-down to confirm the audience you want to import to. This should be your SMS-enabled audience, or the audience you connected to your SMS Marketing program when you submitted your application.
7. If your SMS-enabled audience has groups, you can import your SMS contacts directly into the group of your choice. In the Add to groups section, check the box next to each group you want to add your SMS contacts to. You'll only see this option if you have groups in your SMS-enabled audience.
8. If you want to update SMS contacts that are already in your audience, check the box next to Update any existing contacts.
   
9. Click Continue to tag.
10. If you want to assign tags to all of the SMS contacts in your import, click the Search for or create tags drop-down, then choose or create tags as needed. You can also choose from popular tags.
11. When you're ready, click Continue to match.
12. Match the columns in your import file to the fields in your SMS-enabled audience. We'll automatically match some columns for you. For example, the column that contains SMS phone numbers will match the required SMS Phone Number field.
13. If needed, click the column headers to choose a different field type for a column or to create a new field. Repeat for all unmatched columns that you want to import. Any unmatched columns won't be imported.
14. Click Continue to subscribe.

15. Use the Select email marketing status and Select SMS marketing status drop-downs to choose the marketing subscription statuses of the SMS contacts you're about to import. If you only have SMS consent from your SMS contacts, choose Subscribed from the Select SMS marketing status drop-down, then choose Unsubscribed, Non-Subscribed, or Cleaned from the Select email marketing status drop-down.

    The available subscription statuses for SMS contacts are:

    • Subscribed
    • Non-subscribed

16. If you have SMS consent from your contacts, click I acknowledge that the contacts in this import have provided explicit SMS consent.

17. Click Finalize import. If you need to go back to a step, click the corresponding header. If you want to cancel your import, click Exit.
18. Review your import summary, then click Complete Import.

That's it! After the import is finished, we'll send a notification to the primary email address associated with your Mailchimp account.

• Imported subscribed contacts don't go through the signup process, so you'll need to verify that you have email and SMS consent before you send them a text message.
• When you import contacts to an existing audience, we won’t include any duplicate, bounced, or unsubscribed addresses that are already stored in the audience.

Copy and paste new SMS phone numbers

If you want to import SMS contacts with only an SMS phone number, use the copy and paste method. Directly paste new SMS phone numbers from a spreadsheet or list. An email address isn’t required if you import SMS contacts with an SMS phone number. You can only import SMS contacts from your sending country.

To copy and paste your SMS phone numbers, follow these steps.

1. Click SMS.
2. In the Next steps section, click Add contacts.
3. Click Copy and paste, then click Continue.
4. Copy the SMS phone numbers from your spreadsheet or list, then paste them in the text box. List each SMS phone number on a separate line.
5. Click Continue to organize.
6. Use the Current audience drop-down to confirm the audience you want to import to. This should be your SMS-enabled audience, or the audience you connected to your SMS Marketing program when you submitted your application.
7. If your SMS-enabled audience has groups, you can import your SMS contacts directly into the group of your choice. In the Add to groups section, check the box next to each group you want to add your SMS contacts to. You'll only see this option if you have groups in your SMS-enabled audience.
8. If you want to update SMS contacts that are already in your audience, check the box next to Update any existing contacts.
   
9. Click Continue to tag.
10. If you want to assign tags to all of the SMS contacts in your import, click the Search for or create tags drop-down, then choose or create tags as needed. You can also choose from popular tags.
11. When you're ready, click Continue to match.
12. Click the column header with your SMS phone numbers, then choose SMS Phone Number (SMSPHONE) from the drop-down.
13. Click Confirm.
14. Click Continue to subscribe.

15. Use the Select email marketing status and Select SMS marketing status drop-downs to choose the marketing subscription statuses of the SMS contacts you're about to import. If you only have SMS consent from your SMS contacts, choose Subscribed from the Select SMS marketing status drop-down, then choose Unsubscribed, Non-Subscribed, or Cleaned from the Select email marketing status drop-down.

    The available subscription statuses for SMS contacts are:

    • Subscribed
    • Non-subscribed

16. If you have SMS marketing consent from your contacts, click I acknowledge that the contacts in this import have provided explicit SMS consent.

17. When you’re ready, click Finalize import. If you need to go back to a step, click the corresponding header. If you want to cancel your import, click Exit.
18. Review your import summary, then click Complete Import.

That's it! After the import is finished, we'll send a notification to the primary email address associated with your Mailchimp account.

Update SMS contacts

Use Mailchimp’s import tool to update multiple SMS contacts at once. This option replaces existing audience field information with new information from your import file.

When you prepare your import file to update SMS contacts, there are a few extra things to consider.

• Verify that the column names in your import file match the fields in your Mailchimp audience.
• Don’t leave any fields blank. Blank fields overwrite and erase existing SMS contact data.
• Imports won’t update the SMS marketing status of SMS contacts already in your Mailchimp account.

After your import file is prepared with updated contact information, follow the same steps to import SMS contacts from a file. On the Organize step, check the box next to Update any existing contacts.

That's it! When you import, we'll handle the rest by scanning your SMS contacts and updating their information.

Next steps

Now that you know how to import SMS contacts, here are some other ways to optimize your SMS Marketing experience.

• Create and Send a Marketing SMS
  Learn how to create and send marketing text messages to your subscribed SMS contacts.

• Create and Promote an SMS Signup Form
  Use an SMS signup form to add new subscribed contacts to your audience who want to receive SMS marketing from you.

• About SMS Marketing Credits
  Learn how SMS credits work and how to calculate the right amount for your marketing.