Import Contacts and Build Your Audience in SendWhale

Import contacts from a CSV or spreadsheet, map fields to SendWhale contact data, and assign them to an audience — all in a few guided steps.

Before you import, make sure you have an audience ready to receive your contacts. Giving your audience a clear name upfront — such as “Newsletter List June 2025” — makes it easier to reference during import and when building segments later.

Create an audience first

Create a named audience in SendWhale before starting your import. You will assign imported contacts to this audience during the mapping step. An audience without a descriptive name is harder to manage once you have several lists.

Upload your file

SendWhale accepts CSV files and common spreadsheet exports. You can add your file in two ways:

• Drag and drop — drag your file onto the import area
• File picker — click to browse and select your file

Make sure your file has a header row — SendWhale uses those column names during field mapping.

Map your fields

After uploading, SendWhale presents a field mapping interface. Match each column in your CSV to a SendWhale contact field:

CSV column example	SendWhale field
email	Email (required)
first_name	First name
last_name	Last name
phone	Phone
Custom columns	Custom attributes

Email is the only required field. Columns you do not map are ignored.

Preview before confirming

After mapping, SendWhale shows a preview of valid rows. Review this preview carefully — it reflects exactly what will be created or updated. If you see unexpected data, go back and adjust your field mapping before confirming.

Deduplication

SendWhale detects duplicate email addresses in your import. When a duplicate is found, you choose how to handle it:

• Skip duplicates — keep the existing contact record unchanged
• Update existing — overwrite the existing contact’s fields with the imported data

Choose based on whether your import file contains fresher data than what is already in SendWhale.

Errors and invalid rows

After the import completes, any rows that could not be imported are listed with a reason — for example, a missing email address or a malformed value. You can download the error list, fix the source file, and re-import the failed rows separately.

Importing a contact does not create marketing consent. You must record consent separately — either via a SendWhale signup form that includes consent language, or by ensuring your import list already holds documented, verifiable consent from each contact before you import them.

Suppressed contacts

If any email addresses in your import file have previously unsubscribed or hard-bounced in your SendWhale workspace, they are automatically kept in their suppressed state. The import does not override suppression — those contacts remain excluded from future sends.