How to Import Contacts from Excel to Mailchimp? Best Methods!

If you are on the lookout for ways to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp for your marketing purposes, you’ve stumbled upon the right place! This technical blog discusses two ways to export Excel contacts to Mailchimp.

With the rise of marketing, companies have said goodbye to old marketing tactics to attract new potential customers. In this era of technology we have seen the advent of many email marketing tools to help corporations, content creators, influencers and business owners to connect with their target audiences. Businesses tend to have their audience list with all the contact details on an Excel sheet; however, if you want to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp, then this article is precisely for you, in this blog, you will see the process to import contacts to Mailchimp from Excel.
But before getting to the main point, let us discuss the need to export the contacts.

What is the Need to Export Excel Contacts to Mailchimp?

• Central Contacts Manager: The user can unite all the contacts from different sources in one place.
• Email Marketing: The user can launch audience targeted email campaigns based on imported contact data.
• Lead Management: The user can engage prospects and guide them through their sales funnel with customized email content based on the imported data.
• Engagement with Customers: The user can strengthen their relationships with existing customers through personalized emails.
• Analytics Tracking: The users can track campaign performance and analyze contact behavior based on the imported data to make informed decisions and get desired results.

Now that we have understood the reasons to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp, let’s look into how the process is actually done.

The whole process is divided into two phases:

Phase 1 talks about converting Excel files into CSV format files whereas, phase 2 talks about importing the CSV file to Mailchimp. Let’s dive into the process now!

Phase 1 – Convert Excel format file to CSV

There are two ways to go about this. We can either use the Manual method or we can use the Automated solution to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp. We will discuss both of them.

Manual Way to Export Excel Contacts to Mailchimp

1. In your Excel file which you want to export, go to the “File” option.
2. Click on “Save As”.
3. Now, “Browse” the file where you want to store your contact file.
4. Click on the “CSV” from the drop down menu, “Save as type”.
5. Hit the “Save” button.
6. You’ll have your contacts file saved to the location you chose.

This might be looking like the perfect method to your eyes but this has its limitations as well.

Disadvantages of Using the Manual Way

• Lose Formatting: Only raw texts are stored in CSV, so formatting options such as fonts, colors, bolding, italics, ect will be lost after the conversion.
• Images and Charts: The elements such as Charts and Images are not compatible in CSV format and will be removed.
• Size Limits for Files: While the XLSX format can handle large files, the CSV format has a limit of 2GB for file size.
• Performance issues: The conversion of very large XLSX files to CSV format might be slow and cause performance problems.

Expert’s Suggested Tool to Export Excel Contacts to Mailchimp

The RecoveryTools Excel to CSV Converter is a tool recommended by experts and industry leaders, which is capable of making this tiresome and hectic process a very easy one.

Some prominent attributes of this tool are like Simple Integration, Ease in handling the  process, free of any restrictions. These features are briefly explained below.

Key features of this tool:

• Simple Integration: This tool easily lets the user import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp.
• Process Handling: This software is capable of handling bulk order contacts and processes them with ease.
• Restrictions Free: There is no restriction on file size or contact count.

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Steps to Export Excel Contacts to Mailchimp

1. Run the software.
   
2. Add your Excel files from the “Add Excel Files” option.
   
3. Browse and Select the files by clicking the “Open” button.
4. Now, review and select the location to save files by going to the “Three Dots” option.
   
5. Click on the “Convert” button and the software will begin the conversion process.
   

You’ll have your file stored in CSV format, to the chosen destination.

Advantages of Using Automated Solution

• Batch File Conversion: This tool can convert multiple Excel files to CSV file format which saves time and effort.
• Advanced Filters: This tool is capable of applying filters to your Excel data before the conversion, focusing only on certain information you require in the CSV output.
• Encoding Control: The user through this tool can choose the needed character encoding for your CSV file which ensures compatibility with different systems.
• Data Integrity: This tool ensures precise conversion while preserving the cell formatting, formulas, and other Excel attributes within compatible limits.

Phase 2 – Importing CSV to Mailchimp

In this section, let’s look at the steps to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp.
You have to perform this after converting the Excel contacts into CSV format. You can select either of the above explained methods.

When you have the converted CSV file ready,

1. Login to the Mailchimp platform, and go to “Audience”.
2. From the dropdown menu, select “Audience dashboard”.
   Now, click on “Current audience”.
3. From the drop-down choose, “Manage audience”.
4. Click on “Import contacts”.
5. Then, upload the contacts file from the “upload a file” option.
6. Hit the “continue to upload” button.
7. Hit “Browse” and choose your CSV file.
8. Go to “Continue to organize” and click on it.
9. Now, you have to select the audience by “Select an audience”.
10. From “Select a status”, select the people of your choosing.
11. You can try to play with the “Select groups” option, if you want to.
12. You can also update the existing contact list by “Update any existing contacts” option.
13. Click on “Continue to tag” if you feel the need to assign the tags.
14. Hit the “continue to match” button for mapping the fields.
15. Now, click on “Finalize Import” to review import settings.
16. Hit the “Complete Import” option to finish the process to export Excel contacts to Mailchimp.

You’ll have imported your data to the Mailchimp platform.

Summing it up!

In this technical blog we have discussed the best ways to export Excel contacts to Mailchimp.
Phase 2 is common for both the methods under phase 1. However, it’s up to you to decide whether you want to go with the Manual method or you would choose the Automated solution.
If you want a second opinion, we would suggest you go with the expert’s suggested tool to import contacts from Excel to Mailchimp. To further help you we have mentioned the advantages as well to help you choose this method.