Knowledge Base Your audience Import and manage contacts

Import and manage contacts

Your contacts are the people RadarSend sends to. This guide covers where they live, how to import them from a CSV, how to set up custom fields, and how to export.

Before you begin#

  • Know which email address column your CSV uses — every import needs at least one column mapped to Email.
  • If your CSV has columns that don’t fit RadarSend’s built-in fields (like a plan tier or account owner), set up Custom fields first so you can map to them.
  • Decide whether the file is a list to add/update or a suppression list (people to mark Do Not Contact). Both are supported — you choose during import.

View your contacts#

Contacts live under the Audience group in the left sidebar. Click Contacts to open the list.

From the contacts list you can:

  • Search using the box at the top — it matches on email, name, or company (placeholder: “Search by email, name, or company…”).
  • Filter and sort, and save filtered views for reuse (for building reusable audiences, see Segments).
  • Click any row to open that contact’s detail page.
  • Use the top-right buttons: Add Contact (create one by hand), Import (the CSV wizard), and Exports (past export downloads).

Import contacts#

Go to Contacts → Import. You’ll land on the Import Contacts page, which lists your past imports and a button to start a new one. Starting an import opens a five-step wizard: Upload → Map Columns → Settings → Preview → Import.

Step 1 — Upload#

Drag a file onto Drag & drop a CSV file here, or click to browse. Only .csv files are accepted, up to 500 MB. RadarSend uploads and scans every row to detect column types and unique values, then moves you to mapping.

Step 2 — Map Columns#

RadarSend auto-detects a target for each column; you can change any of them. Each column maps to one of:

  • A system field — Email, First Name, Last Name, Title, Company, Phone, Address, City, State, Country, Timezone, Website, Source, External ID, Tags, Postal Code, Stage, Do Not Contact, or Global Status.
  • A custom field you’ve defined.
  • — Skip this column — to ignore it.

You must map at least one column to Email — the wizard won’t let you continue otherwise (a status strip at the top shows Email mapped / not mapped and how many columns are mapped). To record consent or subscription state from your file, map columns to Do Not Contact, Global Status, or your email-type subscriptions (see Email types). If you’re missing a custom field, you can create one right here without leaving the wizard.

There’s also an optional Tag this import panel: pick a custom field and a value, and every contact in this file gets stamped with it — handy for segmenting by import source later.

Step 3 — Settings#

Choose What do you want to do?

  • Add & update contacts — add new people, and optionally update existing ones.
  • Suppress (Do Not Contact) — mark everyone in the file as Do Not Contact. Use this for DNC, unsubscribe, or bounce lists.

For an add & update import, set When a contact already exists:

  • Skip existing — leave matches unchanged, add new only.
  • Update existing — update matches from the CSV. You then pick a Field handling rule: Replace all fields (blank CSV cells clear data), CSV wins (only non-empty CSV values update), or Existing wins (fill only missing fields).

Optional add-import toggles: Trigger automations for imported contacts (off by default) and Enroll imported contacts into a sequence.

For a suppress import, choose what happens for emails not already in your contacts: Add them as Do Not Contact (recommended — keeps them blocked even if they return later) or Only suppress people I already have. Existing contacts keep all their other data; only the Do Not Contact flag is set.

Step 4 — Preview#

Click Preview Import →. RadarSend runs a dry-run — checking for duplicates, validating field values, and estimating exactly what will change — without touching your data yet.

Step 5 — Import#

The final button is labelled with what will actually happen, for example Add 1,240 new contacts, Update 300 contacts, or Mark 500 contacts Do Not Contact. Click it to run the real import and watch progress, then Back to Contacts when it finishes.

Custom fields#

Custom fields are contact attributes beyond the built-in ones — available to segments, templates, and merge tags. Define them before importing data that references them.

Go to Settings → Contacts & scoring → Custom fields. To add one:

  1. Enter a Display name (e.g. Company). RadarSend auto-fills a Field key from the name (e.g. company) — the machine name used in merge tags and imports.
  2. Pick a Type: Text, Number, Yes / No, Date / Time, Select list, Tags, Email, URL, Time of day, Timezone, Country, Currency, or Contact link.
  3. For a Select list, add comma-separated Values and choose a Constraint — strict (only listed values allowed) or suggestions (listed values suggested, others still accepted). Text fields offer the same suggestions choice, and Currency lets you pick a currency code.
  4. Click + Add field.

Existing fields appear in a table (Field key, Name, Type, Mode, Created) where you can Edit or Delete them.

Export contacts#

From the contacts list, click Export. In the dialog:

  1. If you’ve filtered the list, a note confirms “Exporting with current filters applied.”
  2. Optionally tick Include archived (suppressed) contacts (off by default).
  3. Choose which columns to include — search the column list and use the group All / None shortcuts. Then start the export.

Large exports run in the background: you can close the dialog and RadarSend emails you the download link when it’s ready. Past exports live at Contacts → Exports, listed with Created, Status, Contacts, Expires, and actions to Download or resend the email. Export links expire, so re-download or re-run if one has lapsed.

Common issues#

  • “You must map at least one column to Email.” Nothing was mapped to Email in Step 2 — set the Email target on your address column.
  • Wrong columns imported. Auto-detection guessed — always review the mapping and set unwanted columns to — Skip this column —.
  • Existing contacts weren’t updated. You likely chose Skip existing. Re-run with Update existing and the field-handling rule you want.
  • Strict field values rejected. A Select list custom field set to strict only accepts its listed values — either fix the CSV or add the values under Settings → Custom fields.
  • Suppression didn’t cover new emails. With Only suppress people I already have, unknown emails are skipped; use Add them as Do Not Contact to block them going forward.
  • Large files. CSVs up to 500 MB are supported; the file is scanned server-side, so very large uploads take a moment to analyze before mapping.

Good to know#

  • The Preview step never changes data — it’s a safe dry-run you can back out of.
  • Do Not Contact is a hard block: suppressed contacts stay blocked from sends even if they’re re-imported or sign up again.
  • Custom fields must exist before an import can map to them (or create them inline during mapping) — set them up early.
  • Use Tag this import to label a batch, then build a segment on that tag to target exactly who you brought in.