How to Import Contacts into Brevo Without Deliverability Issues

ByDavid Bowie

Contact lists are the backbone of any successful email marketing strategy. But simply importing contacts isn’t enough — how you bring them into your platform directly impacts your deliverability, engagement, and long-term list health. Brevo (formerly Sendinblue) makes contact management accessible, but doing it the right way ensures your campaigns land in inboxes (not spam folders) and keep your sender reputation strong.

This guide walks you through every step of importing contacts into Brevo with best practices, common pitfalls to avoid, and expert tips to optimize deliverability from day one.

Why Contact Import Strategy Matters

Before we jump into the step-by-step process, it’s essential to understand why proper contact import matters so much:

1. Protecting Deliverability

email platforms track engagement signals — opens, clicks, bounces, unsubscribes — and use them to judge your sender reputation. A poor list import can trigger high bounce rates and spam reports, making it harder for all your future emails to reach inboxes.

2. Compliance with Regulations

Global email laws — like the CAN-SPAM Act, GDPR, CASL, and others — require clear subscriber consent. Sending unpermitted emails can lead to warnings or account suspensions.

3. Clean Data = Better Personalization

When your contact list is accurate and well-structured, you can:

  • Personalize messaging
  • Segment by behavior or interests
  • Improve engagement and conversions

Importing contacts correctly doesn’t just affect deliverability — it strengthens your whole marketing engine.

Brevo’s Contact Management Overview

Brevo’s contact system is robust yet intuitive. Key features include:

  • Unlimited contacts (even on free plans)
  • Custom contact attributes (name, location, tags, behavior)
  • Segmentation tools based on subscriber activity
  • Import via CSV, Excel, copy/paste, or API
  • Double opt-in support
  • GDPR consent tracking features

Before importing, let’s go through the foundational steps.

Step 1: Prepare Your Contact List the Right Way

The success of your import starts before you upload anything.

A. Collect Contacts Ethically

Always build your email list with explicit subscriber consent. Ideal sources include:

  • Website signup forms
  • Lead magnet downloads
  • Event registrations
  • Purchase checkouts
  • Webinar signups

Avoid:

  • Purchased lists
  • Scraped or harvested emails
  • Contacts from unrelated sources

These lead to high bounce rates, spam complaints, and deliverability issues.

B. Clean Your List Before Importing

Even opted-in lists can contain errors:

  • Typos in emails
  • Duplicate entries
  • Old or inactive contacts
  • Spam traps

Use tools like:

  • NeverBounce
  • ZeroBounce
  • Mailfloss

Clean lists improve deliverability and give you more accurate analytics.

C. Organize Your Data

Before importing:

  • Use clear column headers (First Name, Last Name, Email, Country, Source, etc.)
  • Remove unnecessary columns
  • Make sure emails are validated

Step 2: Choose Your Import Method in Brevo

Brevo supports multiple import methods:

A. CSV or Excel Upload

Best for large lists with segmentation data.
You can prepare files with:

  • Contact attributes
  • Tags
  • Subscription source

B. Copy/Paste

Useful for small batches or manually collected emails.

C. API Integration

For developers or automated sources — synchronizes contact lists from your app or system directly to Brevo.

Step 3: Importing Contacts via CSV or Excel (Detailed Walkthrough)

This is the most common method and the focus of this section.

1. Open Your Brevo Dashboard

Log into your account and go to:
Contacts → Import Contacts

2. Upload Your File

Select:

  • CSV file
  • Excel file

Brevo parses the file and previews the first few rows.

3. Map Your Fields

This step is critical.

Brevo will ask you to match your file columns to Brevo’s contact attributes.
Example:

  • Email → Email (required)
  • First Name → First Name
  • Country → Custom Attribute: Country
  • Source → Tag: Newsletter Signup

Make sure each column is properly matched — misalignment here can cause data errors later.

4. Apply Tags

Tags are powerful for segmentation.
Good tagging ideas:

  • newsletter
  • lead-magnet
  • offline-event
  • vip

Tags help you target campaigns and automation workflows more effectively.

5. Set Subscription Permission

Brevo requires confirmation that you have permission to email these contacts.

Choose:

  • Opt-in (preferred)
  • Unspecified (only if you absolutely know permissions — not recommended)

Choosing accurate permission status keeps your account healthy and compliant.

6. Choose Double Opt-In (High Deliverability)

Double opt-in sends a confirmation email to each subscriber.
Though not required, this step:

  • Confirms the contact is valid
  • Reduces bounce rates
  • Improves engagement

If you’re importing a warm list (e.g., recent webinar signups), use double opt-in when possible.

7. Finalize Import

Click Import and Brevo will process your file.
You’ll receive a summary including:

  • Total imported
  • Skipped duplicates
  • Bad emails
  • Errors

Review this closely — it tells you what needs fixing.

Step 4: Segment Immediately After Import

Segmentation is one of the strongest deliverability boosters.

Don’t just send everyone the same email.
Use these segmentation ideas:

1. Engagement History

  • Subscribed but never opened
  • Engaged subscribers
  • Recent purchasers

2. Source Tags

Separate contacts based on where they came from:

  • signup-form
  • webinar
  • lead magnet
  • event-attendee

3. Demographic or Custom Attribute

Segment by:

  • Location
  • Gender
  • Interest category
  • Customer type

Brevo lets you dynamically group these segments for targeted messaging.

Step 5: Avoiding Deliverability Issues After Import

Importing the list is only half the battle — your first campaign will test your sender reputation.

1. Warm Up Your List Gradually

If your list is large — like 5,000+ contacts — don’t email everyone at once.

Instead:

  • Week 1: send to the most engaged contacts
  • Week 2: expand to mid-engagers
  • Week 3: send to cold subscribers

This signals to email providers that your audience wants your emails.

2. Personalize the First Campaign

Use personalization tokens like:

  • First name
  • Location
  • Source tag mention

Personalized emails resonate more and improve open rates.

3. Use a Familiar Sender Name

Avoid generic addresses like:

  • noreply@
  • info@

Instead use:

This increases trust and recognition.

4. Monitor Bounce Rates

Brevo reports:

  • Hard bounces
  • Soft bounces

Remove hard bounces immediately — they hurt deliverability over time.

5. Handle Unsubscribes Gracefully

Include a clear unsubscribe link (Brevo adds one automatically).
If someone unsubscribes, let them go — forcing engagement leads to spam reports.

Step 6: Maintain Contact List Quality Over Time

Import is a one-time action, but list maintenance is ongoing.

A. Regularly Clean Your List

Every 3–6 months:

  • Remove disengaged contacts
  • Re-engage cold subscribers with a special campaign
  • Delete bounce addresses

B. Track Engagement Metrics

Important metrics to watch:

  • Open rate
  • Click-through rate
  • Bounce rate
  • Spam complaints

Consistently low engagement signals a need to refine content or segmentation.

Common Mistakes to Avoid When Importing Contacts

Even experienced marketers slip up. Avoid these pitfalls:

1. Uploading Purchased Lists

Never buy email lists — they are full of:

  • Unengaged users
  • Spam traps
  • Invalid addresses

They will damage your sender reputation.

2. Ignoring Consent Requirements

Always record how contacts opted in.
GDPR and other regulations require clear proof.

3. Skipping Data Validation

If your list has typos, duplicates, or bad formatting, your email performance will suffer.

4. Sending to Cold Lists Immediately

Cold lists should be warmed up — start with your most engaged contacts first.

Expert Tips for Advanced Brevo Users

1. Use Behavioral Segmentation

If you track:

  • Page visits
  • Form submissions
  • Product views

You can tailor emails to specific behaviors.

2. Integrate with CRM

Brevo’s CRM connects contacts with:

  • Purchase history
  • Lead score
  • Notes and tags

This allows for smarter segmentation and personalization.

3. Use Automation for Lead Qualification

After importing:

  • Trigger a welcome sequence
  • Ask subscribers about interests
  • Tag behavior based on clicks

This sets up long-term engagement.

4. A/B Test Early and Often

Test:

  • Subject lines
  • Preview text
  • CTA buttons
  • Email designs

Use Brevo’s A/B testing features before rolling out full campaigns.

Conclusion: Import With Precision and Strategy

Importing contacts into Brevo is not just a technical task — it’s a strategic foundation for your email marketing success. Done correctly, it leads to higher deliverability, deeper engagement, and stronger long-term growth.

Similar Posts