Import contacts from a CSV file

Already have LinkedIn profiles in a spreadsheet, from an event or another tool? Import them as a Swimlane list.

Before you start

Prepare a .csv file (in Excel or Google Sheets, export or save as CSV) with a header row and three columns:

• the LinkedIn profile URL, for example https://www.linkedin.com/in/jane-doe
• the first name
• the last name

Rows missing one of these three values are left out. Other columns (email, company, notes) are ignored.

Steps

1. Open Lists and click New Import.
2. In the Import tab, choose CSV Import.
3. Drop your file in the box, or click Choose file.
4. On Configure Import, check that LinkedIn URL, First Name and Last Name point to the right columns. Swimlane pre-selects columns named like "First Name", "first_name", "Prénom", "Last Name", "Nom", "Profile URL", or any column whose name contains both "linkedin" and "url".
5. Type a List name.
6. Read the summary: how many rows are valid, invalid and duplicates.
7. Click Start Import. Keep the window open until Import complete! appears.

How rows are treated

• Valid: created as new contacts in the list.
• Invalid: a value is missing, or the URL isn't a LinkedIn profile link (a company page link, for instance).
• Duplicates: the profile is already one of your contacts. These rows are skipped, and the existing contact is not added to the list.

Good to know

• If a list with exactly the same name already exists in your workspace, the contacts go into that list instead of a new one. Use this to top up a list you imported before.
• CSV imports don't count towards your Daily imports allowance.
• Only the name and the profile link are imported. The headline, job title, company, About section and connection degree are empty until you fetch them.
• The file is sent from your browser in small batches, which is why the window must stay open.

Before you use the list in a campaign

Open the list, select the contacts and use Enrich with LinkedIn. Each contact uses one of your daily LinkedIn profile syncs, up to 80 a day. Enriching matters for two reasons:

• A campaign's Connection Request step skips contacts whose connection degree is unknown, and a CSV import never provides it.
• ICP fit reads the headline, job title, company and About section. Without them, a contact can't be matched to your ideal customer.

For a large file, enrich in batches over several days, starting with the people you want to contact first.