Importing People via CSV

If you’re migrating from another email provider (like Mailchimp), you can upload your contact lists directly into Flowforth using CSV files. This helps ensure your existing email preferences and tags carry over accurately.

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How to Upload a CSV

You can import contacts in two ways:

• Visit https://flowforth.co/people/import
• Or click the People tab in the sidebar, then select Import Contacts

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Step 1: Upload Your File

Upload a single CSV file containing your contacts. You’ll need to:

1. Select the email status for the contacts in this file:
   • Subscribed - People who opted in to receive emails
   • Unsubscribed - People who previously unsubscribed
   • Cleaned - People with invalid or bouncing email addresses
2. Match your CSV columns to the required fields:
   • Email Address (required for all statuses)
   • First Name (required for subscribed contacts)
   • Last Name (required for subscribed contacts)
   • Tags (optional) - Can be a comma or semicolon separated list, or a JSON array
3. Set fallback names (optional): If some contacts are missing a first or last name, you can set a fallback value. This defaults to “Friend,” which works well with merge tags (e.g., “Hey Friend”).

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Step 2: Review Matches

After uploading, Flowforth analyzes your CSV and matches contacts against your existing Planning Center data. You’ll see contacts organized into categories:

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Perfect Matches

Contacts where both the email and name match an existing person in Planning Center. These will be marked as subscribed with high confidence.

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Email Matches (Different Name)

Contacts where the email matches an existing person, but the name is different. Review these to ensure they’re the same person.

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Name Matches (Different Email)

Contacts where the name matches an existing person, but the email is different. You can choose to:

• Add as secondary email - Links this email to the existing person
• Create new contact - Creates a separate person in Planning Center

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New Contacts

Contacts with no matching email or name in Planning Center. These will be created as new people.

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Skipped Contacts

Contacts that were missing a valid email address in your CSV. These cannot be imported and are shown for your reference so you can correct your data if needed.

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Excluding Contacts

Each contact in the preview has a checkbox. Uncheck any contacts you don’t want to include in the import. You can also use the select all / deselect all checkbox at the top of each tab to quickly check or uncheck all contacts in that category. The summary cards and tab headers update in real time to show how many contacts are selected out of the total.

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Step 3: Configure Tags and Audience

Before finalizing your import, you can:

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Link Tags

If your CSV includes a tags column, you’ll see all unique tags found. These will be added as checkbox options in the Tags field under the Flowforth tab in Planning Center.

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Add Audience Name

Optionally specify an audience name (e.g., “Mailchimp Newsletter”). This helps you track which platform contacts came from. The audience name will appear in the Former Platform Audience checkbox field in Planning Center.

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What Happens in Planning Center

When you complete the import, Flowforth creates or updates records in Planning Center:

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For All Imported Contacts

A custom Flowforth tab is created (if it doesn’t exist) with these fields:

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For Existing People (Email or Name Match)

• The Subscribed on Former Platform field is set to “Yes”
• Any tags from your CSV are added to their Tags field
• The audience name is added to their Former Platform Audience field
• Their name is not updated (existing data is preserved)
• The Created by Flowforth field is not set (they already existed)

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For New People

• A new person is created in Planning Center
• Their email is set as the primary email
• If First Name is missing, “Friend” is used
• If Last Name is missing, “Friend” is used (Planning Center requires both names)
• All fields (subscription status, tags, audience) are set
• The Created by Flowforth field is set to “Yes”

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For Secondary Emails

When you choose to add a secondary email to an existing person:

• The email is added to Planning Center
• If they have no existing emails, it becomes their primary email
• If they already have emails, it’s added as a secondary email
• The person is marked as subscribed with tags and audience applied

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Building Lists with Imported Data

You can use the Flowforth custom fields to build lists in Planning Center and segment your audience:

• Filter by Subscribed on Former Platform = Yes to find all migrated subscribers
• Filter by Created by Flowforth = Yes to find people who were created during an import
• Filter by specific Tags to target interest groups
• Filter by Former Platform Audience to segment by original source

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Import History

The import page includes an Import History tab where you can view all past and in-progress imports for your organization. Each import shows:

• Date - When the import was started
• Status - Current status (Analyzing, Preview, Importing, Completed, or Failed)
• Summary - A quick overview of the import results

You can click on any import to view its details. Import previews are saved automatically, so you can safely navigate away and return later without losing your progress.

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If you need help cleaning your CSV or importing your list, contact support@flowforth.co.