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Importing contacts and companies from a CSV

Importing contacts and their companies from one spreadsheet, linked together

Written by Luke Pitkin

Got a list of clients and the people who work there? Bring them across together.

Hey! Luke here, founder of Giig šŸ‘‹

If your spreadsheet has your contacts and the companies they work for on the same sheet, this is the import for you. Giig creates the contact, creates the company (or finds it if it's already there) and links the two together. Import is available on Starter and above, and only the account Owner can do it.

Download the import template

Don't start from a blank spreadsheet. Grab our template, it already has every column in the right format.

  1. Click the upload icon at the top right of the platform (next to the inbox icon)

  2. On the Import page, click Go under Import Contacts & Companies

  3. Click Download CSV Import Template, top right. The template downloads straight to your computer

Preparing your spreadsheet

  1. One row per contact, with the company they work for in the Company column on the same row

  2. Split names into First Name and Last Name columns. Got them in one column? Ask Copilot or ChatGPT to split them for you, it takes seconds

  3. Fill in Company Location if you have it, it goes on the company record

  4. Save it as a .csv file. It needs at least two rows of people, a file with just one person in it won't import

Here's what a filled-in template looks like:

Giig matches contacts to companies on the company name, spelled exactly the same. If Chandrila Health is already in your database, a contact with Chandrila Health in the Company column gets linked to it rather than creating a second one.

šŸ’” Pro tip: "Acme Ltd" on one row and "Acme Limited" on the next gives you two companies. Tidy the names before you import, not after.

Tag your records as they go in

This is the bit people miss, and it's a big one. Fill in the Tags column and every contact gets tagged the moment they land in Giig. No going back through hundreds of records afterwards to tag them by hand.

  1. In the Tags column, type the tags for each row separated by commas

  2. For example, Client,Healthcare,London tags that contact with three separate tags: Client, Healthcare and London

  3. Each row can have different tags, so tag every contact with whatever's relevant to them

This is the only way to give individual contacts different tags in an import. The import tags you'll see later go on everyone.

šŸ’” Pro tip: use the same spelling as the tags you've already set up in Giig. Type "Constrction" in your spreadsheet and you'll get a brand new "Constrction" tag. Check your list first: Creating your custom tag structure.

Running the import

  1. Back on Import Contacts, drag your CSV into the box (or click it to choose the file)

  2. You'll land on Map Your Data. Each column from your CSV is listed on the left, with the Giig field it'll go into under Data Point on the right

  3. If you've used our template, everything matches up on its own. Anything showing Do Not Import gets skipped, so click it and pick the right field if you want it brought in

  4. Got custom fields? Contact fields are listed first, then company fields under the line. Here's the full run-through: Importing a CSV with custom fields

  5. Want to double check the data first? Click Preview Your CSV. Happy? Click Add Tags

Adding import tags

Next up is Add Import Tags. These tags are global: every single contact in this import gets exactly the same ones, on top of anything from your Tags column. Giig pre-fills CSV Import and today's date, which is handy if you ever need to find "everything from that import" later.

Want to tag contacts individually (one as Client, another as Prospect)? Don't do it here. Put those in the Tags column of your spreadsheet instead.

  1. Add any extra tags you want on the whole batch, e.g. Healthcare Clients 2026

  2. Click Import Contacts

You'll see Import Complete with a count of how many came in. Big file? You can leave the page and Giig carries on in the background. Click View Database to see them.

Check it worked

Open one of the contacts you just imported. Their company shows top right, already linked, and their tags (including CSV Import and the date) sit top left on the Info tab. Click the company name to jump straight to the company record. Giig even fills in the company's website from the contact's email address.

šŸ’” Pro tip: test with five rows before you import five thousand. If something's off, you've only got five records to fix instead of an afternoon of clean-up.

Why some records are missing

  1. They were already in Giig. Giig checks each contact's email address, and anyone who already exists gets skipped so you don't end up with duplicates. So "100 uploaded but only 40 appear" usually means the other 60 were already there

  2. Your file only had one row. It needs at least two

  3. Two companies instead of one? The name was spelled differently on different rows. Same name, same spelling, every time

Undoing an import

Imported the wrong file? It happens. Message us with the date of the import and roughly how many records were in it, and we'll clear out everything from that import for you.

šŸ“¹ Watch a Full Giig Walkthrough

Need a hand?

Look, software's only useful if it actually helps you place people faster, that's the whole point of Giig. If something's not clicking, or you think a feature's missing that would make your life easier, tell me. I'm not a faceless support team, I'm the guy who built this thing. Email me: support@giighire.com

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