Bulk importing emails into Podia can be done within a few clicks.
You'll be able to import emails directly to your audience as subscribers, customers of a product, members of free community plans, etc.
Instructions for importing your list
Preparing your import
From your sidebar menu, click on Audience and choose Imports.
On the imports page, you'll see a list of your past imports, as well as an option to add a new import.
To start a new import, click on New Import. From there, you'll find different options based on where you want to add these people to:
Import people into my audience
Import people and give them product access
Import people and subscribe them to a waitlist
Import people and give them community access (free plans only)
You will also be able to add tags to imported people 🏷️
Once you select where you'd like these emails to be imported, you will progress through the steps of importing your CSV file.
Importing your CSV file
For improved compatibility, your .csv file should contain the following columns:
Email (required)
First Name
Last Name
Tags
Your .csv file should look like this:
Only the Email field is required, so if you have a .csv file with no names/tags, it should be fine!
The first page you see will show you an example spreadsheet as well as offer a .csv example that you can use as a template.
Once your CSV is ready, you can progress by clicking "Next Step" in the lower right corner.
Time to upload your file! Browse your computer or drag and drop the file into the uploader.
On this page, you will also be able to indicate whether or not the first row is a header row.
Note: If you indicate that the first row is not a header row, it will automatically place a header row at the top of your sheet.
As the final step before submitting, you will map the data to the corresponding locations.
Four pieces of data can be imported: First name, Last name, Email, and Tags.
In this step, you'll see the columns that are linked to this data. Your task is to map them, making sure each column is correctly aligned with its proper value.
Using a .csv with only columns the information you need (email address, name, and tags) works best!
Feel free to delete & remove any additional columns in your sheet before upload.
Once you click "Next Step", your data will begin importing! You will receive a confirmation email once it's fully processed and live in your account.
Pro tip: If your exported list includes a full name column instead of divided columns for first and last names, you can still import here without reformatting!
Simply map the full name column to the first name location and the importer will automatically divide them.
Importing a file with tags
All imports can include tags, which will assign the tag or multiple tags to the individual audience member they are listed beside in your uploaded .csv file.
To import audience information with tags, you'll want your file to look like this:
In the above example, Jean-Luc Picard would have both the tag USS Enterprise and the tag Starfleet assigned to them.
If the tag is not created in your Podia account already, it will automatically be created upon import to match the name listed in the file!
If you select a tag on the main importer screen, this tag will apply to everyone! This will be in addition to any tags they individually have listed beside them in the file.
Please ensure the formatting is the same throughout all listed tags!
Some services add quotation marks [" "] around each individual tag.
Either all tags need to have quotation marks or all need to have them removed. You cannot have quotation marks around some and not others.
A simple search & replace in your .csv file editor of choice should remove them if needed 😊
Import and email limits
You can import subscribers to Podia based on your chosen Podia Email plan.
The number of subscribers you can import matches the limit of your current plan.
Click here to check out Podia Email pricing, or visit your Billing page to check out the plan you're currently subscribed to.
Importing Lists with duplicated email addresses
Sometimes you may need to import a list that contains duplicates - never fear!
Our import tool will recognize these as duplicates and will not create duplicated entries.
Please be aware of the following:
Re-importing existing emails will NOT result in an update to their profile.
Example: If the individual was previously imported without a name record, importing again with a name specified would not update the existing record. The import tool would simply bypass the record, as it would be recognized as a duplicate.
Re-importing existing emails will result in a change to their subscription status.
Example: If the individual had previously signed up for a product but did not opt-in to receive marketing emails, importing them to your audience again would change their opt-in status to subscribed.
Unconfirmed subscribers won't be affected as we don't bypass double opt-in settings.
Troubleshooting import issues
Some of the emails in my file were not imported/failed. What can I do?
Some of the emails in my file were not imported/failed. What can I do?
Please go back through your .csv file and ensure there are not any formatting mistakes within the text.
Things such as unclosed quotation marks [" "] around tags for a person can cause that email to not upload properly!
Additionally, any special characters within names or email addresses should be removed.
If you have any questions about the guidelines in this document - or anything else we can help with - please feel free to email us at hello@podia.com or reach out by clicking on the help icon at the bottom right.