Overview

Each time you import contacts in Spreeflo, we look for duplicates, bounces, and unsubscribes, as well as incorrect file formats and syntax errors. These issues can prevent some contacts from being added to your audience.

In this guide, you'll learn about possible problems with your contact import.

Did I import correctly

To complete a successful contact import, follow each step for the import method you choose. For a detailed look at Spreeflo's import methods and instructions, check out Import Contacts guide.

My addresses have syntax errors

Malformed or incomplete email addresses are treated as syntax errors and won't be added to your audience.

Here are some common causes of syntax errors.

A contact's email address is missing information

An address could be missing something. For example, john@aol is missing ".com," and john@aolcom is missing the dot. Add the missing information and try again.

A contact's email address has extra spaces

Because of how some export utilities work, an address may include unnecessary spaces before, after, or even in the middle of the address. These extra spaces can cause an otherwise valid address to be reported as a syntax error. Try the TRIM function in Excel to remove spaces from text, or search for a similar feature in your preferred spreadsheet application’s help documentation.

A contact's email address contains typos

Spreeflo scans for misspellings of common domains and removes them from your import to prevent bounces. For example, we'll block "joe@gmail.co" or "jane@yahoo.c" because those emails are invalid and will bounce.

A contact's email address has unsupported characters

To accommodate international languages, Spreeflo supports Unicode (UTF-8), ASCII, and extended ASCII characters. However, Spreeflo can't process addresses with UTF-8 encoded characters in the email prefix, which is the text before the @ symbol. Check your contacts' email addresses for special or international characters in the email prefix.

Your file includes semicolons instead of commas

Some European spreadsheet programs use semicolons rather than commas to separate data fields in CSV files. This can cause problems with Spreeflo imports. If your import file uses semicolons as separators, replace them with commas and try your import again. To do this, upload your file to Google Drive and save it as a CSV or open the file in a text editor and use find and replace to update the punctuation.

My contact count doesn't match

If the total number of imported contacts doesn't match what you expected to see, there are a couple things to look for.

Email does not accept emails

Spreeflo checks if the domain of the email address have valid MX records. Without valid MX records, the email address does not accept emails and therefore will bounce. These contacts will not be imported.

You've uploaded existing contacts to the same audience

When you import contacts with emails that already exist in the existing audience, we won't import new contacts. Those contacts will update in your audience instead.

You've uploaded bounced contacts

If the contact has been bounced before, we won't import them to prevent further bounces.

You've uploaded invalid emails

As mentioned above, contacts with addreses containing syntax errors will not be imported.

Spreeflo won't accept my file

If Spreeflo won't accept your file at all, there are a few possible causes.

The file type is unsupported

If you choose the Upload CSV option, make sure the file you upload is a CSV file. The system does not support Excel (.xls), ACT!, .vcf (vCard), or other file types.

The formatting is unsupported

Exported files from other ESPs may not be formatted in a way that our import tool can manage, so you may have to do some reformatting to make it work.

The file size is too large

If your CSV file size exceeds 200MB, or about one million contacts, it may cause import errors. If you experience an error when importing a large file, split up your file into several smaller files and import them individually.

Need Immediate Help? Contact our support team at support@spreeflo.com or check our other guides for more information.