Understanding audience size discrepancies after CSV uploads

When uploading CSV files to create audiences, you may notice that the final audience size doesn't match the number of rows in your original CSV file. This is normal behavior and occurs due to automatic deduplication during the upload process.

Why audience sizes may differ from your CSV

Unify automatically removes duplicate records based on email addresses for people uploads and by domain for company uploads during CSV uploads. This means if your CSV file contains multiple rows with the same email address (for people) or the same domain (for companies), only one record will be created in the system.

This deduplication process helps maintain data quality and prevents issues that could arise from having duplicate contacts in your audiences.

Common scenarios causing size discrepancies

• Duplicate emails in your CSV: Multiple rows with the same email address will be consolidated into a single record

• Data imported from external systems: When exporting from platforms like Salesforce campaigns, the same contacts may appear multiple times across different campaigns or lists

• Mixed data types: If your CSV contains both individual contacts and company information, the system processes these differently, which may affect the final count display

• Global exclusions applied: Audiences automatically apply global exclusions (such as excluding customers or personal email domains like Gmail/Yahoo), which can reduce your final count. You can toggle exclusions on or off per audience to compare counts.

• Required fields missing: Contacts must include an email address, and people uploads also require a first name. Rows missing these required fields will not be imported.

• Processing delays: Immediately after upload, counts may appear lower than expected while background processing and enrichment complete. Wait 5-10 minutes and refresh to see the final count.

• Field mapping issues: Incorrect field mapping or data-type mismatches during upload can cause rows to be silently excluded from the final audience.

What you need to know

You don't need to manually clean your CSV files for duplicate emails before uploading. The system handles this automatically, ensuring your audience contains unique contacts based on email addresses.

If you're uploading personal email addresses (Gmail, Yahoo, etc.) and want them included in your audience, add a Company Domain column to your CSV (for example, map Gmail addresses to google.com, Yahoo to yahoo.com) before uploading.

If you need to verify which records were deduplicated, compare your original CSV file against the final audience to identify any email addresses that appeared multiple times in your source data.