When importing a CSV file, entries are now imported into Lists rather than Audiences. You may notice that some entries appear to be missing or excluded from the final imported List, even when no exclusions are explicitly set.

Answer

There are a few key reasons why entries might be automatically excluded from your CSV import:

1. Processing Time: CSV imports may take several minutes to process. If your audience appears completely empty (showing 0 entries) immediately after upload, wait 5-10 minutes and perform a hard refresh of the page. The entries should then appear once processing is complete.

For company CSV uploads:

• Company Name and Domain headers required

• Domain column must contain plain text domains only (e.g., acme.com)

• Remove protocols, www., paths, and query strings from domains

• Ensure domains are unique; duplicate rows will be merged

• Ensure numerical fields (such as employee count) contain only numbers, not text values like employee range descriptions (e.g., "1000-4999")

For contact/email CSV uploads:

• Is properly formatted with correct column headers

• Contains valid email addresses

• Does not contain blank or empty rows

• If no email addresses are present, ensure you toggle on "enrich email" for contacts to be uploaded into Unify

• Ensure numerical fields (such as employee count) contain only numbers, not text values like "Employees.1000to4999" or employee range descriptions

When importing contact CSV files, duplicate entries based on email address are automatically removed during processing. If your CSV contains the same email address multiple times (even with different names or other details), only one entry will be included in the final audience.

Critical Product Update: CSV Uploads Now Create Lists, Not Audiences

Important Behavioral Change

CSV uploads have fundamentally changed in how they work. Previously, CSV uploads would auto-populate into audiences, but now they create Lists instead. Users must then manually add people from Lists to sequences or audiences.

What This Means for Users

• After uploading your CSV, you'll find your imported entries in the Lists section, not in Audiences

• To use these entries in a sequence or audience, you have two options:

  • Quick method: Click "create play" directly from your list, which will automatically create the audience for you

  • Manual method: Create an audience using the "exists in list" filter to pull in your uploaded data, then add contacts to sequences from that audience

• The troubleshooting steps for “missing” entries should focus on checking the Lists section rather than Audiences

Required Fields for Contact CSV Uploads

For contact CSV uploads to process successfully, ensure your file includes:

• First Name and Email columns at minimum

• Map these required fields during the upload process

Updated Troubleshooting Approach

When using audiences built from uploaded Lists to trigger Plays, remember that a Play fires only the first time a company meets the audience criteria. Companies that have already matched the audience in a previous upload will not trigger the Play again, which can make it appear that most of the newly uploaded entries are “missing” from the Play.

1. Check the Lists section (not Audiences) for your uploaded entries

2. Verify that your CSV included the minimum required fields (First Name and Email for contacts)

3. Remember that you need to manually add contacts from Lists to sequences or audiences - this is no longer automatic

Some exclusion rules may be enabled by default based on contact status in your CRM, such as automatically excluding customers or contacts with specific statuses. These default rules can filter out entries even when you haven't explicitly configured exclusions in your list settings. Additionally, when using Lists as triggers in Plays, global exclusions may be applied at the trigger level, which can cause fewer companies or contacts to be processed than you expect based on your uploaded list count.

To maximize the number of entries included in your import:

1. For company uploads, verify domains are formatted as plain text (e.g., acme.com) without protocols or paths. For contact uploads, double-check that your CSV only contains business email addresses and that numerical fields contain only numbers (not text descriptions)

2. Navigate to your list settings and verify that no exclusion rules are enabled. If you're using your list as a trigger in a Play and notice fewer entries being processed than expected, click Advanced in the Play's trigger configuration to review and adjust global exclusions that may be filtering out entries.

3. If your audience appears empty or issues persist, wait 5-10 minutes, perform a hard refresh, and try re‑uploading the CSV file if needed

Field Mapping Issues During CSV Import

The Problem

Incorrect field mapping during the CSV upload process can cause rows to be silently excluded, even when your CSV file appears properly formatted. This commonly occurs when:

• Fields are mapped to incompatible field types (e.g., mapping number fields to text‑only targets)

• Too many unnecessary columns are mapped, increasing the chance of mapping conflicts

• Automapping may incorrectly map text columns to fields expecting specific formats (e.g., mapping a "LinkedIn Profile URL" text column to a LinkedIn field expecting URL format can cause nearly all rows to be excluded)

Troubleshooting Field Mapping Issues

1. Test with minimal mapping: Upload a small test file (5‑10 rows) with only the essential fields mapped:

   • For contacts: Email, First Name, Last Name only

   • For companies: Company Name and Domain only

2. Avoid mapping unnecessary columns: During the upload process, skip mapping any non‑essential columns that might contain incompatible data types.

3. Review automapped fields carefully: If using automapping during upload, verify that each mapped field matches the expected data format. Pay special attention to URL fields (like LinkedIn) which may be automapped to text columns with similar names but incompatible formats.

4. Verify data type compatibility: Ensure that columns containing numbers are mapped to numeric fields, and text columns are mapped to text fields.

Advanced CSV Import Data Quality Issues

Phone Number Formatting Problems

Solution: Remove all apostrophes, parentheses, and special characters from phone number columns before upload. Use only numbers, spaces, hyphens, or plus signs.

Date Field Mapping Errors

Solution: Only map columns containing actual dates (in recognizable formats like MM/DD/YYYY) to date fields. Skip mapping any descriptive text columns to date fields.

LinkedIn URL Enrichment Issues

Solution: Replace LinkedIn URLs with actual company domains in plain text format (e.g., acme.com). If you only have LinkedIn URLs, manually research and add the company's actual domain.

Required Custom Attributes

Solution: Either include the required custom attribute columns in your CSV file, or temporarily change the custom attribute to optional in your settings.

Handling CSV Import Issues with Missing Email Addresses and Personal Email Domains

Missing Email Addresses

Contacts without email addresses are automatically excluded from CSV imports. To include such contacts, create a separate CSV containing their first name, last name, company, and company website, then upload this CSV as a new audience to use alongside your original import.

Personal Email Addresses Without Company Domain Mapping

Gmail and other personal email addresses require a company domain column. If you don’t know the actual company domain, use these workarounds:

• For Gmail addresses: add “google.com” as the domain in the company domain column.

• For other personal email providers: use the corresponding domain (e.g., “yahoo.com” for Yahoo addresses).