How to import subscribers

There are five ways you can import your subscribers to MailerLite:

• Import from a CSV or TXT file

• Copying and pasting directly from an Excel file

• Manually adding a single subscriber

• Directly from Mailchimp (read How to switch from Mailchimp to MailerLite)

• Via API (check our documentation to learn more)

Be sure every subscriber added to your account has given their consent to receive marketing emails from you. Check our Anti-Spam policy and Terms of Use to verify you’re complying with them.

These are types of files that are used to store data in a specific format. A TXT file is a standard document of text with no formatting or design. CSV and Excel files are spreadsheets where data can be recorded in a custom orderly fashion.

Each column in a spreadsheet represents a field with subscribers’ data. In this example spreadsheet, there are four different columns. They represent the fields for Email, Name, Company, and Country.

Before importing a file, keep the following in mind:

• If your list of subscribers contains non-English characters, ensure the file is saved using UTF-8 encoding before you import it. Most text editors, such as Notepad and TextEdit, offer encoding options when you save the file.

• All information on a spreadsheet file has to be in one sheet.

• There should be no spaces before or after the record.

Navigate to the Subscribers page and click on Add subscribers.

1. Click the Import from a CSV or TXT file tab.

2. Drag and drop the file with your subscribers to the box, or select the file from your computer. It will upload automatically.

3. Click Import subscribers.

You’ll be redirected to the Import settings page. Scroll to the Import settings section of this article for further instructions.

1. Select the Copy/paste from Excel tab.

2. Copy all of the rows and columns on your Excel spreadsheet that you want to upload to your MailerLite subscriber list, then paste them into the text box.

3. Click Import subscribers.

You’ll be redirected to the Import settings page. Scroll to the Import settings section of this article for further instructions.

If you wish to add a single subscriber, you must manually submit the subscriber’s data.

Select the Add single subscriber tab.

1. Fill out the Email and Name fields of the subscriber.

2. To add more fields, click on the Show more fields option.

3. To add the subscriber to one or multiple groups, type the name(s) of the group(s) and choose from the dropdown options in the Add to group section.

4. Click Add subscriber button to add your subscriber to the list.

After uploading your list, you will be prompted to edit the settings of the import.

You’ll proceed to choose which group(s) to add your subscribers, and to match the columns in your spreadsheet to the fields in your MailerLite subscriber list.

To import subscribers to a group:

1. Click on the text box and type out the name of the group. Select it from the choice(s) provided.

2. To add subscribers to a new group, first create it by clicking on the text box and type out the name of the new group. Then, click Add new group.

To match a field:

1. Know what each column represents with its data: Name, Email, Phone number, Country, etc.

2. Assign the correct field to the specific column by selecting the Field name below the Belongs to text.

3. Choose whether you want the new subscribers to automatically be triggered in any automation workflow associated with a group.

4. Click Finish import once you are done.

The file will start to import and once the process is done you’ll be notified how many subscribers were added successfully and how many failed (if any).

In the example below, one invalid and one duplicate email address were found within the uploaded list. This means that the email addresses were not added to the list.

Once you have reviewed your import, you can head to the Subscribers page and find that the subscribers have been successfully added.

Reasons some email addresses may fail to import include:

• The email address is invalid (non-existent).

• The email address is already unsubscribed from your list.

• The email address is already labeled as Bounced, Unconfirmed, or Spam complaint in your account.

• The email address is banned.

Some role-based emails, such as those starting with "admin@", "support@", "billing@" are on a banned list because they are not usually used by genuine subscribers. Such emails rarely sign up to lists voluntarily and are very often used for cold-mailing or spam.

Gmail addresses with five characters or less are also included on the banned list because they are also very likely invalid.

If you have a banned email address that you believe is legitimate, you may upload it via the Add a single subscriber tab.

There are five ways you can import your subscribers to MailerLite, but we'll only cover the top three in this article:

• From a CSV or TXT file

• Copying and pasting directly from an Excel file

• Manually adding a single subscriber

• Directly from Mailchimp (read How to switch from Mailchimp to MailerLite)

• Via API (check our documentation to learn more)

Make sure everyone on your list actually signed up and granted you permission to email them. Check our Anti-Spam policy and Terms of Use to verify you’re complying with them.

These are types of files that are used to store data in a specific format. A TXT file is a standard document of text with no formatting or design. CSV and Excel files are spreadsheets where data can be recorded in a custom orderly fashion.

Each column in a spreadsheet represents a field with subscribers’ data. In this example spreadsheet, there are four different columns. They represent the fields for Email, Name, Company, and Country.

Before importing a file, keep the following in mind:

• If your list of subscribers contains non-English characters, ensure the file is saved using UTF-8 encoding before you import it. Most text editors, such as Notepad and TextEdit, offer encoding options when you save the file.

• All information on a spreadsheet file has to be in one sheet.

• There should be no spaces before or after the record.

Navigate to Subscribers and click on the orange Add subscribers button.

If you're using the old subscriber management, select one of the existing groups or click on the orange Add new group button. Type the name of the group and save it.

1. Click the Import from a CSV or TXT file tab.

2. Drag and drop the file with your subscribers to the box, or select the file from your computer. It will upload automatically.

3. Click on the orange Import button.

You’ll be redirected to the Import settings page. Scroll to the Import settings section of this article for further instructions.

1. Select the Copy/paste from Excel tab.

2. Copy all of the rows and columns on your Excel spreadsheet that you want to upload to your MailerList subscriber list, then paste them into the text box.

3. Click on the orange Import subscribers button.

You’ll be redirected to the Import settings page. Scroll to the Import settings section of this article for further instructions.

If you wish to add a single subscriber, you must manually submit the subscriber’s data.

1. Select the Add single subscriber tab.

2. Fill out the Email and Name fields of the subscriber.

3. To add more fields, click on the Show more fields option.

4. To add the subscriber to one or multiple groups, type the name(s) of the group(s) and choose from the dropdown options in the Add to group section.

5. Click on the orange Add subscriber button to add your subscriber to the list.

After uploading your list, you will be prompted to edit the settings of the import.

You’ll proceed to choose which group(s) to add your subscribers, and to match the columns in your spreadsheet to the fields in your MailerLite subscriber list, if you need to.

To import subscribers to a group:

1. Click on the text box and type out the name of the group. Select it from the choice(s) provided.

2. To add subscribers to a new group, first create it by clicking on the text box and type out the name of the new group. Then, click on the Add new group option, just right below.

To match a field:

1. Know what each column represents with its data: Name, Email, Phone number, Country, etc.

2. Assign the correct field to the specific column by selecting the Field name below the Belongs to text.

After you’re done matching the fields, click on the orange Finish adding subscribers button. The file will start to import and once the process is done you’ll be notified how many subscribers were added successfully and how many failed (if any).

In this example, one invalid email address was found within the uploaded list. This means that the email address was not added to the list.

Once you have reviewed your import, you can head to Subscribers and find that the subscribers have been successfully added.

Reasons some email addresses may fail to import include:

• The email address is invalid (non-existent).

• The email address is already unsubscribed from your list.

• The email address is banned.

Some role-based emails, such as those starting with "admin@", "support@" are on a banned list because they are not usually used by genuine subscribers. Such emails rarely sign up to lists voluntarily and are very often used for cold-mailing or spam.

Gmail addresses with five characters or less are also included on the banned list because they are also very likely invalid.

If you have a banned email address that you believe is legitimate, you may upload it via the Add a single subscriber tab.

Each subscriber has a specific status once they have been successfully added to your list:

• Active - emails can be sent to this type of subscriber.

• Unconfirmed - the email address made the request to subscribe but hasn’t yet confirmed their subscription on the confirmation email (when double opt-in is enabled).

• Bounced - the email has hard bounced, which means that you can no longer send newsletters to subscribers with this status. Read The difference between a hard bounce and a soft bounce for more information.

• Unsubscribed - the recipient or you have unsubscribed the email address from your list.

• Spam complaint - also known as Junk, this means the recipient marked your email as spam and is thus automatically removed from your active list.

• Deleted - the email address has been removed from all of your lists. However, the data is still stored in the system in case the person re-subscribes to your list.

• Forgotten - the email address has been removed from all of your lists and all of the data will be completely deleted from our system after 30 days.

To learn more about Deleted and Forgotten subscribers, see How to delete or forget a subscriber.