Importing Contacts

Getting your database into Bonzo is the step that everything else depends on — campaigns, pipelines, and conversations all start with contacts that are assigned to the right person and mapped to the right fields. The import process walks you through four steps and shows you a full review of what will happen before anything is created.

Before you start: prepare your spreadsheet

A few minutes of prep here saves far more time during mapping.

• Export Bonzo's field names first. Use the Quick Action Toolbar in the People tab to export Bonzo's standard column headers. Matching your headers to Bonzo's means most columns map themselves.
• Cell phone numbers only. Your phone column should contain cell numbers. Put landlines and secondary numbers in "Additional Phone."
• Format dates as mm/dd/YYYY or YYYY-mm-dd.
• Every row needs a phone number or an email address. Rows with neither are rejected.
• Clean your duplicates before importing, unless you plan to handle them with the duplicate settings described below.

A sample file is linked directly on the upload step if you'd like to see the expected shape.

Step 1: Upload

From your dashboard, click "Data" in your sidebar, then "Import." Click "New import" and select "Import from file."

Choose a destination first

The upload step opens with "Where should these prospects go?" Pick a destination before you upload — the "Next" button stays disabled until a destination and a file are both set.

What you see depends on your role:

• "Assign to a user" — every contact in the import goes directly to one person. Pick them from the "Assign to" dropdown. A card confirms your choice with a "Change" link.
• "Use a lead routing policy" — contacts are distributed by a policy's rules. Select a policy and its card shows the name, description, number of assignees, number of rules, and distribution method, with "Edit" and "Remove" links.

If you don't have permission to view lead routing policies, you'll only see the option to assign to a user.

Building a policy without leaving the import

If the policy you need doesn't exist yet, click "Create a new policy" at the bottom of the policy dropdown. A side panel opens where you name the policy, add assignees, choose Round-robin or Weighted distribution, and set conditions and fallbacks. Save it and it's selected for this import automatically.

Upload your file

Drag your file into the drop zone or click to browse. A green card confirms the file name and size once it's accepted, with a "Remove file" link if you picked the wrong one.

Three checkboxes control how Bonzo reads the file:

• "File contains column names" — skips the first row. Leave this checked when your first row holds column headers.
• "Merge duplicates" — matches contacts on phone number and/or email rather than treating every row as a fresh record. This also makes the "Prospect ID" field available during mapping.
• "Show advanced settings" — reveals delimiter, enclosure, and escape character options for files that aren't comma-separated.

A summary line in the bottom left confirms your destination — for example, "Routing via Round Robin Q1" — before you click "Next."

Step 2: Map fields

Every column in your file gets a row showing your column name, a sample value from the first record, and the Bonzo field it maps to. Bonzo pre-matches columns whose names line up with its own fields, so you're usually reviewing rather than mapping from scratch.

To move through a large file:

• "All," "Mapped," and "Unmapped" tabs filter the list, each with a live count.
• The search box finds a column by name.
• Set anything you don't want to bring in to "— Don't Import —."

The footer tracks your progress as "X of Y columns mapped." "Discard Import" cancels the whole import after a confirmation prompt.

Assigning contacts by email address

If your spreadsheet has a column of Bonzo login email addresses, map it to "Assignee (by email)" to send contacts straight to those members. This is the fastest way to assign a mixed list in one pass.

When a routing policy is attached to the import, the policy decides who each contact lands with, so it takes precedence over this column. Use "Assignee (by email)" when you're assigning directly, and a policy when you want Bonzo to distribute for you.

Step 3: Settings

The settings step is grouped into three sections.

Pipeline & campaign

Optionally drop contacts into a pipeline stage and enroll them in a campaign. If the routing policy you selected already sets one of these, a notice replaces that field and names the policy handling it, with an "Edit Policy" link if you want to change it.

Sharing & classification

• Shared users — give other members visibility into the imported contacts. This is turned off when your policy's assignees span multiple teams.
• Additional tags — select existing tags or create new ones. Every contact in the import receives them.
• Duplicate resolution — what happens when an imported contact already exists:
  • "Update existing prospect" — updates the record and leaves ownership alone.
  • "Update and reassign to new user" — updates the record and transfers it to the owner from your file.
  • "Skip duplicates" — leaves the existing record untouched.

Team Members don't see this dropdown. Their imports always skip existing contacts, so an import can never take a record away from a teammate.

Additional options

Two token-based services, applied per contact:

• "Run DNC scrubber" — 1 token per prospect. Checks each number against the National Do Not Call Registry. Anyone on the registry is added to your Bonzo DNC list and can no longer be contacted. You'll confirm a disclaimer before this turns on. This screening reduces risk but does not by itself satisfy your obligations under the FTC Telemarketing Sales Rule.
• "Run enrichment" — 15 tokens per prospect. Pulls additional contact data from Bonzo's data providers into the record.

Step 4: Summary

The summary step shows what the import will do before anything is processed.

Token spend breakdown appears when you've enabled the DNC scrubber or enrichment. It shows the cost per service, your row count, and an estimated total. Final spend is calculated per row at processing time, so rows with no result don't count against you.

Configuration review lists your file row count, routing destination, file handling, mapped field count, campaign, pipeline stage, shared users, tags, duplicate resolution, and enhancements — in the order you set them.

Check both confirmation boxes:

1. That you've reviewed the mapping and settings above.
2. The TCPA attestation — that you'll comply with the TCPA and applicable state, federal, carrier, and CTIA rules, and will only text consumers who have given prior express written consent.

Then click "Start import."

After the import

Depending on file size, processing may take a few moments. You'll get an email when it's finished, or you can watch progress on the import page.

The status page shows which contacts imported successfully and which didn't, with a reason for each failure. Common reasons:

Your imported contacts land in the People tab, ready for further organization and action.

Tips & Best Practices

• Pick your destination before you build your file. If you're routing by policy, you don't need an assignee column at all.
• Use the Unmapped tab as your checklist. Working it to zero — or deliberately leaving rows as "Don't Import" — means nothing is silently dropped.
• Estimate your token spend on the summary step, not after. The breakdown is the last chance to turn off enrichment on a large file.
• Only active policies appear in the import picker. If a policy is missing, check whether it's archived.
• Discard rather than restart. If something looks wrong at the mapping step, "Discard Import" clears it cleanly instead of leaving a half-finished import in your history.

FAQs

Can I import into more than one team at once? Yes, at the Admin level. Use a lead routing policy whose assignees span several teams, or map an "Assignee (by email)" column. See the Admin import article linked below.

What happens if I close the browser mid-import? Processing continues on Bonzo's side once you've clicked "Start import." Before that point, your progress through the steps is tied to the import you created on upload — reopen it from the import page or discard it and start again.

Can I undo an import? No. Review the summary step carefully, and consider running a small test file first when you're working with an unfamiliar export.

Why is my "Prospect ID" column not available to map? That field only appears when "Merge duplicates" is checked on the upload step, since it's used to match existing records rather than to create new ones.

Does importing from a connected CRM work the same way? No. "Import from CRM" follows its own process and isn't covered here.

Choosing a destination up front means every contact has a defined owner before processing starts, and the summary step tells you exactly what will happen — and what it will cost — before you commit.