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Klaviyo won't import your contacts file?

Fix the errors Klaviyo shows when importing a contacts CSV, then import clean every week.

Errors Klaviyo shows

An email address or phone number repeats

Records skipped due to "Duplicate Unique ID" mean that an email address or phone number was repeated in your file.
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A row has no email address or phone number

Records skipped due to “Missing Unique ID” mean the skipped rows did not contain an email address, phone number, or other accepted unique identifier.
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An email address has invalid characters

Invalid characters include ( ) , : ; [ / ], as well as spaces.
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All columns land in a single field

If you are using a version of Excel that does not use English as the default language, your software may use semicolons and not commas as the separator in your file.
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What Klaviyo’s importer checks

  • Every row needs an email address or a phone number.

    Klaviyo help centre

  • No email address may repeat within the file.

    DocTransform fixes this: type

    Lowercase Email and remove rows with a duplicate Email

    Or by hand

    click the Email column header → lowercase, then Remove duplicates; the repeat contact’s row is removed

    Klaviyo help centre

  • The file must use commas, not semicolons, between fields.

    DocTransform fixes this: in Export, pick the CSV format and click Download; the file is written with commas, whatever separator it came in with

    Klaviyo help centre

  • A phone number must include a country code, or sit next to a column that names its country.

    DocTransform fixes this: open Health → Phone formats → Convert 3 (the button shows how many numbers it writes); each readable number is written as +[country code][number], a number that names no country is read in your language’s region, and one it cannot read stays as written

    Klaviyo help centre

  • The file must be 50 MB or less.

    Klaviyo help centre

Before and after

15,300 contacts

klaviyo_contacts.csv
EmailFirst NameLast NamePhone Number
Ines@SolyMar.example1InesRuiz+34600123456
ines@solymar.example2InesRuiz+34600123456
marc.bloch@nordic.exampleMarcBloch+46701234567
julia.novak@praha.exampleJuliaNovak+420601234567
tomas.silva@lisboa.exampleTomasSilva+351912345678
3EvaBerg
leo.martin@paris.exampleLeoMartin+33612345678

    Before

    Fix it in DocTransform

    By hand: 12 stepsDocTransform: 1 sentence

    1. 1. Upload klaviyo_contacts.csv into DocTransform.
    2. 2. Type

      Lowercase Email and remove rows with a duplicate Email

      and press Send. Check the steps it adds; Undo takes them all back.
      Or by hand

      Apply the fixes: click the Email column header → lowercase, then Remove duplicates to drop the repeat contact. For a phone number with no country code, open Health → Phone formats → Convert 3. Fill in the row with no email address or phone number by hand, and split a file over 50 MB yourself: DocTransform saves no step for them.

    3. 3. Download the cleaned file as CSV with Download: it is written with commas, ready for Klaviyo’s importer.
    “Lowercase Email and remove rows with a duplicate Email” typed into DocTransform; two steps applied, one Email lowercased, one duplicate row removed; Undo shown
    1. Type the change in one sentence, in your own words.
    2. Wait about 5 seconds while the steps are written. Stop cancels.
    3. Check each step and how many cells or rows it changes.
    4. The file is clean. Not what you meant? One Undo takes it all back.

    Save this fix once, then rerun it on next week’s export with one click.

    Fix it by hand in Excel or Sheets

    1. Right-click the column B header and choose Insert to add an empty helper column next to Email.
    2. In B2, type =LOWER(A2) and press Enter.
    3. Double-click the fill handle at B2’s bottom-right corner to fill the formula down to the last row.
    4. With the filled cells in column B still selected, press Ctrl+C to copy them.
    5. Select A2, choose Home → Paste → Paste Special → Values and click OK, so Ines@SolyMar.example becomes ines@solymar.example.
    6. Right-click the column B header and choose Delete to remove the helper column.
    7. Click any cell in the table, choose Data → Remove Duplicates, click Unselect All, tick Email and click OK to drop the repeat Ines Ruiz row.
    8. Look at the Email and Phone Number columns for the row with neither, as row 6 here (Eva Berg), and fill in one of them by hand.
    9. Check each phone number starts with + and its country code; to add one, right-click the column D header, choose Format Cells → Text and click OK so Excel keeps the +, then retype the number, e.g. 600 123 456 as +34600123456 for Spain.
    10. If your computer uses semicolons, open its Language & Region settings, find the List Separator (or Number format) setting, replace the semicolon with a comma and save.
    11. Choose File → Save As, pick CSV UTF-8 (Comma delimited) (*.csv) and click Save.
    12. If the file is over 50 MB, split it into smaller files by hand before importing.

    Questions

    Will DocTransform split my file if it is over Klaviyo’s 50 MB limit?
    No — DocTransform doesn’t split files. If your export is over 50 MB, split it by hand before importing.
    Will DocTransform guess a country code that is missing from a phone number?
    Only from your language’s region: a number that names no country is read in that region, and a number DocTransform cannot read stays as written. Check those cells before you import.
    Can I reuse this fix next time I export my contacts?
    Yes — save it once in DocTransform and rerun it on next week’s export.

    Moving from another system

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    Salesforce, HubSpot, Shopify, QuickBooks, Mailchimp, Pipedrive, WooCommerce, Klaviyo, Google Contacts, ActiveCampaign, Brevo, Zendesk, Square, Zoho CRM, and Xero are trademarks of their owners. DocTransform is not affiliated with them.