Contributor I

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When importing contacts into Klaviyo via CSV import, is it possible to skip contacts that already exist instead of overwritting their data

Forum|Forum|3 years ago
July 4, 2023
7 replies
622 views

When importing contacts into Klaviyo via CSV import, is it possible to skip contacts that already exist instead of overwriting their data?

It seems the only option at the moment if contacts already exist in Klaviyo is that any mapped fields will be overwritten my new data from the CSV file.

Is there any option to skip/exclude contacts that already exist without having to mash the list in advance in Excel?

This topic has been closed for replies.

Best answer by ebusiness pros

Thanks @David To! Often the brands I’m working with are doing partnership giveaways, and then there’s a big CSV of emails to import into Klaviyo. We’ve found at least 10% of the CSV holds emails that were already subscribed to our client’s list. So that’s use case 1.

Second use case might be when we’re updating/ or bulk populating an existing custom profile property while creating a new custom profile property in the same CSV file.

That said, there are also instances where information like email deliverability status as identified by a tool like Emailable, or a customer’s address, would need to be updated with the most current version as part of a CSV import. So it would most likely need to be a feature we can turn on when we want it, but otherwise it’s turned off by default.

bluesnapper

Champion & Partner

Hi @DavidG

You only have the option to exclude fields during import by unchecking/not checking the import buttons (see below). It will have to be an Excel manipulation prior to import if you want to exclude entire records from your .csv.

Regards

Andy

https://bluesnapper.com - Klaviyo Champion '24 & Partner

ebusiness pros

2025 Champion

Hi @DavidG, welcome to the community!

This is a great question, and it’s a feature I’ve also thought would be helpful to have. @bluesnapper is right that you’d have to thoroughly prep your CSV file prior to importing in order to achieve this right now.

That said, @David To - can you please help us pass along this feedback to the product team? Maybe it could be enabled by giving us the option to exclude specific segments of the list, so their existing data like custom profile property values would not be overwritten as part of the import process?

Warmly,

Gabrielle

Klaviyo Champion & Marketing Lead at ebusiness pros

Klaviyo Champion + ATX Klaviyo Meetup host | Client Strategy Director at ebusiness pros - a lifecycle marketing agency based in Austin

David To

Klaviyo Employee

Hey @bluesnapper and @ebusiness pros,

Great points!

@ebusiness pros, I’ll definitely route this feedback upwards to our Product Team! Can you also share some use cases for this sort of product enhancement?

David

D

DavidGAuthor

Contributor I

Use case would be when doing a regular import of new subscribers from another system and you only want to import the delta (ie new subscribers).

Currently they data for existing subscribers will always be overwritten (custom fields for example) which you may not want.

ebusiness prosAnswer

2025 Champion

Thanks @David To! Often the brands I’m working with are doing partnership giveaways, and then there’s a big CSV of emails to import into Klaviyo. We’ve found at least 10% of the CSV holds emails that were already subscribed to our client’s list. So that’s use case 1.

Second use case might be when we’re updating/ or bulk populating an existing custom profile property while creating a new custom profile property in the same CSV file.

That said, there are also instances where information like email deliverability status as identified by a tool like Emailable, or a customer’s address, would need to be updated with the most current version as part of a CSV import. So it would most likely need to be a feature we can turn on when we want it, but otherwise it’s turned off by default.

Klaviyo Champion + ATX Klaviyo Meetup host | Client Strategy Director at ebusiness pros - a lifecycle marketing agency based in Austin

David To

Klaviyo Employee

Thanks for sharing those use cases @ebusiness pros!

I’ll be sure to pass those along to our team to consider!

David

Vesna EGarden

Active Contributor I

Is there any updates about this? This was a year ago...

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