Data cleaning for CRM imports

Mailchimp import errors

Why your Mailchimp contacts didn't import (and how to fix the file)

Mailchimp skips rows when the email is invalid or the file is one it cannot read. Most of the causes are fixable in the file itself: a missing .com, a typo domain, a role-based address Mailchimp removes, a semicolon-delimited CSV from a European spreadsheet, or a file saved in the wrong format. Fix those, re-import, and the rows go in clean.

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What goes wrong

Mailchimp publishes a page titled for exactly this query, "contacts didn't import", because so many of these are file problems, not account problems.

Why it happens

• Email syntax errors. Addresses like john@aol with no .com aren't valid emails, so the row is dropped.
• Typo domains. gamil.com or yhoo.com look right at a glance but aren't real mail domains.
• Role-based addresses. Mailchimp removes generic mailboxes like info@ and sales@ on import.
• Semicolon delimiters. Spreadsheets in many European locales save CSVs with semicolons, which Mailchimp reads as one giant column.
• Wrong file type. An .xls workbook or a .vcf contact card isn't a CSV; export as a comma-delimited CSV instead.
• Garbled UTF-8 characters. Mojibake in a name or email field (from a bad re-save) breaks the row.
• Duplicate rows. Repeated addresses get rejected rather than merged silently.

The manual fix

1. Fix the email syntax: add the missing .com, correct typo domains, and drop anything that clearly isn't an address.
2. Re-save the file as a comma-delimited UTF-8 CSV, not semicolon-delimited, not .xls, not .vcf.
3. Remove duplicate rows so Mailchimp doesn't skip them.
4. Review role-based addresses (info@, sales@) and decide whether to keep them, knowing Mailchimp will remove them.

The Sift fix

1. Drop your CSV or Excel file into Sift. It repairs structural email typos and mojibake, lowercases and trims addresses.
2. It dedupes exact and fuzzy matches, then re-exports a clean, comma-delimited UTF-8 CSV that Mailchimp can read.
3. It flags role-based addresses and anything it cannot safely repair to a "needs your eyes" list, so nothing is silently changed.
4. Review every change as a before-and-after diff, then export and import into Mailchimp.

What Sift can't fix

Honesty matters here, on two counts. First, Sift fixes email format, not deliverability. Whether a mailbox is actually live, or a contact's past bounce history, is a job for an SMTP verification service, not Sift. A syntactically perfect address can still be a dead inbox. Second, Mailchimp's Acceptable Use Policy prohibits emailing purchased, rented, or third-party lists, and no amount of cleaning makes such a list allowed. Sift prepares records; it does not make a list "email-safe".

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