CRM Data
Importing rows without an email address
Loading a list that only has names and phone numbers, how those rows are matched, and what a company-only row does.
Last updated September 2, 2026
Plenty of real prospect lists have no email addresses at all — a trade directory, a list of businesses in a postcode, notes from a show. The CRM import can take them.
Switching it on
Allow rows without an email address when you set the import up. Leave it off and those rows are skipped silently, which is the usual explanation for an import that produced far fewer records than the file had rows.
How those rows are matched
| The row has | What happens |
|---|---|
| A contact name | Matched by name within the tribe, and created if there is no match. |
| Only a business name | The company is created. No contact is invented for it. |
| Neither | Nothing to import. |
NAME MATCHING IS WEAKER THAN EMAIL MATCHING
Two different John Smiths at two different businesses are two people, and a name match cannot always tell. Expect to do more duplicate tidying after a no-email import, and check the results before importing a second overlapping list.
What you lose without an email
- No email verification, so nothing is checked.
- No email history on the contact, because there is no address to match against.
- They cannot be marketed to until somebody collects an address.
For a calling campaign none of that matters — a name, a business and a phone number is a workable lead, and the address can be collected on the call.