People
Importing a customer list from a spreadsheet
Loading an existing customer database into Gorilla Dash from an Excel or CSV file — preparing the file, importing it into one tribe, mapping the columns, and checking the result.
Last updated September 2, 2026
If your customers already live in a spreadsheet, you do not have to type them in again. The import reads an Excel or CSV file, matches each column to a field in Gorilla Dash, and creates the contacts for you — into your whole organisation, or into one tribe.
Prepare the file first
Almost every import problem is a file problem, and ten minutes in Excel beforehand saves an afternoon of cleaning up afterwards.
| What | What is needed |
|---|---|
| File type | Excel (.xlsx or .xls) or CSV (.csv). Your Excel file works as it is — there is no need to save it as CSV first. |
| Sheet | Only the first sheet is read. If your workbook has several tabs, move the customer list to the front or save it as its own file. |
| First row | Column headings, not data. "Email", "First Name", "Mobile" — the names are yours to choose, you match them up during the import. |
| One row per person | Remove blank rows, sub-totals, and notes at the bottom of the sheet. |
| Email address | Required. A row with no email address is skipped without warning. |
| Phone numbers | Full international format, including the country code — +33612345678, not 06 12 34 56 78. |
| Country | The two-letter country code: FR, AU, US, GB. |
| Names | Either one Full Name column, which Gorilla Dash splits for you, or separate first and last name columns. |
Importing into one tribe
A tribe is one location, branch or business unit inside your organisation. To build a customer database for a single tribe, run the import from inside that tribe: open it, go to People in the left-hand menu, then Import People, and click New Import. Everyone in the file is attached to that tribe — there is nothing else to set.
Importing for several tribes at once
Run the import from the organisation instead — People → Import People → New Import. You then get a Tribe assignment choice on the Config step.
| Choice | What it does |
|---|---|
| Assign all to one tribe | Everyone in the file goes to the one tribe you pick. The same as importing from inside the tribe. |
| Use a Tribe Slug column | Each row goes to the tribe named in a column of your file. One file, many tribes — but the value in that column has to match the tribe's slug exactly. |
| No tribe | The contacts belong to the organisation and to no tribe. |
The four steps
- Upload CSV — drag the file onto the box or click to browse, then Upload & Continue. Gorilla Dash reads the headings and tells you how many rows it found.
- Config — the settings that apply to every row: a person category, tags, and whether to verify email addresses.
- Column Map — the heart of it. Each Gorilla Dash field is listed on the left; pick the column of your file that holds it. Anything you leave blank is simply not imported.
- Confirm — check the record count and click Start Import.
A few of the fields on the Column Map step behave in ways worth knowing about.
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Split into a first and last name for you. Use this instead of the separate name fields, not as well as them. |
| Person Category | Several categories in one cell, separated by commas. Names are matched loosely, so "VIP customers" finds "VIP Customer". |
| Tags | Same idea — comma-separated. Tags that do not exist yet are created automatically. |
| Industries | Comma-separated, matched against your industry list. |
| Unsubscribe Date | A date in this column marks the person as unsubscribed, so an imported opt-out stays an opt-out. |
| Your custom fields | Any custom field you have created for people appears at the bottom of the list, ready to map. |
The Config step also has Create missing categories and industries if they don't exist. It saves work on a tidy file, and makes a mess of an untidy one — every spelling variation in the column becomes its own category. If you are not sure the file is clean, create the categories yourself first and leave the switch off.
Email verification, and what it costs
On the Config step, Email verification decides whether each new address is checked before it lands in your database. Verifying costs $0.012 per address, charged to the tribe or organisation you imported into and shown in the Cost column of the import list.
- Verify email addresses — each new address is checked and marked deliverable, undeliverable, unknown, or do not send. Anything undeliverable is flagged as invalid and left out of your mailing lists automatically.
- Skip email verification — nothing is checked and nothing is charged. Obviously wrong addresses are still flagged, but a dead mailbox looks perfectly fine until you email it.
- Contacts you already had are never re-verified, and never charged.
People who are already in Gorilla Dash
The import matches on email address within the tribe you are importing into. Where it finds a match, no second contact is created: the person is added to the category and tags of this import, and their industries, custom fields and business name are filled in. They are counted under Existing rather than Processed.
One consequence to be aware of in a network: matching happens inside the tribe. A customer who already exists under another tribe is created again for this one, so each tribe keeps its own record of the people it serves.
Checking the result
The import runs in the background, so you can close the page. It appears on the Import People list straight away and moves from Pending to InProgress to Success as it works; a big file takes a while, especially with verification switched on.
That list is the record of every import you have run: how many records it held, how many were Processed, how many Failed, how many already Existed, and the breakdown of deliverable and undeliverable addresses. Click the date to open one import and see the result address by address.
If the numbers look wrong
| What you see | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| Fewer people than rows in the file | Rows without an email address, which are skipped. Check for blank rows and total lines at the bottom of the sheet too. |
| Everyone landed with no category | No category chosen on the Config step, and no Person Category column mapped. |
| Names all in the first name field | A single name column mapped to First Name instead of Full Name. |
| Phone numbers missing | The number needs the country code, in the Mobile E164 or Business Phone E164 field. |
| A row went to the wrong tribe | Under "Use a Tribe Slug column", a slug that does not match any tribe leaves the person with no tribe at all. |
When you are importing a list you are unsure of, try twenty rows first. The import takes seconds, you can see exactly where every column landed, and correcting the mapping is far easier than unpicking five thousand contacts.