This guide will help you prepare a CSV contact list in Microsoft Excel for bulk messaging. You will learn how to format phone numbers with a country code and organize other contact information. This process ensures that your CSV file is correctly formatted for upload into the SMS/WhatsApp platform.

Step 1: Get the CSV file

1. Open an SMS/WhatsApp account at our portal and navigate to the Contact tab at the dashboard to download a sample file. Click here to learn how
2. Alternatively, click here to download

In the first row, you will see pre-populated common headers named: ‘Phone Number‘, ‘First Name‘, and ‘Last Name‘, which are the most important and depend on the group setting ie. other managed fields, (click here to see how to set them), you might see them also pre-populated for example, ‘Message’, ‘Date’, ‘Email’, ‘Company’ etc. You can delete or retain other fields and remain with the most important ones depending on your need.

In the second row, you will also see prepopulated dummy data under the various headers; under the ‘Phone Number’ (Cell A1), you will see ‘12025550441’, under ‘First Name’ (Cell A2), you will see ‘Jhon’, under ‘Last Name’ (Cell A3), you will see ‘Doe’, so proceed and update them with your contacts entries.

Step 2: Enter Contact Information

Enter the contact details under the appropriate headers. For phone numbers, initially, you can enter them without the country code and with the appropriate country code eg. +254XXXXXXXXX, for Kenya to make your work easier.

If your phone number begins with ‘0’ for example 0750337834, please exclude the beginning ‘0’ and enter the entry starting with the preceding characters.

Step 3: Add Country Code to Phone Numbers

To ensure all phone numbers include the country code, follow these steps: (For adding contacts belonging to the same country and if not belonging to the same country, add the country code for each phone number as you add the contact entries in the various cells)

1. Insert a new column next to the Phone Number column. Label it “Formatted Phone Number”.

2. In the first cell under “Formatted Phone Number” (e.g., B2 if “Phone Number” is in A1), copy & enter the following formula to add the country code ie. +254 for Kenya. If in another country, replace the ‘+254’ in the formula with your country code.

 

3. Drag the fill handle (small square at the bottom right corner of the cell) down to apply the formula to all rows in the column.

Step 4: Replace with formatted numbers

1. Select the new ‘Formatted Phone Number’ column and copy it.

2. Right-click on the first column ‘Phone Number’ and paste, use the ‘value only’ options then proceed to change its header name to ‘Phone Number’.

3. Right-click on the second column ‘Formatted Phone Number’ and choose “Delete”.

Step 5: Save as a CSV File

1. Click on “File” > “Save As” if you want to save using a different name.
2. Choose the location where you want to save the file.
3. In the “Save as type” dropdown, select “CSV (Comma delimited) (*.csv)”.
4. Enter a file name and click “Save”.

NOTE
Sometimes the cell entries (phone numbers) might appear formatted when the CSV file is opened later and upon uploading again in the SMS/WhatsApp platform, you may encounter an error so every time you open the CSV file and add entries (phone numbers), make sure you save the CSV file with the entries (phone numbers) unformatted; use these steps

1. Right-click on the ‘Phone Number’ column and select the ‘Format Cells; list option

1. A dialogue box will open and you will click on the ‘Custom’ option under the first ‘Number’ tab
2. On the type, click on ‘0’, then click OK. Proceed to save and upload on the SMS/WhatsApp platform.

Step 6: Upload CSV to SMS/WhatsApp Platform

1. Log in to your SMS/WhatsApp platform.
2. Navigate to the contact upload section. (click here to know how)
3. Follow the platform’s instructions to upload the CSV file containing your formatted contact list.