How to add subscribers to an existing list

You will learn

Learn how to add subscribers to an existing list by either uploading new contacts from a CSV or using Quick Add, as detailed in the sections below.

This option is available for lists, not segments. Learn more about the difference between lists and segments. 

• If you're adding a large group of subscribers, use a list upload 
• If you're only adding a few subscribers, use Quick Add

Add subscribers via upload

1. Navigate to the list that you want to add subscribers to
2. Click the Manage List dropdown in the upper right-hand corner 
3. Select Import Contacts

You will see two options here: Upload file and Upload via copy/paste. Both of these options will allow you to add contacts just as you would if you were creating a new list. 

Upload file

Note that, when you upload a CSV to a list that triggers a flow, the flow will be sent to everyone once they are uploaded. If you do not want this to occur, set your flow to manual. After the import is complete, wait a few hours before going back into the flow and deleting the people who you do not want to receive the email. Then, switch the flow back to live.

1. Select Upload file
2. Drag and drop your CSV file or select it from your computer
3. Review your import
4. In the Email row, click Subscribe to Email Marketing (only if everyone in the list has provided explicit consent to receive emails from your brand)
   
   
   • Learn more about email consent
5. Map the columns in your uploaded CSV to Klaviyo fields; the Klaviyo fields represent where your data is stored on your contact's profile
6. If you're uploading Klaviyo-specific fields, the data type is already selected for you and you're unable to modify it
7. If you're uploading custom properties:
   • Select the field you'd like to map the properties to and select the data type
     OR
   • Add a new custom property by typing the new property name and selecting Create option
     
8. Click Start Import after you finish mapping your Klaviyo fields

Upload via copy/paste

1. Select Upload via copy/paste
2. Paste contact information in this format:
   • Email Address,firstname,lastname
   • someone@example.com,George,Washington
   • someone@example.com,Abraham,Lincoln
3. Click Start Import when you finish pasting in contacts 

Add subscribers via Quick Add

If you would like to quickly add a handful of individuals to your list, you can use the Quick Add option instead.

1. Navigate to the list you'd like to add the profile to
2. Click Quick Add
   
3. On the following page, fill in the email address field
4. If the person has explicitly opted in to receive emails from you, check I have received explicit consent to market to this profile, then check email from the Select consent type menu 
5. Click Add Subscriber

Best practices

A few things to keep in mind:

• Never add contacts to a subscriber list that have not intentionally opted in — this is against Klaviyo’s Terms of Service.
• We will automatically keep customers from joining the same list more than once. This means that, if you are trying to import a file containing subscribers that are already on your list, you will notice that these duplicative records will not get added. For example, if you want to add a custom property to everyone in a list, you can safely re-upload the list with the custom property attached without creating duplicate profiles.
• We will automatically skip email address entries that do not have a valid format. A valid email address such as jane@example.com is made up of a local part, an @ symbol, then a case-insensitive domain part. If any of the required parts of a valid email address are missing, we will consider the email invalid. If there are erroneous spaces in the email address, we will also consider the email invalid.

Additional resources

• Troubleshooting list imports
• How to create and add subscribers to a new list
• Understanding the difference between segments and lists