How to indicate the country for an SMS import

You will learn

Learn how to indicate the country in a CSV file with SMS profiles.

In the instructions below, we use Google Sheets to indicate the country in an SMS list upload. This can be accomplished using other programs too, but the instructions may differ.

Before you begin

You can only import SMS consent in countries where Klaviyo SMS is available, namely the United States of America, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and New Zealand. 

Before adding in the country to a CSV, you should:

• Copy your CSV into a program such as Google Sheets 
• Make the first column in the CSV email (preferred, if available) or phone number

Options for indicating the country

In the table, we outline: 

• Full names of the available countries
• The country code
• Accepted ways you can shorten the country names in your CSV (if you don’t have the full name)

Country Name	Country Code	Accepted Shortened Names
United States of America	+1	US, USA, United States
Canada	+1	CAN
United Kingdom	+44	GBR, UK
Australia	+61	AUS
New Zealand	+64	NZ

Indicate the country for an SMS import

The best way to indicate the country in a CSV depends on where your contacts are located and what information your previous SMS provider exports.

Choose the first option that best describes your situation: 

• I have a country code at the beginning of every phone number (most common)
  • US and Canada: The number 1 followed by 10 digits
  • UK: The numbers 44 followed by 10 digits
  • Australia: The numbers 61 followed by 9 digits
• I don’t have a country code and my contacts are from:
  • A single country
  • Only the US and Canada

If none of these options apply to you, the only options is to search by phone number and apply the country that way. However, in most cases, the country code is already in the CSV. 

Country code is included

If you have the country code (1, 44, or 61) before your phone numbers, you only need to add a plus sign before the number, even if your contacts are from multiple, different countries. 

To do so, follow these steps: 

1. Highlight the phone number column
   
2. Click Insert > Columns
3. Select Insert 1 column left
   
4. Add an apostrophe and a plus sign (‘+) into the first cell next to a phone number
   
5. Copy the ‘+ 
   • Note: the apostrophe will not show once you click away from the cell; however, it doesn’t actually disappear and is important to include (it is what prevents Google Sheets from treating the plus sign as the start of an equation) 
6. Highlight the rest of the column
7. Click Edit > Paste to insert the ‘+ into the cells in this column
8. Insert a column to the right of the phone numbers
9. Name the new column “Phone Number”
10. In the first cell in the new column, add an equal sign (=) and then “CONCAT”
11. Select the first cell with the + and phone number
    
12. Close the parentheses; e.g., =CONCAT(B2,C2)
    
13. Copy this cell
14. Highlight all remaining cells in the column
15. Click Edit > Paste Special
16. Choose Formula only
    
17. Delete the name “Phone Number” from the original column 
    
18. Do not delete the columns without a header (i.e., the columns with '+ or the original phone number column
19. Click File > Download > Comma Separated Values (.csv)

When you go to upload this CSV, do not import the columns that do not have headers (i.e., the column containing only the '+ and the original phone number column). 

Contacts are all from 1 country

If your list contains SMS profiles that are all from the same country, follow the steps below: 

1. Click into an empty column in your spreadsheet
2. Name that column “Country"
3. In the first cell under that title, write in the country (e.g., Canada or CAN)
   
4. Copy the country’s name/abbreviation
5. Highlight the rest of the cells in that column
6. Click Edit > Paste 
   

All cells in that column should now show the country name. 

Next, all you need to do is to download the file as a CSV before importing it into Klaviyo. 

1. Click File > Download
2. Choose Comma Separated Values (.csv)

Contacts are only in the US and Canada

If your contacts are all from either the US or Canada, you can add the country code to the phone number, which is the same for both countries. 

To do this, follow these steps: 

1. Highlight the phone number column
2. Click Insert > Columns
3. Select Insert 1 column left
   
4. Add an apostrophe and a plus sign (‘+1) into the first cell next to a phone number
   
5. Copy the ‘+1 
   • Note: the apostrophe will not show once you click away from the cell; however, it doesn’t actually disappear and is important to include (it is what prevents Google Sheets from treating the plus sign as the start of an equation) 
6. Highlight the rest of the column
7. Click Edit > Paste to insert the ‘+1 into the cells in this column
8. Insert a column to the right of the phone numbers
9. Name the new column “Phone Number”
10. In the first cell in the new column, add an equal sign (=) and then “CONCAT”
    
11. Select the first cell with the +1 and phone number
12. Close the parentheses; e.g., =CONCAT(B2,C2)
    
13. Copy this cell
14. Highlight all remaining cells in the column
15. Click Edit > Paste Special
16. Choose Formula only
    
17. Delete the name “Phone Number” from the original column 
18. Do not delete the columns without a header (i.e., the columns with '+ or the original phone number column 
19. Click File > Download > Comma Separated Values (.csv)

When you go to upload this CSV, do not import the columns that do not have headers (i.e., the column containing only the '+ and the original phone number column). 

Outcome

You’ll now have either the name of the country or the country code for every phone number in your CSV.  You can now upload the contacts as either subscribed or unsubscribed in Klaviyo.

Additional resources

Check out more how-tos for SMS CSVs:

• Import SMS subscribers into Klaviyo
• Filter opted-out SMS contacts from CSVs
• Upload a list of opted-out SMS contacts